User Reviews

I consider myself a Bob Hope fan but this film doesn't begin to explain the reason why. The comedian I remember enjoying was the one who made the Road movies with partner in crime Bing Crosby as well as the Master of Ceremonies who entertained American troops in far flung places around the world. This movie only goes to prove that there was once a time when films like this were considered entertainment, and maybe even funny. What a difference half a century makes.

You can't blame it all on the cast either. There was some genuine talent here with Hope and comedienne Phyllis Diller, but Diller seemed dubiously cast as housekeeper to the Meades (Bob Hope and Marjorie Lord), and even though she had some funny banter with Hope's character, most of the rest was just tedious. Now Elke Sommer - back in the day one would say that she put the words 'va va' and 'voom' together but you couldn't tell she was an actress here. But that's not what she was here for anyway. The film makers managed to find ways to keep her in various stages of undress throughout the picture, but not in a salacious way. In fact she seemed rather wholesome, if that's the right word, most of the time.

Now I'm sure this film had no influence on a movie favorite of a decade later, but didn't anyone else find it odd that a family dinner table scene at the Meade's featured the Divine Didi (Sommer) doing an Obi-Wan-Kenobi take-off? That one just blew me away and if I could have rewound the scene I would have, but I was watching the picture on cable. Funny how those little things get my attention.

Anyway, Hope and Diller fans might get a kick out of this one. I just checked the stats on Marjorie Lord and I'm now rooting for her to make it to a hundred years old as I write this. Before that, I was wondering what she would have to say about that enormous beehive hair-do she had to sport throughout the picture. The thing was big enough to make room for daddy.

This is one of Bob Hope's bad 60's comedy efforts. I found it to be nothing more than an over blown average sit-com episode. The first two thirds of the movie is him throwing out one liners at Elke Sommer, making wise cracks and exchanging barbs with Phylis Diller. The last third of the movie is nothing more than silly 60's slapstick and typical car chase fare. To those who found the movie kinky I saw it as no worse than any other bedroom farce for it's time. It's Bob playing the happy married middle class man with a pretty wife and kids getting into an atypical situation with a sexy woman. Now that's original. Now any movie with Elke Sommer can't be all that bad. So I vote 10 stars for her and minus 8 for the movie.

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.

This movie was selected by Harry Medved as one of the 50 worst films ever made (as of 1979) and I have made it my life's mission to see all 50. While this one isn't bad enough to merit its inclusion, it is pretty bad and it ample evidence that Bob Hope's later films were pretty dreadful.

The film begins with European sex-kitten Didi (Elke Sommer) stomping off the set because they insist in putting her in sexy films where she appears in a bathtub. The scene then switches to Tom Meade (Bob Hope) who plays a realtor. He comes home but finds his wife is gone but his snappy housekeeper (Phyllis Diller) is home. His wife, it seems, is at the hair dresser's and so he phones her. In a "kooky" scene, the phone lines are switched and Tom gets Didi instead. Didi is hiding in a hotel and begs him to come to her aid. He wants to help, but is afraid his wife will kill him--after all, Didi's exploits are legendary. So, he sneaks out to see Didi and offers to let her stay at a cabin in a resort that is failing. While his wife would certainly be jealous, Tom's intentions are honorable--after all, if a big celebrity hangs out there, people will naturally flock to Tom to buy in this failing resort.

Listening to Hope and Diller throwing out one-liners like they are doing stand-up routines was pretty bad. They really didn't act, but walked through the film spouting clever lines--making the character's unimportant. While some of the quips were funny (though most weren't), it was at the expense of the plot. However, the worst acting in this film definitely goes to Ms. Sommer. In her attempt to portray a temperamental sex-kitten, she comes off as an idiot who looks great but has all the acting talent of a drunk lemur during mating season. It's sad, because she could act--I have seen her in other films giving credible performances. Having her say "Monsieur Tommeade" again and again really began to grate on my nerves--and it seemed like she said this in every other sentence! Then, having her refer to herself in the third person was also a sign of bad writing--no glamor girl is THAT stupid!! Then having her go on tantrums as she throws things and curses Tommeade--oh, the agony! The only thing that might have been worse than this terrible performance was a lame and very unfunny chase scene at the end--which, of course, this film had in spades! In addition to lousy writing of the characters, the film had a big problem. Considering that Tom was NOT trying to cheat on his wife but drum up business by hiding Didi, why didn't he just tell his wife and introduce her to the movie star? This would have solved everything AND there would have been no reason for this film! Instead, many, many lame comedic moments were spent trying to hide Didi from the wife (such as when she slid down the hill--ugghh!). It was an idea that could have been funny for just a few minutes--not most of the film, as this was a 1/2 hour sitcom idea stretched to 98 minutes! Sadly, perhaps the funniest thing in this comedy was Marjorie Lord's hair. It was amazingly bad--even for the 1960s AND compared to Ms. Diller's!

Earlier in his career, including in the famous "Road" pictures with Bing Crosby, Bob Hope made some pretty funny movies. But as he matured the type of role he took in movies changed. Where he used to play the likable sap who usually didn't get the girl, in later years he seemed to want to be seen as a sex symbol (which wasn't going to happen!), showing up in films with the likes of Elke Sommer (here), Lana Turner, and Anita Eckberg. And, more and more, the dialog he had in movies tended toward a conveyor belt of one liners, delivered as such. This particular film has ended up on some "worst movies ever made" lists. And, while I wouldn't go that far, it's no gem.

I guess the thrill is seeing Elke Sommer prance around in soap bubbles. Other than that, the plot is simple -- too simple -- real estate agent (Hope) offers to help sexy starlet (Sommer) get away from it all. He tries to keep it clean (therein the long running slightly off-color gag), but still gets in trouble with his wife (Marjorie Lord) and often egged on by maid (Phyllis Diller).

The problem with Hope here is that he puts no more effort into this film than the skits on his television shows...and cinema is supposed to be something more than blackout sketches. I have quite a few of Hope's television specials in this general time frame, and trust me, they were often funnier than this film.

Elke Sommer...well, I have no problem with her, but she was never one of the great actresses or comediennes. But, she could be enjoyable in films, but not when the whole purpose of her presence was to just see how beautiful she was (I can get that in Playboy). And here she plays...well...a dumb blonde. Been done so many times.

Phyllis Diller was a very funny lady, but more appropriately cast in television. Again, her dialog sounded too much like one-liners.

I very much liked Marjorie Lord in Danny Thomas' old television series, but here I couldn't stop staring at her hairdo...it should have been a hair-don't. Very distracting, and a disappointing role for her.

A chase scene can be very funny in a film. Can be. Wasn't here. At all.

This film is solely for big fans of Hope or Sommer or Diller. I didn't think much of it when I saw it at the theater in 1966 (when I was 17), and I think less of it today. Sorry, Bob, America loves you, and rightfully so, but not for this little fluff.

I saw this as a youngster with my sister during it's original premiere and it's certainly NOT one of the 50 worst films "EVER" - instead it is an enjoyable elongated sitcom pilot. Elke is very attractive and has some insane stunts and situations to endure - all three main womens hair and clothes are hysterical - the mistakes are very noticeable, my personal favorite being the first time Bob & Elke meet at a property he's trying to sell after he feels sorry for her plight, etc. where they eventually have a disagreement & she throws a vase at him which shatters before it hits the door he's just run through and closed behind him - debris and flowers flying everywhere, there are several bloopers but it's all good fun - as mentioned in my title - there are musical snippets by the John Williams collection featured in the campy 1965-1968 CBS TV series Lost in Space, which as a 9 year old at the time was my favorite show - missing is the very attractive 40ish Cesare Danova who should have been featured (and as naked) as often as Elke - he's just barely in it at all but quite stunning - in spite of that, there's a lot to enjoy so grab your favorite bag of chips or bag of popcorn & Coke or beer and allow yourself to enjoy an hour and a half mid 1960's time capsule. Enjoy! :)