Watch the Birdie

The prankster Bob (Bob Hope) is traveling to New York by ship with his girlfriend and he proposes to marry her. Along the trip, he plays pranks on the captain, passengers and his future father-in-law.

When they arrive in the harbor, the captain and his father-in-law decide to revenge and the captain asks his men to retain bob at the customs for hours. Then he heads to the office of his father-in-law where his girlfriend is waiting for him. But her father is still upset with Bob.

"Watch the Bridie" is a 18 minutes short that begins funny, with the annoying little girl and the jokes of Bob. However, when he arrives at the custom, the story loses the pace and becomes boring. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Watch the Birdie"

The first portion of the film is set aboard a cruise ship. Bob Hope has fallen in love with a young lady and they plan on asking her father if they can marry. But their time alone is interrupted again and again by her pesky little sister. At first you feel sorry for them, but Hope manages to annoy everyone on the ship except for his new fiancé. Will her father approve?! Will the audience care?! This is one of Hope's earlier films--a short for Vitaphone. I really liked it through the first third--it had plenty of jokes and I loved the smart-allecky little girl. But then, as the film progressed Hope's character became more and more annoying and unlikable. It was as if the sight gags were much more important than the plot--and he reminded me of the antics of Carrot Top--with all the stupid toys instead of laughs. It seems that Hope LOVES practical jokes--all very unfunny ones that literally hurt people. What's funny about this...and what woman would want to marry a jerk like this. Sadly, the film didn't end well, either--just more of the same.

Exceptionally uneven. The first portion earns an 8 and the last a 4--for an overall score of 5.

Watch the Birdie is the title of this early short comedy starring Bob Hope and Arline Dinintz which finds the couple on a cruise ship with her younger sister and parents. Bob's character is a practical joker with a lot of those early gag toys like the telescope that leaves the black eye, a snake springing out of a lighter, several squirt gun gags and of course his camera that you can "watch the birdie" (as one shoots out at the subject). The camera has a dual function in which you have to see the film to see how it adds to the fun. It's old fashioned humor from a more simpler time that will undoubtedly bore most younger fans. Notice the level of dress with suits and dresses and hats even at leisure on a cruise ship in the day. Bob's character asks later in the film what some higher ups are doing in a board room, to which his fiancée responds, "they're figuring out a way to solve the depression." He says, "oh, you mean they're going to give everybody money," and she astutely replies, "no, but they're going to make everybody forget that they haven't got it!" History might just be repeating itself today so go out and make it fun to smile for the camera.

This short film doesn't do enough to show Bob Hope as the wonderful comedic actor. This film is less than twenty minutes and forgettable for the most part. Bob does his best with humor. The short is satisfactory and appeared on the Top Hat DVD.

Watch the Birdie (1935)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

This hit and miss comedy features Bob Hope playing a practical joker on a cruise ship with the woman he wants to marry. He ends up playing jokes on several people and this comes back to haunt him when one of them turns out to be the girl's father (in a predictable scene). WATCH THE BIRDIE is mainly going to be for fans of Hope who want to see what the legend was doing before he really hit it big. It's really too bad this two-reeler falls apart in the final act because there were some funny moments early on. I thought Hope did a pretty good job with his role and I especially like the way he sold the various jokes. These include a telescope with black tar on it, a camera with a bird that flies out and one dealing with a punch to the eye. What really doesn't work early on is the annoying younger sister who keeps showing up. I know this was meant to be cute but she got on my nerves after the first joke and each time she showed up after that just had me wishing she'd go away for good. The middle of the film deals with Hope getting stuck on the ship and there's not a single laugh to be had here. The final showdown really doesn't pay off either.