Un pazzo va alla guerra

Back in the late 30s and early 40s, just about all the comedians and comedy teams made war films...and they were quite popular. Films like Abbott & Costello's "Buck Privates", Laurel & Hardy's "Great Guns" and Bob Hope's "Caught in the Draft" are just a few of the many films designed to encourage Americans to do the patriotic thing and enlist. And, with a few exceptions ("Great Guns"), the films were very enjoyable.

When "Caught in the Draft" begins, Don Bolton (Bob Hope) is a famous and very self-absorbed Hollywood star. He's also quite the coward. So when he learns that there is going to be a draft, he's worried he might be chosen and looks for a way out. And, his way out might be getting married. But his choice is odd...be wants to marry a woman who wants nothing to do with him AND is a colonel's daughter! Antoinette (Dorothy Lamour) sees right through Don and his schemes and instead of being honest, he just creates more and more complicated schemes...one which accidentally gets him to enlist in the Army...and guess who Don's commanding officer is? Along with Don are his lowly gofer (Eddie Bracken) and his agent (Lynne Overman--who is in his mid-50s!).

This film is very enjoyable...and perhaps more than "Buck Privates" because it does NOT have any singing! Clever and enjoyable from start to finish, though I wonder why at the end Eddie Bracken's character got a commendation? Watch the film and you'll understand what I mean.

Although very well written, I think the previous review of this relatively early Bob Hope picture is a little harsh. Perhaps it is written from a professional viewpoint.

As an ordinary punter that happens to be a Bob Hope fan, there are more than enough good quips and comical situations here to keep me chuckling throughout.

I would class this as a picture that is simply meant to be enjoyed, rather than dissected and analysed in intimate detail. In fact, good "old-fashioned" entertainment that will provide more than a fair share of laughs on a winter's afternoon.

Bob Hope starred as cowardly movie star Don Bolton. When he reads that the government is going to increase the military draft age to include 21-to-35 year olds, he panics at the prospect of being conscripted. He comes up with the idea of getting married, which at the time removed him from draft eligibility, and so he woos army brat Antoinette (Dorothy Lamour). In his haste to get her to marry him, he inadvertently signs up for the Army anyway. He and his pals (Eddie Bracken and Lynne Overman), who join up as well, try to survive basic training.

This agreeable-though-not-groundbreaking comedy ended up being one of the biggest hits of 1941. Hope is fun as the weasly Bolton, and Eddie Bracken is fun as his young assistant. Dorothy Lamour is beautiful, and when her character is first spotted by Hope's, he remarks, "She looks like Dorothy Lamour with clothes on." She has a few lines that were directed at the audience as much as Hope's character about how the military needs soldiers even during peacetime, since no one knows how long that peace will last. The movie premiered about five months before the attack on Pearl Harbor.

This is the first pairing of Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour without Bing Crosby. It is funny, but the comedy is better when Bing is part of the equation. The Army takes the place of Bing in this one, and the Army can be pretty funny at times. I like the gag that Hope cannot stand loud noises and is in the military. There were three great comedy teams during this time period; Laurel and Hardy (who were close to the end of the great run), Abbott and Costello (who were just beginning their great run) and Bob Hope and Bing Crosby with their wonderful road pictures). What made Bob Hope films at this time, different from the other two comedy teams was his dominance with one-liners; no one could match Hope with one-liners. The other two teams did better physical comedy, but the Hope films had better scripts and situations. Be sure to catch this one with the whole family for an hour of fun.

Caught in the Draft finds Bob Hope as an egotistical movie star who may be subject to the draft so he's going to do the unthinkable, get married and get a deferment. But you'd think the last person he'd try that with is a daughter from a military family. Yet Hope pursues Dorothy Lamour in his usual wolfish Hope way, but the net result is he winds up still single and actually enlisting in the army when a Sting like con game backfires on him.

But I will say Hope has loyal friends, his agent Lynne Overman and general factotum Eddie Bracken also enlist. To say they don't exactly have the makings of Audie Murphy is to put it mildly. Still what they won't do for a pal. I know I didn't have friends like that back in the day.

Caught in the Draft has the usual run of service comedy situations and Hope while not as hopeless a soldier as Lou Costello, still he gets his usual laughs. It's a dated film in the sense we haven't had a draft in this country for almost 40 years, but I still think audiences can appreciate it today.

Look for good supporting performances by Clarence Kolb as Lamour's father and Hope's commanding officer and Paul Hurst as the eternal tough training sergeant.