La brune de mes rêves

This movie offers an abundance of laughs with Hope as a baby photographer turned detective who is clearly out of his element. Dorothy Lamour is sexy and funny as Bobs love interest. Peter Lorre and Lon Chaney Jr. add the sinister part to the movie and are good straight men for Hopes antics. This type of comedy was popular in the 40's but few could pull it off as well as Hope could. He is, in my opinion, better without a partner such as Bing to bring in the laughs. It is a fun picture to watch.

Bob Hope is back! This time with Dorothy Lamour. This is the ninth film they both have been in and they were in five more together after this one, Bob Hope is the age of 43 or 44 in this film. Bob Hope plays a baby photographer who has always wanted to be a private eye...a detective. Next to his office is the McCloud Detective Agency. He begs for Sam McCloud (Alan Ladd in a cameo appearance) to give him a chance. But nothin' doin'. While McCloud trusts Bob to answer the phone while he steps outside to work on a case, who should walk in but Dorothy Lamour. The distraught woman needs help and thinks Bob is McCloud the detective. Well, what is Bob to do? Especially as lovely as Dorothy Lamour is. So here is Bob's chance to play detective. Here is where the fun begins. Bing Crosby also has a cameo appearance.

This was one of the three films that Bob Hope did for Paramount with the theme of favorites: blonde, spy and brunette. He was at one of the best moments of his career when this spoof about the detective movie genre went into production.

"My Favorite Brunette" was directed by Elliott Nugent with a style that made it fun and light to watch. The screen play by Edmund Beloin and Jack Rose parodies those films that showed a charismatic private eye get into all kinds of dangerous situations. In this film, Ronnie Jackson, a photographer in San Francisco is suddenly, thrown into a web of intrigue when he steps into the office of his neighbor, the real P.I, Sam McCloud, who is fed up with the job and is leaving town.

Enter the femme fatale, something that is a must in this type of film, Carlotta Montay. She will get Ronnie into all kinds of difficult situations and even the gas chamber as he tries his best to deal with all the bad people that are chasing Carlotta.

Bob Hope was excellent in his take of Ronnie Jackson. Dorothy Lamour, in all her beauty, made the most of her Carlotta. Two cameos in the film were notorious because they are uncredited and unexpected: Alan Ladd, and Bing Crosby. Others in the film are Peter Lorre, Lon Chaney Jr., Charles Dingle, Frank Puglia, Reginald Denny, among the supporting cast.

The film is still a lot of fun as it makes fun of other more dramatic movies thanks to the direction of Elliott Nugent.

Bob Hope is very funny in this enjoyable light comedy. The plot is deliberately crazy and implausible, but creative, and it sets up some funny situations. The rest of the cast is good too, and it all works very well as light entertainment.

Hope plays a photographer who longs to be a detective, and then gets his chance, only to find out that it's a lot more than he can handle. It's a fine role for Hope, and the script also gives him a lot of good material to work with. Dorothy Lamour is suitably mysterious as the woman who involves him in a complicated situation. Peter Lorre and Lon Chaney Jr. add atmosphere and humor as two of Hope's adversaries.

Anyone who likes Hope should enjoy seeing him in "My Favorite Brunette", and it is also recommended for anyone who likes light comedies of the era.

When baby photographer Ronnie Jackson (Bob Hope) office-sits for traveling p.i. Sam McCloud, he finds his dreams of playing detective coming all too true all too soon when mysterious damsel-in-distress Carlotta Montay (Dorothy Lamour) sashays into his office. Soon our hero is up to his ski-nose in trouble as he and his comely client are chased by a gang of cutthroats with designs on Carlotta's uncle's uranium (that's right, uranium!). One of Hope's best comedies, BRUNETTE deftly spoofs hard-boiled private eye thrillers of the era with a barrage of uproarious one-liners and set pieces. Hope and Lamour's usual comic/romantic chemistry is at its finest amid a nifty supporting cast including Peter Lorre, the unfairly uncredited Jean Wong (a delight as Mrs. Fong, mother of a tot so loathe to smile that Ronnie quips, "This kid's gonna grow up to be a sponsor!"), Lon Chaney Jr. (essentially playing his classic and oft-imitated OF MICE AND MEN role for laughs), and a couple of cameos too hilarious to spoil here (including the Paramount tough guy who appears as McCloud)! The DVD currently available doesn't have the most pristine print, but it's got some fun interactive features, including a trivia quiz. I only hope somebody decides to give this cheeky, cheerful farce the Criterion-caliber treatment it deserves! UPDATE for 2011: There's a remastered Bob Hope DVD collection available from The Shout Factory, including a gorgeous print of MY FAVORITE BRUNETTE, complete with Paramount logo! HOORAY!