My Favorite Brunette

Plot synopsis:
The story is told in flashback from Death Row as Ronnie Jackson (Hope) relates to a group of reporters the events that lead to his murder conviction. Jackson is a San Francisco baby photographer who dreams about being a real private detective like his office neighbor Sam McCloud (Ladd). One day he is mistaken for a detective by mysterious lady in distress Carlotta Montay (Lamour), who claims that her wheelchair-bound husband was kidnapped at the pier as they arrived from overseas. A sinister figure (Lorre) listens at the office door. Carlotta gives Ronnie her address, and a coded map. Ronnie hides the map in the cups next to his office water cooler. Ronnie then drives to the address, which is a mansion down the Peninsula. Kismet (Lorre) greets him at the door. Carlotta tells Ronnie that the missing man is her uncle, not her husband. He entered the country on some secret mission, she says. The mansion belongs to Major Montague, she says, who was a former partner of her uncle. Major Montague enters the room, and calls Carlotta away for a phone call. Major Montague also believes that Ronnie is a private detective, as he had Kismet follow him from the office. When Carlotta is out of the room, Montague tells Ronnie that Carlotta is mentally ill. He introduces Ronnie to a wheelchair-bound man in the next room as Carlotta's uncle,who tells Ronnie that he obviously has not been kidnapped. Ronnie tells Montague that Carlotta had given him a map to hold. Carlotta reenters the room, and when alone with Ronnie, tells him that the call was from her uncle, who told her he was safe. "He was forced to make that call", opines Carlotta. Now she suspects Montague, because he lied to Ronnie about her. She tells him to guard the map with his life.
As Ronnie leaves the mansion, he remembers that Kismet has kept his handgun. Ronnie climbs up a tree and looks into a window, and sees the "Uncle" stand up out of the wheelchair and walk around the room. As Ronnie snaps a photo of this fake uncle through the keyhole, Kismet, who has followed him, throws a knife at him. Ronnie flees to his car and roars out of the mansion grounds. The others chase him by car and shoot out his tire. Ronnie runs into an apartment and intercoms himself in by saying the he is "Joe", and many women buzz him in.
Back at his office, Ronnie develops the keyhole photo showing the "Uncle" walking about. Kismet has followed him there, and as Ronnie is calling the police, slugs him over the head, and burns the photo and what he thinks is the negative. When Ronnie comes to, a lady customer arrives to pick up her baby's photograph, and Ronnie gives her what he thinks is her baby's negative.
Ronnie summons the police and drives back to the mansion with them. The mansion is deserted, and Kismet poses as the gardener for the owners, who are out of the country. The police apologize to Kismet for the interruption. (This scene would be repeated years later by Alfred Hitchcock in his film "North By Northwest" with Cary Grant.) Montague gives Kismet Carlotta's ring with a note attached to leave as a 'clue' for Ronnie to discover. Ronnie returns to the mansion and finds the clue, which is a card for the Seacliffe Lodge in Carmel. Ronnie drives to the Lodge, which is really a sanitarium. After a bizarre golf match with an inmate and an imaginary golf ball, Ronnie is captured by the Montague gang and locked in a room at the sanitarium. Carlotta is also prisoner there. Montague explains that Carlotta's uncle had turned down his offer to buy mineral rights in some land. Carlotta's real uncle is then wheeled into the room to prove he is unhurt. He asks Carlotta to light his cigarette,then puts it out and gives her the cigarette. Ronnie refuses to reveal the whereabouts of the coded map, so Kismet slugs him. Carlotta tells them falsely that the map is in a water cooler cup at the Ferry Building, about an hour away. Montague sends a stooge to the Ferry Building to get the map. In her room Carlotta unwraps the cigarette from her uncle and the note on the paper says to see a 'James Collins', a scientist. Ronnie and Carlotta are able to knock out a nurse and flee from the sanitarium. Back at his office Ronnie gives Carlotta the map. They call James Collins' office and arrange to meet him at a restaurant that night. (Why didn't they call the police and tell them that Carlotta's uncle was being held at the sanitarium?) A stooge for the bad guys has followed them and overhears their arrangements.
They meet the scientist, James Collins, at the restaurant and show him the map. Collins says that he made the coded map, which depicts cryolite deposits from which uranium can be mined. He says that Carlotta's uncle had scheduled an important meeting with the government at the Pilgrim Hotel in Washington. Collins takes the map and Ronnie drives him to the police station. As Ronnie drives up to the police station, Kismet, who is hiding in the back seat with Ronnie's gun, shoots Collins and takes the map out of his pocket. Ronnie and the dead Collins are spotted by the police, and Ronnie flees the scene. He is now wanted for the Collins murder.
Carlotta and a disguised Ronnie fly to Washington and go to the Pilgrim Hotel. They answer a help wanted ad and sign up as a bellboy and a maid at the hotel. In the gang's suite, they record the gang's confessions on a recording machine, including Kismet's confession that he murdered Collins. But when the police are called, Kismet switches the records and throws the incriminating record out the window. Montague points out to the police that Ronnie is wanted for the Collins murder in San Francisco. Ronnie is arrested and taken away; the gang still has the map and Carlotta's real uncle.
The flashback ends. Ronnie is on death row, and curses Carlotta for disappearing and not testifying at his trial for Collins' murder. When the prison warden comes to get Ronnie from his death row cell, Ronnie faints. When he comes to, Carlotta is there, and tells him that he is a free man. Ronnie had mistakenly given the keyhole photo negative to his customer. The photo from that negative revealed the uncle to be an imposter. Carlotta said that detective Sam took that lead, and 'the rest was routine'. Ronnie was cleared. Carlotta's uncle was saved.
The warden tells the executioner that the execution was cancelled. The executioner (Bing Crosby) curses and walks away. Ronnie and Carlotta embrace.

Tags: mystery, murder, flashback

Review:
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.
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.
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.
When baby photographer Ronnie Jackson (Bob Hope) office-sits for traveling p.i. Sam McCloud, he finds his dreams of playing detective coming all too true all too soon when mysterious damsel-in-distress Carlotta Montay (Dorothy Lamour) sashays into his office.
Hope and Lamour's usual comic/romantic chemistry is at its finest amid a nifty supporting cast including Peter Lorre, the unfairly uncredited Jean Wong (a delight as Mrs. Fong, mother of a tot so loathe to smile that Ronnie quips, "This kid's gonna grow up to be a sponsor!"), Lon Chaney Jr.
The rest of the cast is good too, and it all works very well as light entertainment.Hope plays a photographer who longs to be a detective, and then gets his chance, only to find out that it's a lot more than he can handle.
Peter Lorre and Lon Chaney Jr. add atmosphere and humor as two of Hope's adversaries.Anyone who likes Hope should enjoy seeing him in "My Favorite Brunette", and it is also recommended for anyone who likes light comedies of the era..
Others in the film are Peter Lorre, Lon Chaney Jr., Charles Dingle, Frank Puglia, Reginald Denny, among the supporting cast.The film is still a lot of fun as it makes fun of other more dramatic movies thanks to the direction of Elliott Nugent..
Bob Hope plays a baby photographer who has always wanted to be a private eye...a detective.
The film introduces a selection of stock characters from films of this type- apart from the private eye himself there is the sultry femme fatale (here played by Dorothy Lamour in a move away from her "sarong girl" image), the soft-spoken but sinister foreign villain (played by Peter Lorre, parodying the parts he played in "The Maltese Falcon", "The Man who Knew Too Much" and other films) and the wheelchair-bound old man (like General Sternwood in "The Big Sleep").
(In his work as a photographer he even allows himself to be terrorised by a baby).Seen as a pure comedy, this is not the best, although there are a few amusing gags, such as the lunatic asylum inmates playing golf without a ball, Lon Chaney's musclebound but stupid warder, a joke at the expense of Hope's odd-shaped nose ("I'll personally punch you in the nose so hard it will look like other peoples' noses") and the scene where Hope, trying to record Lorre's confession to a murder, keeps pulling the plug out of the socket.
The film concerns upon Ronnie Jackson(Hope) a quite shy baby photographer gets mistaken with his next door neighbour Sam McCloud(Alan Ladd) a famous San Francisco private eye.The problems start when the Baronesa Carlotta Montay(Dorothy Lamour) contracts to Ronnie to find her husband(Frank Puglia) and investigate about a map what marks the location of a Criolita(uranium) deposit that would be the key for defense of free world.It will lead him for a way of international intrigue.
Appear cameos and guest appearance of famed stars ,thus Alan Ladd as typical tough detective and Bing Crosby in a liking final interpretation .Crosby along with Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour made a famous trio with much success and starred numerous films with title ¨Road to..Bali,Morocco,Zanzibar,Hong Kong¨.
Besides appear as secondary actor Lon Chaney Jr repeating the role of the simple-minded in the film adaptation of Steinbeck's of ¨Mice and men¨(1939),Chaney's performance as an innocent burly is spectacularly touching and amused.Peter Lorre as always plays an astute villainous with skills for throwing daggers .The motion picture is well directed by Eliott Nugent.
BOB HOPE is a baby photographer mistaken for a private eye by no less than DOROTHY LAMOUR who asks his help in finding her hubby's murderer.
Turns out she's really talking about her uncle, but she's a liar (like Mary Astor in THE MALTESE FALCON).The gags get off to a good start with ALAN LADD asking Bob to mind his office while he packs a gun and goes on a private eye mission.
It's entertaining with Hope at his liveliest and Lamour at her prettiest and a supporting cast that more than compensates for a script that's only fault is that it's pretty predictable from start to finish.Despite flaws, if you can find a decent print of the film it's worth watching..
Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour team up for this spoof on private eyes movies, particularly Sam Spade.
In "My Favorite Brunette," baby photographer Ronnie Jackson (Bob Hope) gives an interview to reporters from death row where he is minutes away from being gassed.
Before his humor dried up with changing times and he ended his film career with a few turkeys (too bad for he truly deserved so much more), he made many of the best comedies of his era."My Favorite Brunette" is filled with wit and clever lines from a cast that includes Dorothy Lamour, who is given an opportunity to go beyond her Road Picture image and show genuine acting talent, Peter Lorre, who is as always creepy and sadistic--he also doesn't like to be called Cuddles by Hope--Lon Chaney Jr., a much underrated actor who was always in his father's shadow, and Jack La Rue, whose face the viewer is sure to recognize.
The stuffing in-between gets a little too long and thin, at times.***** My Favorite Brunette (3/19/47) Elliott Nugent ~ Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, Peter Lorre, Lon Chaney Jr..
Every line is delivered just right and he and Dorothy Lamour are great.Every situation is milked for its comedy potential and sure, it's corny - but boy, it don't half work!This is just a wonderful comedy with an edge of excitement and a great send-up of some of the clichés of Film Noir.One to relax and laugh along with - Hope and Lamour at their best!.
He suspects her sanity, not realizing he's only one step behind her en route to the sanitarium."Nutty as a fruitcake, but with all that beautiful frosting!" That's not James Stewart talking about Kim Novak, but rather Bob Hope on the subject of Dorothy Lamour, his co-star in this farcical takeoff of the film noir, made more than ten years before Hitchcock's "Vertigo".
Still, Peter Lorre is on hand to lend the film some Hitchcockian gravitas as one of the key hoods, and the opening set up showing Hope at San Quentin telling his tale to reporters as he awaits the gas chamber gets things off right.Hope is Ronnie Jackson, a baby photographer whose office is next door to a detective he idolizes.
Features a terrific supporting cast, including Peter Lorre and Lon Chaney, Jr. There are some funny cameos from Alan Ladd and Bing Crosby.
In fact, you could easily watch it twice in a row just to get all those jokes you missed the first time.The plot here is complicated on purpose, but the key set-up is having a baby photographer (Hope) mistaken as a detective (which he always wanted to be).
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.
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.
It stars Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, Frank Puglia, Lon Chaney Junior, Peter Lorre, John Hoyte and Charles Dingle.
With Hope's chemistry with Lamour (gorgeous and hard looking) set in stone (they had already worked together at least seven times by this point), this is complimented by the likes of Lorre and Chaney who mimic past performances in more serious fare, while Alan Ladd pops in for a delightful little cameo to further nudge and wink to film noir iconography.
In other words, the best dark and mysterious detective thriller of the genre it satirises.The satirising of noir detective thriller films is made all the more plausible by the perfect casting of the likes of Lorre and Chaney Jr. It's by juxtaposing their characters with the wise cracking Bob Hope that makes the comedy work in a surreal way.
It just wouldn't have worked out quite the same way with other actors.The film particularly satirises the far fetched, convoluted noir detective thrillers of the 40s era, and how the sleuth can never see the trees for the wood.The cameo role of Bing Crosby was particularly well placed and very witty in his disappointment at not being Hope's executioner.
Bob Hope is mistaken for a detective in "My Favorite Brunette," a comedy from 1947 costarring Dorothy Lamour and Peter Lorre.
A baby photographer who desperately wants to become a partner to the detective down the hall, Sam (Alan Ladd in a cameo), Ronnie gets his chance when a lady in distress (Lamour) visits Sam's office while he's away.
Ronnie pretends he's Sam and before you know it, he's in all kinds of trouble, running from a gang of thugs that includes Peter Lorre and Lon Chaney who are looking for a map.This is an entertaining comedy with good performances all around.
Apart from the great cameos, some other things to look for are Lon Chaney, Jr. playing a character pretty much like his Lenny from "Of Mice And Men".This is undoubtedly one of Bob Hope's best films for a variety of reasons.
Bob Hope is a bit hard to take seriously, even given that he is playing comedy, but Peter Lorre and Lon Chaney Jr. are a lot of fun to have on hand.
This isn't a bad thing since the original is so good, it just means that we can't see this as clever as many people see it.Still it worth seeing, especially if you like Bob Hopes type of silliness..
Hope's rapid fire one-liners are the main attraction of this film, but that's bolstered by a better than average supporting cast which includes Peter Lorre and Lon Chaney as one of the many villains.
Poking affectionate fun at the whole detective/film noir genre, My Favorite Brunette comes complete with Philip Marlowe style narration from baby photographer Ronnie Jackson (Bob Hope), as he describes to members of the press how he came to be facing the gas chamber for murder.He starts his story as hard-boiled private eye Sam McCloud (an uncredited Alan Ladd) leaves town for a few days, entrusting wannabe detective Jackson to mind his office.
Not wanting to miss out on an opportunity for some serious sleuthing, and beguiled by the brunette's beauty, Ronnie becomes embroiled in a case of mystery and murder.Where Hope's comedic style often comes across as horribly dated (particularly in some of the Road movies), with cheesy vaudevillian gags, disparaging quips about his fellow stars, crusty jokes about current news events and awful ad-libbing, My Favorite Brunette manages to avoid most of these pitfalls by sticking to a sharp script that focuses on the parody of a particular genre, largely curtailing the need for smug asides, derogatory remarks and off-the-cuff buffoonery.The result is a very satisfying spoof that benefits from a solid cast, including some familiar faces who are happy to send up their stock-in-trade, including Peter Lorre playing slimy henchman Kismet and Lon Chaney Jr. as a hulking Sanitarium employee.
In this case, Hope played Ronnie Jackson, a baby photographer who as the movie opens is sitting on death row waiting to be executed.
MY FAVORITE BRUNETTE (Paramount, 1947), directed by Elliott Nugent, stars popular funnyman Bob Hope in another one of his top comedies.
With MY FAVORITE BLONDE and SPY being a spoof on espionage thrillers, MY FAVORITE BRUNETTE does the same here, a satire in the best possible level to the then current trend of "film noir" detective mysteries.The narrative begins in San Quentin Prison where Ronnie Jackson (Bob Hope) is on death row for his execution in the gas chamber for murder which he didn't commit.
During the proceedings, Dorothy Lamour finds time to sing one song, "Besides You" by Sam Evans and Jay Livingston.What makes MY FAVORITE BRUNETTE extremely worthwhile are the comic support by two horror movie greats, Peter Lorre (Kismet, the villain), and Lon Chaney Jr.
Though being a comedy, Lorre plays his role straight and menacing, making his performance all the funnier, especially scenes involving him and Hope, who addresses him as either "Cuddles" or "Gremlin." Aside from in-jokes commonly found in Hope comedies, such as a reference to Ray Milland and his "lost weekend," there's also surprise cameos by top leading actors as Alan Ladd and Bing Crosby.
There is a fun crime-mystery as the basis for the story and quite a bit of comedy to keep it fun.Bob Hope is good in this - such a strange and funny character Ronnie Jackson.
I'm glad I was reminded about this film - it's a worthwhile comedy.Fans of classic comedy films, Bob Hope, Lon Chaney Jr and/or Peter Lorre should like this one quite a bit.8.5/10.
"My Favorite Brunette" shapes up as Bob Hope's finest vehicle since 1940's "The Ghost Breakers," and this time he gets luscious Dorothy Lamour all to himself.
Enjoyed this 1947 film starring Bob Hope,(Ronnie Jackson),"How to Commit Marriage" '69 along with Dorothy Lamour,(Carlotta Montay),"Marcus Welby,MD",'46 TV series who runs all around trying to get away from Peter Lorre,(Kismet),"The Verdict",'46 who does everything he can to capture and kill Ronnie Jackson and Carlotta.
Hope is a photographer who specializes in baby pictures but really wants to be a private detective like his hero down the hall, Sam McCloud (a cameo by Alan Ladd).
The writing is weak, Elliott Nugent's direction is flat, the supporting cast--other than Peter Lorre and Lon Chaney Jr.--isn't really up to par, and for some reason Hope and Lamour don't seem to have any chemistry at all.
He even got to drag in Paramount's favorite noir star Alan Ladd along for the fun.Hope as Ronnie Jackson, baby photographer, has an adjoining office to private eye Sam McCloud and Hope would like to get into his line of work, having completed a correspondence course.
Chaney does an imitation of his gentle half-wit Lenny from Of Mice and Men, Dingle satirizes his rapacious southern businessman from The Little Foxes and Lorre spoofs all the sinister henchmen roles he's done in innumerable films.It all almost ends on death row in San Quentin where Hope is arrested for a murder of a British Intelligence Officer played by Reginald Denny.
********************MILD SPOILERS AHEAD*********************************Bob Hope plays a baby photographer who wants to be a detective like the guy in the next office over from his.
Peter Lorre and Lon Chaney are hilarious villains in this comedy spoof of detective thrillers which has an entertaining story line that keeps things lively and watchable.In my humble opinion, I like this film better than the 'Road' films (Road to Bali and Road to Utopia) I've seen so far with Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour.
Bob Hope and Company do an incredible job in My Favorite Brunette of parodying the dark detective movies that were so popular at the time.
Hope is joined by an excellent cast that includes Dorothy Lamour in the femme fatal role, Peter Lorre as a knife-throwing killer, and Lon Chaney, Jr. as a simple, but ultimately kind gangster whose efforts to help Hope only seem to get him in deeper.
Lon Chaney, Jr., Peter Lorre, other good supporting players, cameos by Alan Ladd and Bing Crosby.
SYNOPSIS: A photographer assumes the role of private detective and becomes involved in fraud and murder.COMMENT: The private eye spoof certainly forms a fascinating sub- genre of comedy, and "My Favorite Brunette" is one of the best of the breed, thanks mainly to the presence of Bob Hope (the perfect protagonist for this sort of parody) and a superior cast of support players, led by vacationing tough-guy Alan Ladd, is-she-on-the-level Dorothy Lamour, fascinatingly nasty Peter Lorre, not-quite-as-dumb- as-he-looks (but almost) Lon Chaney, real-gone loony Charles Arnt, plus Charles deep-dyed Dingle.
Scripted by Edmund Beloin and Jack Rose, the movie tells the story of children photographer Ronnie Jackson (Bob Hope), whom secretly fantasizes about being a private detective.