Alex da Silva Baby photographer Bob Hope (Ronnie) dreams of being a detective. His dreams come true when detective Alan Ladd (Sam) leaves town for a few days leaving Hope in charge of things. Dorothy Lamour (Carlotta) enters the picture and needs a detective so Hope pretends to be Ladd and takes on her case. The film carries you along and whether you like it will depend on your opinion of Bob Hope. Personally, I'm always let down by his shtick and there are a couple of typical Bob Hope moments that annoy me. Firstly, he cracks topical jokes with asides to the audience which are never really funny in the first place, eg, finding a bottle of alcohol and referencing Ray Milland who won an Oscar for "The Lost Weekend" (1945), a film about alcoholism. Is that his best joke? Also, scenes drag on, eg, the drawing room with the record player not plugged in. Oh, come on, Bob - this is beyond frustrating! Set aside this, Dorothy gets to sing a song.However, like all his efforts, you go along with the ride and for me, the best part of the film comes at the end with the appearance of the executioner. It's actually funny!

weezeralfalfa In general, I'm not into film noires. However, this one was wackier than the ones I've seen, understanding that it's supposed to be a spoof of the genre. This is one of a triumvirate of films costarring Bob Hope, titled "My Favorite......", released between 1942 and 1951. I haven't seen the other two yet: "My Favorite Blond" and "My Favorite Spy", each with a different cute costar: Dorothy Lamour in this one. A highly contrived plot, basically about the disposition of the mineral rights for a piece of land owned by a wheelchair-bound uncle of Dorothy's character, A central part of the screenplay involves fighting over the possession of a piece of paper with a map of the location of the minerals, with a code not attached to the map, which only Dorothy's uncle and a geologist know. The bad guys have kidnapped said uncle, hoping to get the code from him. But Hope has hidden the map, given to him by Dorothy for safe keeping. Dorothy has hired Hope as a detective, believing him to be the professional detective whose office is next to Hope's photography lab. Dorothy says she's afraid the kidnappers will kill her uncle if she goes to the police about the kidnapping, so why she wants a private eye.(Why would the kidnappers want to kill Dorothy's uncle, if only he knows an essential bit of information?)I wish they had named either Montay or Montague something else, since they include 3 of the main characters, and I sometimes got mixed up who they were talking about.The finale made little sense to me. Hope's character is on death row as the supposed murderer of geologist James Collins. Just why he or Peter Lorre's character(the real murderer) would want Collins dead isn't clear to me. Collins drew the map everyone wants, and devised the code for the map. Lorre destroyed the recording of his admission of guilt. All we have is the negative of Hope's photo showing that the man he was told is Dorothy's uncle must be an imposter. How does this prove Hope's innocence of the murder?? As a geology enthusiast, I checked out the said relationship between a cryolite deposit and supposed included uranium. I found no indication that cryolite deposits contain significant uranium. Significant cryolite deposits are very rare, and it is important as a flux in converting bauxite into metallic aluminum. Thus, the cryolite itself might be more valuable than uranium, which is found in various places around the world.

sddavis63 Superstar though he may have been, I have to confess that I was never that impressed with Bob Hope's comedy. Admittedly, my exposure to him came late in his career, mostly through his television specials in the 1970's which the elder members of my family insisted on watching. Given his superstar status, I thought I'd try out a Bob Hope movie when I came across this one. In all honesty it's what I would have expected - amusing rather than outright funny and with a somewhat confusing story that held my interest but was never well enough explained.This is one of those movies that starts at the end and then uses flashbacks to explain how the end came about. In this case, Hope played Ronnie Jackson, a baby photographer who as the movie opens is sitting on death row waiting to be executed. Jackson dreamt of being a private eye, and as the result of a case of mistaken identity, ends up being hired by Countess Montay (Dorothy Lamour) to help find her missing uncle. Here's where the confusing mystery comes in. What we're told is that Montay had an appointment at the State Department and that it had something to do with uranium. There's also a bunch of bad guys out to find a map which ends up in Jackson's possession. Aside from that, the mystery wasn't well explained. Of the bad guys, Peter Lorre was OK and somewhat mysterious, but I thought that Lon Chaney (in a somewhat limited role) was really quite good, as well as being a somewhat sympathetic character. Hope and Lamour were fine; Hope's type of comedy essentially what I remembered from the 70's TV specials. There's a very brief cameo from Bing Crosby at the end of the movie, responded to (out of character) by Hope, who says "that guy will take any part he can get." It's not an outstanding movie by any means, and it's also not a bad movie. Mediocre seems to suit it well. 4/10

intelearts With a plot of spies and intrigue to hang the one liners on this is nothing but fun all the way.As a solo effort (Without Bing Crosby - who does make a killer appearance eventually) this is one of Bob Hope's best. Every line is delivered just right and he and Dorothy Lamour are great.Every situation is milked for its comedy potential and sure, it's corny - but boy, it don't half work!This is just a wonderful comedy with an edge of excitement and a great send-up of some of the clichés of Film Noir.One to relax and laugh along with - Hope and Lamour at their best!