This was an extremely silly (downright stupid in spots) farce of a comedy-adventure that gets by because it's so fast-moving and generally entertaining despite the cornball material.
Even by Bob Hope standards - and his films were not the highlight of his incredible career - this film is not that funny. A major part of the problem is simply that the humor is too dated. This kind of slapstick isn't the clever stuff some of older silent comics performed, which is still great material. This is just plain dumb.
The adventure part deals with Hope and British spy "Karen Bentley" (Madeline Carroll) and her attempts to stay one step ahead of the Nazis and the police as she transports valuable microfilm. Hope is along to help her and provide laughter.
Hope's pet penguin was a lot funnier than Bob in this film. Dressed up in different outfits, the little creature was hilarious to view and made this film tolerable enough to sit through some 60 years later. In fact, this would have been a keeper if they had made the penguin the star, instead of the two dopey lead actors!
Even by Bob Hope standards - and his films were not the highlight of his incredible career - this film is not that funny. A major part of the problem is simply that the humor is too dated. This kind of slapstick isn't the clever stuff some of older silent comics performed, which is still great material. This is just plain dumb.
The adventure part deals with Hope and British spy "Karen Bentley" (Madeline Carroll) and her attempts to stay one step ahead of the Nazis and the police as she transports valuable microfilm. Hope is along to help her and provide laughter.
Hope's pet penguin was a lot funnier than Bob in this film. Dressed up in different outfits, the little creature was hilarious to view and made this film tolerable enough to sit through some 60 years later. In fact, this would have been a keeper if they had made the penguin the star, instead of the two dopey lead actors!