La mia brunetta preferita

This movie offers an abundance of laughs with Hope as a baby photographer turned detective who is clearly out of his element. Dorothy Lamour is sexy and funny as Bobs love interest. Peter Lorre and Lon Chaney Jr. add the sinister part to the movie and are good straight men for Hopes antics. This type of comedy was popular in the 40's but few could pull it off as well as Hope could. He is, in my opinion, better without a partner such as Bing to bring in the laughs. It is a fun picture to watch.

Bob Hope is back! This time with Dorothy Lamour. This is the ninth film they both have been in and they were in five more together after this one, Bob Hope is the age of 43 or 44 in this film. Bob Hope plays a baby photographer who has always wanted to be a private eye...a detective. Next to his office is the McCloud Detective Agency. He begs for Sam McCloud (Alan Ladd in a cameo appearance) to give him a chance. But nothin' doin'. While McCloud trusts Bob to answer the phone while he steps outside to work on a case, who should walk in but Dorothy Lamour. The distraught woman needs help and thinks Bob is McCloud the detective. Well, what is Bob to do? Especially as lovely as Dorothy Lamour is. So here is Bob's chance to play detective. Here is where the fun begins. Bing Crosby also has a cameo appearance.

The 1940's was a very prolific period for Bob Hope as he made 21 movies during that decade including some of his very best (the "Road" films of course with Crosby and Lamour, "The Paleface" with Jane Russell, and "My Favorite Blonde" with Madeleine Carroll). However, "Brunette" rates as high, if not higher, than any of these as it had a very funny script and a wonderful supporting cast including Peter Lorre, Lon Chaney Jnr, John Hoyt, Ann Doran, Reginald Denny, Ray Teal, Jack La Rue and a couple of surprise star cameos. Peter Lorre in particular seemed to enjoy sending up his usual image as a sinister killer.

San Francisco baby photographer Ronnie Jackson (Bob Hope) has unfulfilled ambitions to be a private detective like his neighbour in the next office Sam McCloud. When Sam goes out of town Carlotta Montay (Dorothy Lamour) comes in seeking help and mistakes Hope for the detective who thinks this could be the big chance to prove himself but as usual in a Hope film he runs into more trouble than he can handle. Lamour persuades Hope to look for her uncle who has been kidnapped by the villains and a double put in his place. The plot thickens as he accompanies Lamour into many ludicrous situations, unforeseen danger and one hilarious episode after another.

Some favourite lines from the film:

Bob Hope: "You see, I wanted to be a detective too. It only took brains, courage and a gun - and I had the gun!".

Bob Hope: "I was cut out for this kind of life. All my life I've wanted to be a hard boiled detective like Humphrey Bogart, or Dick Powell ... or even Alan Ladd!".

Bob Hope (to Peter Lorre): "Nice cheerful place - what time do they bring the mummies out?".

Bob Hope: "It always looked so easy in those Tarzan pictures!".

Bob Hope (to Dorothy Lamour): "I don't know how much more of this I can take - you've had me in hot water so long I feel like a tea bag".

Bob Hope could always be relied upon to bring us the laughs with even the most average script but in this film he excels as he is given some great material to work with and certainly makes the most of it. 10/10. Clive Roberts.

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 ****

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