MartinHafer Back in the late 30s and early 40s, just about all the comedians and comedy teams made war films...and they were quite popular. Films like Abbott & Costello's "Buck Privates", Laurel & Hardy's "Great Guns" and Bob Hope's "Caught in the Draft" are just a few of the many films designed to encourage Americans to do the patriotic thing and enlist. And, with a few exceptions ("Great Guns"), the films were very enjoyable. When "Caught in the Draft" begins, Don Bolton (Bob Hope) is a famous and very self-absorbed Hollywood star. He's also quite the coward. So when he learns that there is going to be a draft, he's worried he might be chosen and looks for a way out. And, his way out might be getting married. But his choice is odd...be wants to marry a woman who wants nothing to do with him AND is a colonel's daughter! Antoinette (Dorothy Lamour) sees right through Don and his schemes and instead of being honest, he just creates more and more complicated schemes...one which accidentally gets him to enlist in the Army...and guess who Don's commanding officer is? Along with Don are his lowly gofer (Eddie Bracken) and his agent (Lynne Overman--who is in his mid-50s!).This film is very enjoyable...and perhaps more than "Buck Privates" because it does NOT have any singing! Clever and enjoyable from start to finish, though I wonder why at the end Eddie Bracken's character got a commendation? Watch the film and you'll understand what I mean.

SimonJack The U.S. wasn't at war yet when this film came out on July 4, 1941. But, the war in Europe had begun nearly two years earlier when Germany invaded Poland (September 1939). America soon began providing aid to England and it was only a matter of time before the U.S. would enter the fighting. Of course, no one knew how that would happen when in just five months the Japanese would bomb Pearl Harbor. So, what's this history got to do with "Caught in the Draft?" This film, and others like it were being made in Hollywood in anticipation of America's entry into the war. This is one of a handful of films that treated induction and enlistment in the Armed Forces with humor. Just six months earlier, Abbott and Costello's "Buck Privates" debuted. It poked fun at some of the training and Army life in boot camp, with Lou as a hilarious misfit. Others of theirs would follow with the boys in the Navy and the Army Air Corps (which would become the U.S. Air Force after WWII). This film with Bob Hope is an unusual comedy piece for him. Hope's trademark comedy developed around dialog and funny scenes. But here, he shows some zaniness of antics not unlike those of the Marx Brothers, or even the Three Stooges. Bob is not the bumbling fool or inept soldier that Costello and others portrayed. He has a head on his shoulders, and is cunning with an eye on the Colonel's daughter. Dorothy Lamour plays Tony Fairbanks, daughter of Col. Peter Fairbanks, played by Clarence Kolb. But Hope's Don Bolton has a couple of buddies whose miscues often wind him up in trouble. Lynne Overman plays Steve Riggs and Eddie Bracken plays Bert Sparks. Bolton goes through a series of situations and encounters that have funny mishap results. Aside from the KP duty and GIs standing watch, this film has little else that could be considered realistic about boot camp, training or the Army – even way back then. The incongruous things are part of what makes this film so funny. Bolton enters basic training and is able to get leave or take time to visit the Colonel's daughter on post. He becomes a driver in boot camp. He drives a tank in some very hilarious scenes. And he even goes up in an airplane to train for the new parachutist units. All of this is far-reached. No Army base had all of those types of units, nor did boot camp ever expose men to those fields. The American parachute forces were just being formed for training in the summer of 1941 at Ft. Benning, GA. But these various types of Army units and training for them are the basis of a wacky plot that is filled with humor. No doubt this and similar films helped prepare the public, and many men, for military service. And, the light and funny treatment of military training may have helped ease tensions and the apprehensions the public otherwise may have had about preparing for war. But today, many decades later, we can look at dated films like this and appreciate them for the time and culture they represented. And, we should also enjoy the comedy. It's a type that never becomes outdated. I enjoy this film more than any of the seven "Road" films that Hope and Bing Crosby made together, beginning in 1940 and into 1962. This is a nice look at Bob Hope's early film comedy that was refreshing and original, before the Road movies and other later films used the technique of the actors talking to the audience at times. I think modern audiences today should enjoy this film, and the kids should get a kick out of some of the funny antics.

Robert J. Maxwell For Bob Hope, in the 1940s, this is pretty routine stuff. Hope pretends to enlist in order to impress his girl friend, Dorothy Lamour, and winds up in the army by mistake. I don't know why this isn't funnier than it is. It has a cast of seasoned comedy actors, of which Lynn Overman is the best, with his dry Edgar-Buchanan wisecracks. The problem is with the script. It has a ground-out quality. Abbott and Costello, Laurel and Hardy, Mickey Rooney -- everyone seemed to be making the same movie, and this role could have been handed over to anyone. Hope is an extremely funny guy in the right context but this isn't the context. The script is unimaginative. The direction by David Butler is leaden. There are long pauses after a gag, before the dissolve, while the audience is supposed to be laughing. It seems at times that eons come and go, dynasties rise and fall, geological epochs pass, while we wait for the dissolve to the next scene in a silent room. Hope was a lot better later on, especially in the Road movies with Bing Crosby to play off. And he would be much better by himself too, in such outings as "My Favorite Spy." This one is worth watching and at times is engaging fun, but, for Hope, strictly by the book.

GoonerAl Although very well written, I think the previous review of this relatively early Bob Hope picture is a little harsh. Perhaps it is written from a professional viewpoint.As an ordinary punter that happens to be a Bob Hope fan, there are more than enough good quips and comical situations here to keep me chuckling throughout.I would class this as a picture that is simply meant to be enjoyed, rather than dissected and analysed in intimate detail. In fact, good "old-fashioned" entertainment that will provide more than a fair share of laughs on a winter's afternoon.