My Favorite Brunette

Bob Hope in one of his better comedies of the 1940s, a clever satire of noir mysteries (Raymond Chandler, in particular) which substitutes hard-boiled for soft-boiled without losing the essence of a good crime story. A baby-photographer in San Francisco is found in the neighboring offices of a vacationing private detective by a femme fatale, who unwittingly hires the would-be gumshoe to help find her missing uncle. Edmund Beloin and Jack Rose penned the dandy original screenplay, neatly skirting the spoofy/silly undercurrent which marred many of Hope's starring vehicles of the era. Dorothy Lamour (with the wonderful character name Carlotta Montay) is the supposedly schizophrenic and paranoid client; Peter Lorre is her evil valet; and nobody cracks walnuts like muscle-stooge Lon Chaney. Fresh and witty, with a surprising hint of sex appeal, a solid production, and two terrific star-cameos as a bonus. *** from ****

"My Favorite Brunette" shows that the parodying of film genres did not start with Mel Brooks or even with the "Carry On" films. Ronnie Jackson is a San Francisco photographer specialising in taking pictures of babies. His great ambition, however, is to be a private detective, and hopes to be taken on as an assistant by Sam McCloud, a private eye whose offices are in the same building as Jackson's studio. McCloud has always resisted, but one day Jackson gets his big chance when he is mistaken for the great man by a potential client. A young woman named Carlotta Montay asks Jackson, whom she believes to be McCloud, to trace her elderly husband who has mysteriously disappeared. Jackson eagerly accepts the assignment.

The rest of the plot does not really matter. (It concerns a battle to control the mining rights to uranium deposits in South America). The whole point of the film is to parody the "film noir" style of film-making, particularly films based on "hardboiled" detective stories like "The Maltese Falcon" or "The Big Sleep". (I am informed that the film to which "My Favorite Brunette" bears the greatest resemblance is "Farewell My Lovely", which I have never seen). The film introduces a selection of stock characters from films of this type- apart from the private eye himself there is the sultry femme fatale (here played by Dorothy Lamour in a move away from her "sarong girl" image), the soft-spoken but sinister foreign villain (played by Peter Lorre, parodying the parts he played in "The Maltese Falcon", "The Man who Knew Too Much" and other films) and the wheelchair-bound old man (like General Sternwood in "The Big Sleep"). There is a typically convoluted noir plot, a gloomy Gothic mansion, a frantic car chase and the sort of cynical, slangy, wisecracking voice-over one could imagine being delivered by Humphrey Bogart. (The house is so big that "you could shoot quail in the hall").

The film's central joke is that, not only is Jackson not a private eye, he is also most unsuited to that particular line of work. He is a character of a sort played by Bob Hope in a number of his other comedies, the man who pretends to be tough, brave and resourceful but who in real life is both cowardly and inept. (In his work as a photographer he even allows himself to be terrorised by a baby).

Seen as a pure comedy, this is not the best, although there are a few amusing gags, such as the lunatic asylum inmates playing golf without a ball, Lon Chaney's musclebound but stupid warder, a joke at the expense of Hope's odd-shaped nose ("I'll personally punch you in the nose so hard it will look like other peoples' noses") and the scene where Hope, trying to record Lorre's confession to a murder, keeps pulling the plug out of the socket. Anyone, however, who is familiar with the conventions of the film noir genre will be amused by this affectionate parody. 6/10.

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!

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.

Hi, Everyone, As this movie begins, count the stars in the Paramount logo. You will see there are 24. That means it is an old Paramount Picture. Paramount's new logo has only 22 stars. I am not sure when that was changed but certainly by the mid fifties.

Interestingly, this movie has a speaking part for an African American man and an Asian American woman in the first five minutes of the film. Neither gets screen credit. There is also a child actor who chews up the scenery, that scenery being Bob Hope's finger.

It is nice to see Bob Hope actually climbing a tree. Bob was in excellent physical shape in those days of the 1940s. If you want to watch him dancing watch The Seven Little Foys where he tap dances with Jimmy Cagney during the mid 1950s.

It is fun for those of us who remember dictaphones and wire recorders and disc recorders that made big 78 rpm records as we watch Bob trying to operate a recorder. Where were the digital MP3 recorders when you needed one in 1947? The cars are fun to look at. This is like a trip to a museum with an old friend.

One scene I ran back and forth a few times and I have not yet figured out how they did it. There is a scene where Bob is the target for a knife thrower. I think they really threw the knives and barely missed his head. It looks real to me.

Not Bob's best movie, but worth a look. I recommend Paleface, Fancy Pants, Son of Paleface, Seven Little Foys, Beau James and That Certain Feeling.

Tom Willett