I can't imagine why Bob Hope, a superb comedian in the 1940s, continued to grind out these rude lumps of deformity through the 1960s. It must have been the money.
There were a couple of weaknesses consistent across this string of duds. One is that Bob Hope was simply not Bob Hope, and this one is a good demonstration of that proposal. He's an utterly bourgeois head of a relatively normal household -- sitcom standard, including the freakish cook and housekeeper Phyllis Diller in a fright wig. That's simply not the Bob Hope that everyone loved. Bob Hope is not your average family guy in a suit and tie. He's a sniveling coward, greedy and libidinous, and openly so.
The second problem is that the gags stink. What happened to his writers? Did they snore while grinding out this pap? "Don't lose your head -- you might need it later on." His wisecracks no longer fit his established persona. They're generic. Any comic could sling them around. (They would still fall with a thud.) Hope himself is older and has slowed down. Of course that's not his fault. "Fleeting time, thou hast left me old." Still, it's painful to watch someone who was a fine physical actor reduced to showing that he could still walk with a bounce, but no more than that. He doesn't even move his head in a way that suggests suppleness. His facial expressions are limited; his eyes don't bulge with fear. He's stiff all over.
The plot is all fluff. Hope get mixed up with a fleeing international movie star, Elke Sommer, and tries to keep his wife, Marjorie Lord, from finding out. This involves hiding Didi in closets when the wife enters the room, dumping her into the cellar to hide her, and so forth. At least this running around might titillate the kids, but that's about it.
Or -- no. Wait. Want a reason to watch this? Elke Sommer runs around half naked through the entire movie and has a fine figure.
There were a couple of weaknesses consistent across this string of duds. One is that Bob Hope was simply not Bob Hope, and this one is a good demonstration of that proposal. He's an utterly bourgeois head of a relatively normal household -- sitcom standard, including the freakish cook and housekeeper Phyllis Diller in a fright wig. That's simply not the Bob Hope that everyone loved. Bob Hope is not your average family guy in a suit and tie. He's a sniveling coward, greedy and libidinous, and openly so.
The second problem is that the gags stink. What happened to his writers? Did they snore while grinding out this pap? "Don't lose your head -- you might need it later on." His wisecracks no longer fit his established persona. They're generic. Any comic could sling them around. (They would still fall with a thud.) Hope himself is older and has slowed down. Of course that's not his fault. "Fleeting time, thou hast left me old." Still, it's painful to watch someone who was a fine physical actor reduced to showing that he could still walk with a bounce, but no more than that. He doesn't even move his head in a way that suggests suppleness. His facial expressions are limited; his eyes don't bulge with fear. He's stiff all over.
The plot is all fluff. Hope get mixed up with a fleeing international movie star, Elke Sommer, and tries to keep his wife, Marjorie Lord, from finding out. This involves hiding Didi in closets when the wife enters the room, dumping her into the cellar to hide her, and so forth. At least this running around might titillate the kids, but that's about it.
Or -- no. Wait. Want a reason to watch this? Elke Sommer runs around half naked through the entire movie and has a fine figure.