My Favorite Blonde (1942)

Good movie but grossly overrated

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

"My Favorite Blonde" is one of the zaniest, fast-paced, and great comedies of all time. I count no fewer than 18 specific sequences of hilarity. Each has some sidesplitting lines. And, the only types of transportation missing seem to be a rowboat and a hot air balloon. This isn't just a film of one-liners. It isn't a film full of slapstick. It is a masterful work of witty dialog, repartee, and wonderful action combined that will keep an audience laughing throughout. The writers did a great job with the script. The direction is excellent and the settings and technical values are very good. But, it's the casting that nails this film. Bob Hope and Madeleine Carroll are perfectly matched for this wonderful farce. They play Larry Haines and Karen Bentley. With the breezy, witty and at times, uproariously funny script, they bounce off each other with ease and perfection. There are no real supporting roles, but many minor ones. The nemeses of Karen and Larry carry out their roles well in providing the occasional slightly serious overtone to the film. Gale Sondergaard, George Zucco and Lionel Royce are Nazi spies trying to knock off Larry and Karen and steal the secret scorpion message. But, several minor comic roles add to the overall comedy of the film. Edward Gargan as Spike Mulrooney, and James Burke as the union secretary, go at it in two short hilarious scenes. If a movie was continuous shooting, these would have been timely to allow Larry and Karen to catch their breath. Fred Kelsey and Edgar Dearing play Los Angeles policemen, Sam and Joe. They can't stomach the "icky-wicky" chatter of Larry and Karen in the back of their squad car, so they turn them loose. Their looks and lines are very funny. After a dramatic slow start aboard a passenger ship, the story gradually picks up speed and it accelerates throughout the film. Larry and Karen move from scene to scene using different modes of transportation. They dodge pursuers by taxi, passenger train, airplane, bus, more taxis, a hopped freight train, police cruiser, sheriff's car, stolen pickup, stolen bus, stolen airplane and stolen hearse. The movie is one frantic and hilarious scene after another. Karen frequently changes her persona, reacting to the appearance of her pursuers. At first, this catches Larry off guard because he's not convinced of her plight. His expressions and reactions to her changes nearly had me rolling with laughter. Here are some sample lines to whet one's appetite. Karen, "My name's Karen Bentley. I can't tell you any more." Larry, "My name's Larry Haines. There's no more to tell." Karen, "Be quiet please. I'm being followed by two men in black." Larry, "You sure you don't mean two men in white?"Leaving the theater with Larry, Karen sees two pursuers nearby, so she changes her voice to a hilarious one. Karen, "Say, Jack, remember dat week in Wacko when we was Flip and Nip? Boy, did we wow 'em. And dat hotel, Floppy Louie's. Was it crawlin? Was it crawlin'?" Larry, "Yeah, Flip and Nip at Floppy Louie's institution." At the train station, Karen says she is going with Larry to Chicago. She glimpses the spies on her trail. She kisses Larry and pushes him onto the train car, "Goodbye. Goodbye." Larry, "Hello." Karen, "Don't forget to take your pills. And, that green stuff, take lots of that. It's good for you." Larry, "OK. But don't you drink any more. You've got quite a snoot full now." Karen, "And don't you worry about Winky and Pinky. I'll see that they don't ride their bicycles in traffic." Larry, "Hey, how do you ride bicycles in straitjackets? Winky and Pinky!"In an apartment, with spies all around outside, they have no way to escape. Larry starts throwing vases at the windows. He throttles Karen and tells her to scream. She gets it and they call each other goofy names and destroy the apartment before the police come to haul them away. Larry, "So I'm a snit drivel, am I?" Karen, 'Yes! And you're also a scridge podge!" Larry, "A scridge podge! Why you!"In the back of the police cruiser, Karen snuggles up to Larry, and they start babbling. We can see the faces of the two burly cops turning sour and grimacing. Karen, "Is daddy sorry he hit his boopsy woopsy with his lampy?" Larry, "Yes, daddy is sorry he hit boopsy woopsy with the itsy bitsy piano stool. And, daddy's going to kiss where he made a little bumpy wumpy. Does boopsy woopsy forgive daddy waddy?" The police stop the car and tell them to scram. Joe, "Sam, I couldn't take any more of that." Sam, "Me either. I was ready to throw up."Larry and Karen get on a Teamsters bus going to a picnic. The repartee with Turk O'Flaherty (played by Charles Cane) is hilarious. The bus breaks out singing "When Irish Eyes are Smiling." Bob Hope has a good voice, and Larry adds some harmony solos in the song to everyone's delight. Karen's smiles seem almost to break out in laughter as she watches Hope at his best. Of the many movies Bob Hope made, this is by far his best and funniest. His match with Madeleine Carroll is perfect. They seem to play off one another spontaneously and with ease. This movie is a real hoot and one the entire family should enjoy. The younger kids will be entertained by some of the antics and the babbling scenes. Adults can explain the subtleties of the dialog to teens and others were needed. I wonder if John Hughes, the writer and director, didn't get his idea from this film for his 1987 smash comedy, "Planes, Trains & Automobiles." I have both films in my comedy library. "My Favorite Blonde" is one of the best.

A good spy thriller: British agent Madeleine Carroll attempts to transport a scorpion-shaped brooch that conceals microfilm holding key military information. She is chased by Nazi spies led by George Zucco and Gale Sondergaard. Two agents are killed in the first ten minutes. Cut to Bob Hope—or rather, his penguin. Hope and penguin are Haines and Percy, a sort of vaudeville act. The penguin has just gotten the call from Hollywood; Hope would like to think that he is the real star. Paths cross when Carroll, hoping to shake the Nazis from her trail, ducks into Hope's dressing room. And the fun begins. Needing cover and hoping to conceal her true identity, Madeleine feigns romantic interest in Bob, and plays it up good. He is surprised and mystified by her attention—and soon by attention from Zucco and gang, who want the scorpion and know he is somehow involved. The scene where spies surround and stare him down on the train's club car is classic Hope, as his nervousness starts slowly but gradually bubbles over. The scenes between Hope and Carroll are even better…she plays it fairly straight and he plays it goofy and the interplay just works like a charm. One especially funny scene in the train compartment: having pressed up close to him with a kiss and retrieved the brooch from his lapel, she stands up and moves away; not having a clue, Hope grabs her and tries to kiss her again—and she slaps him indignantly. "Take your hands off me!" she snaps. Poor Bob.The dialog is bright and funny throughout, with Hope naturally getting the best lines, including some vintage Hope gems: "I've given up kissing strange women." "What made you stop?" "Strange women." Zucco and Sondergaard have only small roles, but they sure can play the baddies. Talk about sinister! However, Bob and Madeleine are pretty much the whole show here. The relationship between the two leads develops nicely—we have a pretty good idea how it's going to turn out, but it grows at a careful pace, not too fast or too slow or too sudden. Top notch and full of great laughs.

Writing as someone who can definitely take or leave -- more likely leave -- Bob Hope, I call this a charmer. He is restrained here. Madeleine Carroll is a chic partner. The penguin I could do without but maybe that was fun for kids.I like some of the "Road" pictures and they're OK. Bing Crosby is way down near the bottom of stars in terms of my own preference. And Hope's politics -- well, it is hard to ignore them. This one is very different, though. Hope really plays a character, though he at times reverts to playing Bob Hope.The movie looks good and is well plotted.What puzzles me is that Gale Sondergaard, third-billed, seems to have almost no lines. At least in the print I saw she has very, very few.

Bob Hope was in his prime in this one, and once the roller coaster of laughs starts it doesn't quit for 90 minutes. It's a road format movie: Bob and Madeleine Carroll have to get across WWII America from New York to Los Angeles with secret plans before the Nazi spies intercept them. It's a formula plot but handled most inventively and Sidney Lansfield's competent comedic direction gives Bob a perfect opportunity to develop what became his trademark character. The scenes of Percy the Penguin loose on the train, the bus driver's picnic, Hope impersonating a child psychologist for a meeting of proper small town ladies - they're little miracles of laughter. If you don't think you like Bob Hope - try this one.