Caught in the Draft

Bob Hope plays a cowardly movie star who is afraid of being drafted. So he concocts a scheme to marry pretty Dorothy Lamour, in hopes of avoiding the draft. But general's daughter Dorothy figures him out and is disgusted by his cowardice. Having actually fallen for her, he comes up with another scheme to pretend to join the army to impress her, but it backfires and he finds himself actually enlisted. You can pretty much guess what will happen next. Decent WW2 comedy with the usual likable performances of Hope and Lamour. Eddie Bracken plays Bob's sidekick. It's a pleasant time-passer but nothing exceptional. It's fun to see Hope and Lamour in a movie without Bing Crosby. I kept expecting Bing to pop up and steal Dorothy away, as Bob rarely got the girl in their movies together.

I saw this movie when it was re-released as a supporting feature at a cinema here in Melbourne about 1951. Don't remember much about it, except the scene where the hero (Hope) loses control of a tank and runs it into the side of the colonel's Cadillac limo (it might have been a Chrysler) but the audience was appalled, as I was, because luxury cars like this were rarely seen here in those years. It wasn't faked either, as I recall. Can someone advise what the car was? I'm compiling a list of cars used in the movies. Apart from that I thought it was a quite passable comedy and I'm hoping it might come up on late-nite TV sometime as they have occasionally shown other Paramount movies of the era. TT.

I saw this movie 30 years or more ago and recall it being quite funny, and while it's not as funny as I remember it being, it's still an enjoyable romp with typical Bob Hope comedy.

It's also a movie that portrays a pretty accommodating military. This makes sense within the context of a wartime movie - they didn't want to scare anyone away from the army - but the way Hope casually wanders off base and does various shenanigans without ever getting locked up strains credulity.

As I watched this, I found myself wondering why Hope made so many movies with Dorothy Lamour. They don't have any discernible chemistry, although to be fair, Hope was such a non leading man that I'm not sure he ever had on screen chemistry with any woman. I feel like checking out some more Hope movies just to try and figure that out.

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.

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.