“I’VE GIVEN UP KISSING STRANGE WOMEN”

By Raymond Benson

Bob Hope had a stellar career that stretched from the late 1930s through the 1960s, with subsequent star power appearances in his senior years on television in variety and awards shows. His efforts to entertain troops overseas for decades are highly commendable. What many punters today don’t realize, unless one is a Hope aficionado, is that his early solo comedies (or the duos with Bing Crosby) are absolute comic gems. Woody Allen has gone on the record to say that he based much of his early 1970s screen persona on Bob Hope, and one can easily see that nebbish, albeit here decidedly non-Jewish, “character” in My Favorite Blonde.

The story of this 1942 outing is credited to longtime Hope collaborators Melvin Frank and Norman Panama (the screenplay is by Don Hartman and Frank Butler), and it is genuinely laugh-out-loud funny. The one-liners are worthy of the Marx Brothers, and Hope’s onscreen antics solidify his reputation as a superb comedian. The movie is a joy to watch.

The war is on, and British agent Karen Bentley (Madeleine Carroll, a popular U.K. actress who made the move to Hollywood in the early 40s) must get revised flight plans for U.S. bombers to a colleague in Chicago, who will in turn deliver them to the army in California. The Nazi spies are on to her, though, so she must quickly find cover for travel from New York to the west. Enter Larry Haines (Hope), who performs a comedy act with a penguin named Percy, who makes more money than he (Percy nearly steals the movie, by the way). Karen seduces Larry just enough to get him to bring her along to California, as he’s on his way there to put Percy in the movies. The German spies, led by icy Madame Runick (Gale Sondergaard) and Dr. Streger (George Zucco), follow them every step of the way. Both Karen and Larry undergo captivity and near death, and then luckily escape, several times throughout the picture, until they… well, fall in love.

There are some classic set pieces and dialogue exchanges. For example—

“Kiss me, Larry,” Karen implores.

Larry: (hesitating, shaking his head) “I hardly know you! Besides, I’ve given up kissing strange women.”

Karen: “Oh, what made you stop?”

Larry: “Strange women!”

Director Sidney Lanfield keeps the picture moving at a brisk pace, and its brevity (only 78 minutes) is a plus. The lead performers take command of the material and run with it, and the audience cannot help but be pulled along, laughing all the way. This is great stuff.

Kino Lorber’s new Blu-ray release looks good and is appropriately grainy in its glorious black and white. An informative audio commentary by film historian Samm Deighan is included. The only supplement is a collage of scenes from other Kino Lorber Bob Hope titles and a slew of theatrical trailers from the same.

My Favorite Blonde was an extremely popular entry in those early war years when the Allies needed some laughs. There were subsequent follow-ups (My Favorite Brunette and My Favorite Spy in 1947 and 1951, respectively, but the stories are not related). So, grab a copy of this excellent comedy and be ready to have a good time in the old home theater.

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