Never Say Die

Bob Hope at the point in time that Never Say Die was released was not the big name star he became, but he was definitely getting there. Please note that Martha Raye is billed above him in the credits.

Preston Sturges, year away from getting his first film as a director as well as writer, wrote a pretty funny and witty script, not an easy thing to accomplish both.

Bob Hope temporarily escapes the clutches of a predatory widow played by Gale Sondergaard who has him picked out to be her latest rich husband who have a knack of dying. In fact it's a mixed up diagnosis with a dog that makes Hope think he is dying.

Enter Martha Raye who's a nouveau riche daughter of a nouveau riche Paul Harvey who's a new Texas millionaire. He wants her to marry Alan Mowbray who's one no-account count. His daughter with a title will get him into society. She wants to marry her boyfriend Andy Devine back in Texas.

When Hope and Raye meet up they decide to marry each other and solve all their problems. I can't mention the rest but take it on faith that the players here perform to the stereotypes we have of them.

Even with Hope and Raye in the cast, my favorite moment is with Gale Sondergaard trying to vamp Andy Devine. Among other things Gale is the Olympic pistol target shooting champion. Poor Andy doesn't have a prayer in every sense of the word.

In two years, both Preston Sturges and Bob Hope were at the top of the Paramount pecking order. It begs the question why they never worked together at that period. Was it that they couldn't find a mutually agreeable project or was it a question of a couple of egos clashing. Hope and Sturges did in fact work together, but it was Hope's film Paris Holiday where Sturges had a brief acting role. Sturges was living in Paris at the time and living what could be described as genteel poverty. Anyway I think it's a real loss that Never Say Die and Paris Holiday are their only joint credits.

Before the road pictures and Bing Crosby, there was Bob Hope and Martha Raye. This duo continued to entertain USO troops all over the world after the outbreak of WW2, and the thousands of GIs who saw them were always extremely grateful. This is one of their several film appearances together, and while not very believable from a romantic angle, they are, at least funny with their bantering. An hour of harmless fun.

"Never Say Die" is a very good early Bob Hope comedy. It's just the fifth feature film for Hope and the third in which he had the male lead. Martha Raye is billed ahead of him, reflecting her longer tenure and cinematic popularity at the time.

The film is very funny and has touches of satire throughout. The first is in its portrayal of an Alpine spa somewhere is Switzerland or Bavaria. The opening scene has some spoofing of names - the village of Bad Gaswasser, and the Kurhotel Edelweiss. And it shows a worker in the bowels of the place adding Epsom salts, bi-carbs, plum extract and Sulphur dioxide, and then turning on the water supply for the hotel's natural springs.

In this setting is American millionaire, John Kidley, played by Hope. He is a hypochondriac who has come to Bad Gaswasser for two reasons - a cure or treatment for all that ails him, and to escape the clutches of a gold-digger he had met in Paris. Mrs. Juno Marko, played by Gale Sondergaard, is pursing Kidley to tie the knot with him. But Kidley has more than one reason to be leery of the woman who seems to lose husbands in strange ways.

At the same time, a new oil-rich Texan, Jasper Hawkins (Paul Harvey) is there with his daughter, Mickey (Martha Raye). Dad has her engaged to marry into European royalty - namely, Prince Smirnov, played by Alan Mowbray. He's willing to sacrifice his daughter on the altar of love for the prestige that will open the doors to him at the country club back home. That bit of satire is fueled by Mickey's intended groom, Prince Smirnov (Alan Mowbray). He is marrying only for the money to pay off the debts owed to the high society collector hounding him.

Of course, Mickey doesn't go for the forced marriage. Her heart belongs to Henry Munch (Andy Devine) back home. Even if she weren't to marry the prince, dad Jasper can no longer tolerate the hick, Henry, since coming into their wealth. Henry is a lowly mailman. But, he pines for Mickey and eventually shows up himself in Bad Gaswasser - having taken a cattle boat across the ocean.

These characters should be enough to stir the imagination of any movie goer as to how this story plays out. Any crazy plot is possible. And an extended cast of top supporting actors of the day adds to the humor. They include Sig Ruman, Monty Woolley, Ernest Cossart, Frances Arms, Ivan Simpson and many more.

One of the funniest segments is a duel that reminds one of a scene in the 1956 "Court Jester" that starred Danny Kaye. A tongue-twister scene in that film has "the vessel with the pestle" and the "flagon with the dragon." One wonders if the writers of that later comedy didn't get an idea or two from this film. In the scene of a duel, Hope's and Mowbray's characters have to try to remember which weapon to choose, as told them secretly by the loader.

As they walk to face each other and select their weapon, they repeat the confidant's direction: "There's a cross on the muzzle of the pistol with the bullet and a nick on the handle of the pistol with the blank." It turns into gibberish by the time they meet, and Prince Smirnov has just said to himself, "There's a noss on the crizzle of the mistol with the pillet, and a pullet on the nozzle of the nickel with the blank."

The preposterous ending to this film is a fitting finish to a very funny, nonsensical comedy and spoof. Here are some favorite lines from this film.

Concierge, "Ah, good morning. And how is poor, dear Mr. Kidley?" Jeepers, Kidley's valet, "His gall bladder spent a rather peaceful night... However, he complains of a shooting pain in his sacroiliac."

Hotel Proprietor, "Ah, Jeepers, good morning. How is Mr. Kidley this morning?" Jeepers, "Up and down-ish, thank you, sir. His liver was a bit squeamish during the night."

Mrs. June Marko, "Mr. Kidley staying here?" Doorman, "Yes, madam. Rooms 201, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7."

John Kidley, "Oh, yes, the one they said you shot." Mrs. Marko, "It's not true! It's a wicked, slanderous lie!" Kidley, "Oh, I should say it is. Just because you were there and there were holes in him, Mrs. Marko, is no reason why people should..." Mrs. Marko, "I was acquitted. Just because I'm impulsive and quick tempered, people talk." Kidley, "Yes, and with you being an Olympic pistol champion...." Mrs. Marko, "You too?"

John Kidley, "Poor Pierre? What happened to him?" June Marko, "He fell off the Matterhorn." Kidley, "Oh, that's too... That's a mountain!" Mrs. Marko, "Thirteen thousand, six hundred and sixty-nine feet. He was never found." John Kidley, "Did they look? Were you there, Mrs. Marko?" June Marko, "I saw it all. It was horrible. And when it happened, I... I wasn't a foot behind him." Kidley, "Think of that. I'll bet you could've reached right out and touched him, eh, Mrs. Marko?" June Marko, "Easily."

Jeepers, "The coward dies a thousand deaths, the hero dies but once."

Dr. Schmidt, "You are the first human dog."

Mickey Hawkins, "Oh, Henry, that moon. Look at the moon." Henry Munch, whittling a piece of wood, "Yeah, it's big."

Dr. Schmidt, "I'll call it Schmidt's disease." Associate Doctor, "After you?" Dr. Schmidt, "After me."

Dr. Schmidt, "Side by side, we will live through all eternity. Schmidt and his disease," pointing to Kidley.

Henry Munch, "Well, I can't get it outta my mind that I'm kissin' somebody else's wife. Makes me feel like one of them playboys."

Mickey Hawkins, "No, no. And a nick on the pullet of the whistle with the blank."

Just watched this early Bob Hope picture made before his established movie personality of a cowardly hero was ingrained in the minds of the public. Here, he's a rich man who believes he's dying due to...well, just watch the picture. Anyway, Martha Raye is also in this. Both of them are engaged to a someone neither wants to marry so they decide to wed each other. Oh, and Andy Devine is also here as someone who really likes Ms. Raye. Let me just stop here and just say that I found the whole thing quite funny and the fact Preston Sturges was one of the writers may have had to do something with it. There's also a game supporting cast involved. So on that note, I highly recommend Never Say Die.

No masterpiece, but interesting in its own right. Martha Raye, for once, is playing it straight, and not doing the broad comedy/singing routine that was part of her 1930s Paramount films. (She really didn't show this side of her talent again until she had her regular TV variety show in the 1950s. Bob Hope had not yet become the familiar "Bob Hope", wise-cracking and egotistical; rather, here he plays a light comedy romantic lead rather in the British music hall manner. The love scenes between the two are often rather touching in their sincerity. The supporting cast is excellent, especially Gale Sondergaard, the predatory villianness whose shooting skill, which hangs ominously over Hope's head as she forces him into marriage during the entire film, provides the deus ex machina to resolve the romantic plot in a surprise turnabout. The fact that all other roles are played so broadly helps highlight the relatively subdued Raye and Hope performances. In fact, there are several surprises along the way, including the fact that boy and girl marry at about a third of the way through the movie; then fall in love. Very enjoyable.