6.8 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
When a suave international spy on an important mission gets captured, the government substitutes a look-alike burlesque comedian to finish the job.
Starring: Bob Hope, Hedy Lamarr, Francis L. Sullivan, Arnold Moss, John Archer (I)Crime | Insignificant |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Adventure | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.34:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono
None
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
For all his enduring popularity, Bob Hope’s film are often an amazingly bland lot. Hope perfected his wisecracking persona in vaudeville and on Broadway before matriculating to the film world (which he initially used to fill up his time in between stage appearances). Hope didn’t capture the brass ring right away, and while most associate him with his long tenure at Paramount, he actually did duty at Warner Brothers for several years prior to that. Hope’s incredibly successful radio (and later television) appearances no doubt helped fuel his film career, but the films themselves—well, frankly, a lot of them are just downright blah. They typically have at least a few redeeming features, including some traditionally zingy Hope one liners, but those are usually brief oases in otherwise somewhat barren enterprises. While Hope’s best remembered films are probably the famous Road movies he made with Bing Crosby, there’s another kind of weird triumvirate in his oeuvre that has the linking use of the adjective “favorite” in their titles. Hope made My Favorite Blonde in 1942 with co-star Madeleine Carroll, and it exploited at least one trope that would be repeatedly used in many Hope outings, namely mistaken identity, usually with Hope unwittingly caught up in events where he’s forced to assume an alter ego. In this particular iteration, Hope portrayed a timid vaudeville performer who is ensnared in an international espionage ring. Five years later, Hope had one of his biggest non-Road successes with 1947’s My Favorite Brunette, co-starring his sarong loving Road femme fatale Dorothy Lamour. In this film Hope portrays a baby photographer who is mistaken for a private eye. The film remains one of Hope’s true standouts, a sparkling send up of the then nascent film noir and hard bitten private detective genres. The third “favorite” film trundled along four years later, with 1951’s My Favorite Spy. This time Hope’s co-star was the exotic Hedy Lamarr, whom some history buffs will know has been posited as a real life spy during World War II. (Lamarr’s life is absolutely fascinating and is ripe for a biographical motion picture. Lamarr’s mathematical expertise granted her an early patent for a so-called frequency hopping device that much later became the basis for wireless communications.) The film is moderately amusing, this time with Hope a timid vaudeville performer (hmmm. . . .) who is the dead ringer for a super spy (double hmmm. . .) who is forced to impersonate his doppelganger and travel to Tangier to break up an international spy ring (triple hmmm. . .).
My Favorite Spy is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.34:1. The elements here are in generally very good shape, with only the standard types of minimal damage to report, including occasional minor scratches and speckling. Contrast is quite strong throughout this presentation, and fine detail is rather good, especially in close-ups. The film does have a few opticals interspersed in the proceedings, which suffer from the expected downgrade in sharpness and uptick in graininess.
My Favorite Spy features a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track which is quite effective given the limited demands placed upon it by this film's pretty unambitious sound design. The film is basically a ping pong match between dialogue and some kind of goofy sound effects, both of which come through clearly with very good fidelity. The track exhibits a slightly boxy quality at times, no doubt endemic to the source stems. There are a few blasts of sonic energy here which provide My Favorite Spy with a bit more dynamic range than is usually the norm in comedies.
My Favorite Spy is middling Hope, but that doesn't mean it isn't amusing most of the time and even laugh out loud funny a couple of times. Hope is his usual acerbic, wisecracking self, and a number of the one liners are very effective and land perfectly. The film is probably most notable for its wonderful supporting cast, including an incredibly alluring Hedy Lamarr, who proves she can handle light comedy surprisingly well. This film is probably a big step down from the previous "favorite", My Favorite Brunette, which may be an unfair comparison since Brunette remains one of the undisputed high points of Hope's film career. My Favorite Spy has the typical high gloss luster of a big Paramount production, even if one gets the nagging feeling not too much money was spent on it, and while it's dated and predictable, it's still highly enjoyable. This Blu-ray offers solid video and audio and even without any supplements, comes Recommended.
Special Edition
1962
1942
1964
Warner Archive Collection
1965
Limited Edition - SOLD OUT
1962
The Private Eye
1947
1940
1946
1954
Warner Archive Collection
1943
1945
1963
1972
1946
1955-1956
1966
Warner Archive Collection
1957
1960
1941
1967