Never Say Die

This early Bob Hope feature is very funny, and quite charming in its own particular way to boot. Of Hope's more frequent leading ladies in film, I have always found his teamings with Martha Raye to be the most satisfying, possibly because Bob and she seem to feed off each other in a way his other regulars (Paulette Goddard/Lucy/Dottie) didn't. Perhaps it has something to do with their vaudeville background. Anyway, both Bob, and particularly Martha, are far more subdued in their roles here than usual, and Never Say Die benefits enormously as a result. (Perhaps in the case of Hope this is due to the fact that this film comes so early in his screen career, before his on-screen persona of the egocentric and cowardly would-be ladies man was so firmly established). Their characters of John Kidley and Mickey Hawkins here somehow have a human dimension which is usually lacking in the usual Hope or Raye portrayal (no matter how enjoyable), and the warmth of the romantic scenes between the two in this picture is something which in my opinion is unique, never repeated by either of them in any of their other film work again.

There are other aspects of Never Say Die which have always made it one of my favourite Hope pictures...Gale Sondergard as a man hungry widow, Monty Woolley in a small role as an ambitious medico, Andy Devine as Martha's intended, and especially Sig Rumann as Poppa Ingleborg in some hilarious scenes at the hotel. Also Preston Sturges involvement in the script does show. And has already been noted elsewhere, fans of Danny Kaye may be interested in viewing this picture if only to see an earlier (and one must admit less successful) incarnation of the "flagon with the dragon" routine from The Court Jester.

I give this one a 10. I can't think of more than a minute or 2 going by without laughing. Martha Raye is the best female counterpart to Bob. She has the same comic sense and the two of them play off each other perfectly. Perhaps the first movie with full-on gay subtext jokes as well. Don't miss it if you like Bob Hope or classic comedy.

Wealthy Bob Hope (Kidley) is a hypochondriac - one of those annoying people who always think there is something wrong with them - and is living in a quiet retreat in Switzerland. However, he is tracked down by husband-collector Gale Sondergaard (Marko). She murders her husbands, collects the money and then moves on to the next. Bob Hope is her new target and she arranges the wedding date for him, which is imminent. As fortune has it, farmer's daughter Martha Raye (Mickey) is due to marry Prince Alan Mowbray (Smirnov) on the same day and Hope and Raye come up with a scheme to help themselves out of their respective messes.

The film is a comedy and it doesn't really make any sense but it is surprisingly entertaining, despite the usually annoying cast members of Hope and Raye. They are actually funny! There is also some funny dialogue! I note that Preston Sturgess was involved in this film, usually a writer of complete drivel, so that is another rare thing, Sturgess actually being funny! We can't be sure, of course that he actually wrote anything funny. The funny lines may well have come from Hope. He definitely brings life and comedy into his interpretation of the dialogue. Everyone does well. Except the annoying butler character.

A surprisingly entertaining film.

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.

I recently discovered this movie, the first one I ever saw with Martha Raye, and I can't decide who was funnier, her or Bob Hope, but what chemistry they had together! (I don't know if they did any other films together, but I'm sure going to find out, with fingers crossed.)

This was hilarious, with Bob as John Kidley, a (supposedly) fatally ill millionaire, Martha as Mickey Hawkins, the girl he marries to save her from Prince Smirnov (Alan Mowbray), the man her newly rich, social climbing father (Paul Harvey) is pushing on her, whom she can't stand, and who's only after her family fortune. (When John dies, Mickey will inherit everything and be rich in her own right, as well as independent.) Throw into the mix Henry Munch (Andy Devine), Mickey's hometown (and very unromantic) bus driver boyfriend, as well as John's fiancee, Olympic sharpshooter Juno Marko (Gale Sondergaard, in the first role I've seen her where she isn't talking to ghosts), who's not too pleased about being thrown over, and you get a real laugh riot!

Watch and enjoy!