A Global Affair

I'm a fan of Bob Hope, but I'm not a fan of baby movies. But since I am indeed a fan of Bob Hope and this movie only has 8 reviews at the time I am writing this, I've decided to watch it and then write a review. Okay, I am now going to watch the movie and I'll see you in the next paragraph.

Well, I watched it. It was kind of cute. A baby is abandoned and every country in the world wants to adopt it, including Russia who threatens nuclear war if they don't get the baby. Oh those wacky Russians.

Bob Hope is the one in charge of the baby. He gets to decide who gets it. In the meantime he has to take care of it. When the countries learn that he is a bachelor that loves women they each send a beautiful woman to persuade him to pick their country. The scene with the Russian woman is pretty good. It gets a little preachy at times, but over all they had good chemistry together I thought.

There are some beautiful women in this movie which always helps to make a movie more watchable. Think Elvis movies. In fact, this could have been an Elvis movie. Just unplug Bob Hope and plug in Elvis Presley and add a few lame songs. Bingo. You've got an Elvis movie.

There are a few cute scenes and a few cute lines. One of the cute lines: "Yesterday I was a bachelor and today I have a complete family....whatever happened to the honeymoon?" That's a cute line. But most of the lines are not as good as that one. The humor is just okay, nothing special.

Bob Hope was a man of the world at this point hobnobbing with presidents and making movies was undoubtedly boring to him, which is understandable. Once in a while he shows a little more energy, but not too often. He does look wonderful for his age though. He was 60 years old here and looked no older than 50. Too bad we can't all look that good at age 50. Superstars get all the breaks. And all the women, too. Bob would live another 40 years.

To sum up, it's okay for what it is. If you like Bob Hope by all means go ahead and watch it. The final lesson of the movie is one of hope for the world. Hope for a world of peace, understanding, and love.

This movie is an exercise in wasted talent. Bob Hope, who was so funny in the 40s and early 50s, sleepwalks through this film. He once used to toss off wisecracks and one-liners with body posture, facial expression, and voice intonation all adding to the impact. In this film, he seems encased in cement and bored. Another misfire: Lilo Pulver, the gorgeous, hilarious, sexy secretary (to James Cagney) in "One, Two, Three." is wasted. She was given a drab wig and mousy dress and mainly used to give Hope an opportunity to tell her that the USA is superior to the USSR. The rest of the cast shows no sparkle; the gags are old and performed with no verve. To bring this down to rock bottom, there are saccharine drenched parts.

This should be shown in screen writing classes to demonstrate how a comedy can be made to be insufferable.

Frank Larrimore (Bob Hope) works at the UN and talks on the radio. A mother hears his speech and leaves her baby at the UN for him. While UN security searches for the mother, he's the one forced to take care of the baby.

This one allows Bob Hope to have a parade of international babes chasing him. The UN premise is a bit of ridiculous fun. It is missing the one scene where Bob Hope is being chased down the street by the crowd of beautiful international babes like The Beatles. I was not expecting a whole lot and I got that nothing more. One thing concerns me. The mom did not come back. That seems to be the better ending.

I'm a huge Bob Hope fan but this film's rather disappointing, rather dull, and not terribly funny. There are some amusing moments and recognizably-typical Hope lines but the premise is limited and proceeds slowly in spots, especially in the prolonged scene between Hope and Lilo Pulver, a Soviet sociologist featuring now-dated, propagandistic comments from both parties, and is tediously talky in nature. Mr. Hope himself looks trim and moves and speaks appealingly but aside from some of his lines, almost anybody else could've played the role. For a Hope comedy, it's not funny enough. Perhaps if some other actor was playing the part of Lattimore, it wouldn't've seemed so obvious, as not as much would've been expected, or been as desirably-dependent on a star's well-known personality. Hope, as always, is likeable and smooth but the plot and script don't give him much to work with. The movie, as mentioned, is dated. Almost noone watching today would recognize the silent cameo of Adlai Stevenson, a household name in his day. And, until recently, not many viewers would understand the U.S./Russia rivalry, as presented here with regard to the baby. In fact, the entire vehicle has a Cold War, pro-West propaganda feel to it--almost as if the U.N. cultural unit asked Hollywood to make such a feature, using the most patriotic American comedian then in existence, Bob Hope. In fairness, the star was trying new things by this point in his film career. He was getting older, and couldn't remain popular with audiences in the same way as he did during the studio system's heyday. By the time of "A Global Affair", Hope was playing a more mature type of suburban, middle-class American, usually a father or a businessman, or both, rather than a knockabout, wisecracking clown-type, great as he was in those earlier roles, often with songs and musical interludes. By 1964, all this was passe', and the comedian's movie roles began reflecting the changing, mid-20th century society of the country. In short, "Affair", though offering a potentially cute premise, doesn't really deliver much with it. The film screams for some big comedy moments, or, at least, a huge, hilarious ending but it was not to be. Although the storyline's clearly padded, more inventive, humorous situations might've saved it. Surprisingly, the movie picks up a little steam in the last quarter-hour, becoming livelier and a little funnier but, in truth, the film seems like an extended sketch from one of Bob's TV specials, where it might've come off better on a smaller, more intimate, screen.

As the countries of the earth gathered at the New York World's Fair in 1964, Bob Hope and Producer Ed Small (who would produce a series of films in the 60's that became increasingly cataclysmic disasters with each subsequent release) felt this topical comedy on the United Nations and an abandoned child "adopted" by Hope would be a natural for laughs. Nope. Hope's effortless sauntering around a set in lieu of acting became standard by this time, and here his search for a mate among the international nubile hostesses at the U.N. is particularly dated and borderline offensive. As was undoubtedly said at the time- Hope sets the sites on his laugh targets low... and misses. Even a mild diversion as "Bachelor In Paradise" just three years hence would prove a high-water mark of the latter half of Hope's film career. They may have "hoped" to succeed "Globally" but stank locally.