War correspondent Bob Hope lets the scoop of the Germans attacking Russia go, causing his editor (Donald MacBride) to fire him. He tries to convince girlfriend Dorothy Lamour that he fixed everything with him, and ends up involved with a group of Nazi spies, lead by Otto Preminger and Lenore Aubert. If stupid is as stupid does, we would have lost the war had any reporter like Hope been involved with spies. It is only by accident that Hope ends up saving the day, yet he gets all the credit.
But in the meantime, 90 minutes of predictable Hope gags fly by, and one plot development, of the Nazis using a burlesque queen (Marion Martin) to try and destroy Hope's reputation, comes along that actually adds some plausibility. Of course, Ms. Martin has no idea that she's being used for a Nazi plot, and ends up paying for it. I always felt that Marion Martin never got the credit she deserved as a character actress. Blousy but ultimately gold-hearted (weren't all these women?), she wasn't as soft as Joan Blondell or Ann Sothern, and could be very, very tough. But when she did have a fairly good part, she added a layer of vulnerability and warmness just below the surface that made her more likable. Along with Iris Adrian and Barbara Pepper, she made these characters very memorable and a small part of cinema history.
"They Got Me Covered" is a re-tread of films war audiences had seen before, perfectly covered for me by the brassy Warner Brothers comedy/drama "All Through the Night" with a more serious and less stupid Humphrey Bogart in the Hope role, and Conrad Veidt and Judith Anderson in the Preminger/Lenore Aubert parts. Bogart had a great gang of Warner Brothers character actors to back him up, but here, Hope is backed up by a group of women, including Ms. Lamour and the Mary Wickes look-alike Mary Treen. It is only their invasion of the beauty salon that ends up saving Hope from the Nazi's revenge. I thought the beauty salon set was very beautifully art-decco, but that couldn't take back the dislike I had for Hope's character being just so out of his element and obviously someone that should have been assigned a desk job rather than reporting serious news of the day.
There were some amusing performances, particularly Donald Meek as a psychotic man (who thinks its in the middle of the civil war), whom the Nazis use to scare out of their hideout, and the always funny Florence Bates as a gypsy woman who reads Hope's fortune. Aubert replaces Hope's usual sleek villain foil, Gale Sondergaard, in this film, and is both lovely and convincing. Preminger is appropriately authoritative. His voice is quite right for this type of part, and caused chuckles just by his voice similarity to General Bulkarter's on "Hogan's Heroes", a spoof of his role in the classic "Stalag 13".
In retrospect, I don't think it was wise during World War II to show any American being in a position such as Hope's to come off so idiotic. Other comics were usually just in the wrong place at the wrong time, creating all sorts of gags that were amusing yet not uncomfortable.
But in the meantime, 90 minutes of predictable Hope gags fly by, and one plot development, of the Nazis using a burlesque queen (Marion Martin) to try and destroy Hope's reputation, comes along that actually adds some plausibility. Of course, Ms. Martin has no idea that she's being used for a Nazi plot, and ends up paying for it. I always felt that Marion Martin never got the credit she deserved as a character actress. Blousy but ultimately gold-hearted (weren't all these women?), she wasn't as soft as Joan Blondell or Ann Sothern, and could be very, very tough. But when she did have a fairly good part, she added a layer of vulnerability and warmness just below the surface that made her more likable. Along with Iris Adrian and Barbara Pepper, she made these characters very memorable and a small part of cinema history.
"They Got Me Covered" is a re-tread of films war audiences had seen before, perfectly covered for me by the brassy Warner Brothers comedy/drama "All Through the Night" with a more serious and less stupid Humphrey Bogart in the Hope role, and Conrad Veidt and Judith Anderson in the Preminger/Lenore Aubert parts. Bogart had a great gang of Warner Brothers character actors to back him up, but here, Hope is backed up by a group of women, including Ms. Lamour and the Mary Wickes look-alike Mary Treen. It is only their invasion of the beauty salon that ends up saving Hope from the Nazi's revenge. I thought the beauty salon set was very beautifully art-decco, but that couldn't take back the dislike I had for Hope's character being just so out of his element and obviously someone that should have been assigned a desk job rather than reporting serious news of the day.
There were some amusing performances, particularly Donald Meek as a psychotic man (who thinks its in the middle of the civil war), whom the Nazis use to scare out of their hideout, and the always funny Florence Bates as a gypsy woman who reads Hope's fortune. Aubert replaces Hope's usual sleek villain foil, Gale Sondergaard, in this film, and is both lovely and convincing. Preminger is appropriately authoritative. His voice is quite right for this type of part, and caused chuckles just by his voice similarity to General Bulkarter's on "Hogan's Heroes", a spoof of his role in the classic "Stalag 13".
In retrospect, I don't think it was wise during World War II to show any American being in a position such as Hope's to come off so idiotic. Other comics were usually just in the wrong place at the wrong time, creating all sorts of gags that were amusing yet not uncomfortable.