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.

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.

Bob Hope plays a reporter who thinks he has a scoop about Nazis in New York.

This is typical Bob Hope and also typical World War II stuff. One's delight with the material depends on one's Hope threshold.

I like Hope's early works from "The Big Broadcast of 1938" for the next ten ot twelve years. But the treasure here is Dorothy Lamour, who proves she was more than a pretty face and figure in a sarong.

Also good is John Abbot in a small part as the reporter's source.

The movie also has some good "crazy" moments. Keep an eye peeled when he's in an airplane early on. And it has some nicely cast teeny parts.

This wartime Bob Hope comedy is not a classic, but it does produce laughs - including some out-loud ones - with adequate frequency. The topical elements (the Gestapo, air raids, saboteurs, etc.) are played fairly straight, which is interesting to see. Dorothy Lamour looks great as Bob's girl - I got Woody Allen-Diane Keaton vibes from their partnership. **1/2 out of 4.

They Got Me Covered is one of two films Bob Hope did on loan out from Paramount to Sam Goldwyn. After that Goldwyn once again signed his own house comedian Danny Kaye so he wouldn't have to pay an exorbitant ransom Paramount put on Hope's talents.

Hope's a bumbling newspaper reporter who turned out to be the only wire service man who did not get the story of the German invasion of the Soviet Union. That got him fired by boss editor Donald MacBride in one of his patented movie temper tantrums,

If you can believe it Hope actually won a Pulitzer Prize, but we soon learn the reason for it. He's got a Rumanian source named Venescu played by John Abbott. Abbott's got another big story for him, but he manages to get himself killed. Hope and ever suffering gal pal Dorothy Lamour have to find out what happened.

This could have been the plot line for any number of melodramatic noir type films, but this is a Bob Hope film so we're talking satire of same. Hope gets a lot of help from a very good cast of players Sam Goldwyn assembled here. Representing the Axis are Otto Preminger, Philip Ahn, and Eduardo Ciannelli plus a very seductive Lenore Aubert as the traditional femme fatale.

Best moments for me are those that Hope has with Donald Meek playing an addled old caretaker who believes the Civil War is still going on. The two of them reprise a couple of old burlesque routines in Abbott and Costello style.

Also look for a really nice performance by brassy blond Marion Martin as stripper Gloria the Glo-Girl.

They Got Me Covered despite the dated World War II topical references still has quite a lot of laughs for today's audience.