They Got Me Covered

Bob Hope is a Pulitzer-prize winning Robert Kittridge reporter who, after assuring his editor that Germany will not invade Russia loses his job in "They Got Me Covered." He thinks that this minor infraction can be forgiven if the man who won him the first Pulitzer, his contact Vanescu, will just come through with the story he says he has. But he's too nervous and tells Kittridge to have a stenographer (Lamour) meet him and she should carry a red bag and a green umbrella. His girlfriend/secretary calls home and arranges to have her roommate meet them - but Kittridge has the meeting place mixed up and by the time they get to the right place, the roommate has been taken away in a car. She gets the story in shorthand but the Nazis can't decipher it. They bring in decoder after decoder who look at the notes in dismay and say things like, "This isn't Gregg shorthand...this isn't Pittman....this isn't speedwriting..." - a very funny scene that probably had the secretaries in the audience laughing. The poor roommate then becomes a target.

The script is loaded with war jokes about rationing, the swing shift, etc., and Hope pops them off in his usual wry manner. When he hears Crosby on the radio, he turns it off and says, "That guy is haunting me." Lamour sports a big, high hairdo that almost looks like she's got it intertwined with a fur piece. She gives Hope great support. The Axis powers are a scream - Otto Preminger, Eduardo Cianelli, and Philip Ahn. In one very funny scene, Hope, disguised as a dummy, is eavesdropping on them at a health club when Preminger decides to show his skill with a knife - at the dummy.

Wartime audiences must have loved this, and much of "They Got Me Covered" still holds up even if that particular war is over. Great comedy delivered by masters.

Foreign correspondent Bob Hope is recalled to the States. He has, as he puts it, "slipped up a little bit on the Russian rumpus." Meaning—he was the only foreign correspondent in Europe who didn't report the invasion of Russia by the Nazis. (Instead he sent home a cable saying to disregard all such rumors.)

Fired, Hope winds up in Washington, hoping to redeem himself and his job by begging (and buying) another scoop from a spy named Vanescu (John Abbott). He is going to need help from his girlfriend on the Washington bureau—Dorothy Lamour, of course.

One thing leads to another, and the plot develops into a spy thriller involving a missing notebook; a kidnapped stenographer (Phyllis Ruth); a blonde dance hall star (Marion Martin) who musters up her patriotism when it counts; a murder or two; and a beauty parlor that is actually a nest of Axis spies.

Donald Meek has one great scene as a nut who thinks he's fighting the Civil War. Donald MacBride has a wild bit as the managing editor who is flabbergasted at Hope's incompetence and takes great relish in loudly firing him. Lenore Aubert is wickedly tempting as the beautiful fortune teller and spy near the center of the plot.

The patriotic element is there, too: When the emergency is on, Lamour rounds up her roommates—all government office workers in one department or another. For muscle, the girls bring along their boyfriends: a marine, a sailor, and so on. It's a team very easy to cheer for as they swoop onto the scene.

Of course, Hope and Lamour always look good together. A fair number of snappy one-liners and a decent plot keep this one moving.

The best parts of "They Got Me Covered" are its action and chase scenes. As a comedy, this is not one of Bob Hope's best films. After a while, his stand-up comedian persona becomes irritating and doesn't seem to fit with the film or the humor. This is most evident in his aside comments to himself, usually. Nor are they very funny. The funniest scene of the entire film is that with Donald Meek who plays the little old man (the crazy one). Meek is one of the long- lasting Hollywood supporting actors whom old film buffs will recognize and enjoy. He is a real hoot in this comic scene. And that's when Hope's glance askance as though looking at the audience really works.

The story is OK, but bounces around a lot. Most of the performers are good. And the technical aspects are fine. But as a comedy, this just doesn't have enough gas or gags to make it anything better than an average film.

Typical BOB HOPE comedy popular during the war years when his gags were timely and always on target kidding the current political situation and the entertainment world with breezy one liners. DOROTHY LAMOUR is the fetching sweetheart who helps Bob in his efforts to win back his reputation as a Pulitzer Prize journalist after his big gaffe in predicting that Germany will never invade Russia.

It's the breezy sort of thing Hope always did so well, with a nice supporting cast of character actors who knew how to be foils for his comic gags. Among them: EDWARD CIANNELLI, LEONORE AUBERT, DONALD COOK, OTTO PREMINGER, MARION MARTIN and DONALD MacBRIDE. Cook has a surprising against type role as a crazy gangster who at one point says to Hope: "You're cool, ain't ya?" (The use of "cool" way ahead of its time!).

Directed at a fast pace by David Butler, it's certainly not one of Hope's best films but easy to see why Hope vs. Nazis was such a fun idea in those WWII days when the best villains were always those notorious Germans.

The plot has Lamour helping Hope win his reputation back by capturing a bunch of spies in Washington, D.C. Fans of Hope and Lamour should find this one satisfying enough despite its flaws.

Paramount Studios loaned out Bob Hope to Sam Goldwyn to make two films--"The Princess and the Pirate" (1944) and this film. Despite a new studio, however, the style and enjoyability of this film is about on par with Hope's films of the late 30s and through the 1940s. This was Hope's most productive period--with one excellent comedy after another. None are masterpieces, but all are consistently worth seeing.

Hope stars as an incompetent reporter. His boss is so fed up with his lack of talent in sniffing out a story that he fires him. However, when a man approaches Hope and promises to give him important secrets about the Nazis, Hope sees his chance to win his job back and tell an important story. But, unfortunately, things don't go that smoothly and soon Hope's days seem numbered, as Axis agents from all three powers are all mobilized to kill him and gain the secrets for themselves. Along for the ride is the ubiquitous Dorothy Lamour.

All in all, the film is breezy and fun--and relies more on fun situations than one-liners. It also is a good propaganda film, as although like most of these films it's a bit preachy, it's entertaining enough that you just don't care. If only Hope's later films were this much fun....