MY FAVORITE BLONDE
US, 1942, 78 minutes, Black and white.
Bob Hope, Madeleine Carroll, Gale Sondergaard, George Zucco.
Directed by Sidney Lanfield.
A very entertaining Bob Hope vehicle from early in his career. At this time he had made The Cat and The Canary and The Ghost Breakers with Paulette Goddard. Echoes of this film and espionage and Bob being, terrified are combined with the war effort. With Madeleine Carroll (from Hitchcock's Thirty Nine Steps and Secret Agent) there is a combination of the American comedian with the cool British secret agent. The adventures are humorous if dated and there is a lot of play on Bob Hope's screen persona. Gale Sondergaard leads the group of villains well. An entertaining wartime comedy showing Bob Hope's comedy style.
1. An entertaining Bob Hope vehicle? Seen in the perspective of his work in the '30s and '40s, later decades? His presence, his comic style? The teaming with Madeleine Carroll? The combining of spy story with comedy ?
2. Production values of wartime comedies? Black and white photography? Musical score? The American locations? Background of vaudeville? Los Angeles?
3. The conventions of the spy story ? as familiar at the time? Mysterious spies and agents, with little explanation of their mission? Innocent bystanders? Sudden deaths? Mistaken identities? Dangerous train trips? Pursuits, danger, violence? How well did the film draw on these conventions e.g. Hitchcock spy thrillers (emphasised by the presence of Madeleine Carroll)?
4. Bob Hope and his comic style? His initial act with the penguin? The comedy routines with the penguin on the train? His range of reactions with Karen? The stop at Chicago and the dead body? The husband and wife fight and their being escorted out of danger by the police? The dangers with the encounter of the pursuing group? The finale in the funeral parlour? Bob Hope's one liners and wisecracks? Audience sympathy for him ? and his emphasis on the fact that he was a loser? Bob Hope as a most successful loser? The humour of this use of his show business type for patriotic purposes?
5. Madeleine Carroll as the typical Hitchcock heroine? the cool British blonde agent? The ship, her manoeuvres in New York, her visit to Larry in his dressing room, the giving of the code to him and continually taking it back, her erratic behaviour of leading him on and brushing him off, the train trip, stealing his case in Chicago, the office with the dead body, the escape with the police, the further train trip and the attack of the spies, the dangers? The saving of the day with the air force in Los Angeles? The final romance? Madeleine Carroll adapting to the comedy style?
6. The rogues' gallery of secret agents and spies? Gale Sondergaard and her sinister presence? The toughs? The final impostor? The way that Larry and Karen continued to elude the spies? The patriotism and fortitude implied in this comic presentation of espionage?
7. How satisfying a comedy, how satisfying an adventure? The use of conventional heroics in comedy framework?
