Never Say Die

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.

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.

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.

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 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.