Friday, December 10, 2010

Restoring MY FAVORITE BRUNETTE: Is There Hope?

"He's a hilarious hawkshaw...with a case on Dottie!"
Many of my best-loved classic films have been restored to their original pristine (or close to it) condition, such as Vertigo, Rear Window, and Touch of Evil. But it’s always irked me that a full-blown restoration has so far eluded one of my favorite movies, literally: the 1947 comedy-thriller My Favorite Brunette (MFB), written by Edmund Beloin & Jack Rose, and directed by Elliott Nugent. For my money, this comic gem is the best of Bob Hope’s three movies in the “Favorite” series. The first one, My Favorite Blonde (1942), teamed Hope with Madeleine Carroll in a zany yet suspenseful adventure reminiscent of her Alfred Hitchcock thrillers The 39 Steps (1935) and Secret Agent (1936). The last of the trilogy was My Favorite Spy (1951), in which Hope teamed up for similarly funny, frantic shenanigans with the beautiful and brainy Hedy Lamarr. Although I enjoyed all three “Favorites,” I was drawn most strongly to MFB because it affectionately spoofs one of my favorite genres, the private eye mystery. We meet our hero, San Francisco baby photographer Ronnie Jackson (Hope), on Death Row—this is comedy? Oh yes it is, smarty, because there’s a gaggle of reporters interviewing our hero as he gets a chance to tell his side of the murder frame-up he’s embroiled in. In true 1940s-style detective voiceover, Ronnie admits, “I wanted to be a detective too. It only took brains, courage and a gun---and I had the gun!" When Ronnie office-sits for Sam McCloud, the tough, suave private eye down the hall, he finds his dreams of playing detective coming all too true all too soon when a mysterious damsel-in-distress, Baroness Carlotta Montay (no relation to Vertigo’s Carlotta Valdes) slinks into the picture, wearing fabulous Edith Head fashions. Thinking Ronnie is Sam, she begs him to help her find Baron Montay (Frank Puglia in a dual role), her older husband…or is he? 

Time to open the mailman?
I see a babelicious mystery woman in your future....
Whatever Carlotta is to the Baron, her entrance brought a smile to my face immediately, because she’s played by Bob Hope’s quintessential leading lady, Dorothy Lamour, a long way from the exotic Jungle Princess sarong that catapulted her to stardom in the 1930s! Soon Ronnie is up to his ski-nose in trouble as he and the comely Carlotta are chased by a gang of cutthroats with designs on Baron Montay’s uranium. That's right, uranium—the MacGuffin of Hitchcock’s thriller Notorious from the previous year!  When things go from bad to worse, will our hero sit down to “the worst last meal I ever ate,” or can he clear himself as he ducks flying bullets and one-liners between make-out sessions with Carlotta? One of Hope's best comedies, MFB deftly spoofs hard-boiled private eye thrillers of the era with a barrage of uproarious quips and set pieces in a private sanatorium and an atmospheric mansion (Ronnie: “Nice cheerful place. What time do they bring the mummies out?”). It’s like The Big Sleep on laughing gas, and makes about the same amount of sense. I’m tempted to quote more of Hope and Lamour’s witty quips, but I’d probably end up typing almost the entire zingy script verbatim. 

Is Carlotta giving Ronnie a private screening?
Hope and Lamour's usual comic/romantic chemistry is at its finest. I especially enjoyed the fact that more often than not, Carlotta was able to think on her feet and get the bumbling Ronnie out of one jam after another while he either went to pieces or let his little bouts of success go to his head. You go, girl!  The nifty supporting cast includes Peter Lorre as a knife-throwing henchman and assassin studying to pass his U.S. citizenship exam (he makes the phrase “What does the executive branch of our government do? It carries OUT the laws!” sound sinister and hilarious at the same time); the unfairly uncredited Jean Wong, endearing 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., essentially playing his classic and oft-imitated Of Mice and Men role for laughs; Jack La Rue, the lone American in 1948’s Brits-trying-to-sound-like-New-Yorkers adaptation of the notorious oddball crime drama No Orchids for Miss Blandish; and a couple of delightful star cameos sure to bring a smile to any classic movie fan’s face, especially the Paramount tough guy who plays Sam McCloud! The movie is a delight, but the DVD print, not so much, alas, despite a handful of nice interactive features. 

Whatever
Carlotta wants,
Carlotta gets!
Somewhere along the way, MFB slipped out of Paramount Pictures’ hands and wound up in Public Domain Hell!  The Madacy DVD currently available doesn't have the most pristine print; it’s got more scratches than a nudist who stumbled into poison ivy. Nevertheless, my scratchy copy of MFB is still a far better copy than the one that Turner Classic Movies periodically runs!  Heck, the TCM print is actually missing a few minutes in the scene taking place just after the rained-upon Ronnie and Carlotta return to McCloud’s office. I noticed the Columbia Pictures Television logo at the end of TCM’s recent MFB broadcast. Should we be pestering and persuading Columbia Pictures using every known form of communication in order to get a gorgeous print of MFB available to the world again? Please, motion picture historians and fellow film fanatics, let’s find a way to give this cheeky, cheerful farce a restoration and the Criterion-caliber treatment it deserves!

Guess  Mrs. Fong's baby isn't a vegetarian!



Update for 2011: My husband Vinnie gave me The Shout! Factory's deluxe Bob Hope DVD set, including a gorgeously remastered version of My Favorite Brunette! Many thanks to fellow Peter Lorre/Bob Hope fan Cheryl Morris for bringing the set to my attention!


19 comments:

  1. Ahhh, I just love reading your posts, Dorian, even if I've never seen the film, don't intend to, or never even heard of it in my life. However, I may have to check this one out -- it simply sounds too funny!

    Have a great weekend!

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  2. Aw, thanks for your comment, Emm -- you just put a big smile on my face! I think you'll really enjoy MY FAVORITE BRUNETTE if/when you catch up with it. Ironically, the clips of MFB now on You Tube are in better shape than the version on TCM! Anyway, the movie is well worth seeking out; "Aunt Dorian" wouldn't steer you wrong! ;-)

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  3. Dorian, I believe "My Favorite Brunette" HAS been restored -- at least, according to the description for this Bob Hope box-set: Legends of Hollywood: Bob Hope. You can find more information about it here, on this Peter Lorre website: http://www.peterlorrebook.com/dvd06.html.

    Just scroll down towards the bottom of the screen. There are also links to several on-line sellers of the DVD set.

    "My Favorite Brunette" is one of my favorite Bob Hope movies, too -- especially since my favorite actor Peter Lorre is in support. I also loved Peter appearance on Bob's radio show in promotion of "Brunette".

    Cheryl

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  4. Cheryl, thanks a million for this happy news about MY FAVORITE BRUNETTE being available in a great DVD in a new set! I'll definitely check into that ASAP! Peter Lorre has always been one of our family's favorites, too. For what it's worth, when I was a kid I did a darn good Peter Lorre imitation. :-)

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  5. You're very welcome, Dorian! Always glad to help out a fellow fan of Peter Lorre's. If you get a chance to, please check out his authorized biography, "The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre", by Stephen Youngkin.

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  6. Cheryl, thanks for the tip about THE LOST ONE: A LIFE OF PETER LORRE! I'll add that to my ever-growing must-read list! :-)

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  7. I'd like to welcome a new Follower to our merry TotED band: Zippywinds, a fellow Hitchcock fan. Happy to have you among us, Zippywinds; we hope you'll enjoy yourself here!

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  8. Hey, folks, I noticed this comment on the IMDb attributed to Jonathan Elliott, grandson of Elliott Nugent, director of MY FAVORITE BRUNETTE and many other comedies starring Bob Hope, among others: "Bing Crosby's cameo (was part of) an arrangement to do cameos in each other's movies; however, Bing had already done a cameo in Bob's last movie, so it wasn't Bing's turn. Bob wanted Bing to do this cameo so badly that Bob offered to pay Bing $5,000, which Bing donated to charity. Bing Crosby walked on set, skipped makeup (already made up from another movie he was shooting on the lot), stopped at wardrobe (which consisted of donning a prison guard shirt), and did his bit in one take, leaving the soundstage in just 5 minutes, making a Hollywood record for the most money per minute paid to an actor. Source: My grandfather, Elliott Nugent, directed this movie and wrote about it in his autobiography 'Events Leading up to the Comedy' (SPOILER ALERT) Oh yeah, about Alan Ladd playing the private eye: Elliott Nugent directed him in 'The Great Gatsby' ". Jonathan Elliott

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  9. Nice blog on one of my favorite topics. I never much thought about blueray, until I saw Casablanca. Now, I'm not buying anything unless it's on B/R. Looking forward to getting the Maltese Falcon soon. Love Bob and Bing, too.

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  10. Hey, Nick, welcome to TotED! Our family recently fell under Blu-Ray's spell, too, and we're Bogart fans from way back. But hey, whatever the format, I think we can agree that classic movies rule! :-)

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  11. Ah Yes . . . MY FAVORITE BRUNETTE with Bob Hope. This certainly brings back memories. Television in the 1960s. Three networks (plus National Educational TV) being shown on a machine with twelve settings on the channel dial!!! CBS THURSDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES, and regular showings of Bob Hope films, followed by regular showings of Doris Day films, which would be followed by more Bob Hope films, immediately followed by more Doris Day films. And, at least once a month, the regularly scheduled showing of A DANDY IN ASPIC with Laurence Harvey. Every Frickin' Month! I swear, someone in the CBS hierarchy had a Serious Jones for that film. I mean, I like Harvey just fine. But how many TIMES can one be expected to sit through A DANDY IN ASPIC? Even the marathon showings of THE GLASS BOTTOM BOAT were much more palatable. At least THE GLASS BOTTOM BOAT not only had Paul Lynde, but a great MAN FROM UNCLE in-joke. But, after a while, the whole mess made you throw up your hands to the point where you'd switch over to ABC-TV and watch them chop up movies just to stick more commercials into the time space. That's why we had so many people over in Vietnam at the time, kids. They were going over there trying to escape the butchery which was taking place over at ABC SUNDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES.

    And then, after the Beatles broke up . . .

    I'm sorry, Dorian. What was the question again?

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  12. Michael, your witty, kaleidoscopic remembrance of Movies On TV Past and its dependence on the work of Bob Hope and Doris Day cracked me up! I'd seen the title A DANDY IN ASPIC in the TV listing many times during when I was a tween in the 1970s, though I never actually got to sit down and watch it until its recent broadcast on TCM. Had its moments and some good lines, but over all a bit muddled, possibly because director Anthony Mann died during filming and star Laurence Harvey took over. Loved the sinister opening titles with the marionette, though!

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  13. Oh joy! It's Christmas Day, and my sweet hubby Vinnie gave me many Hitchcock DVDs and the remastered 5-DVD Bob Hope Collection -- including a gorgeous print of MY FAVORITE BRUNETTE! Thanks, hon, and thanks again to you, too, Cheryl Morris, for alerting me of its existence! Merry Christmas to all and to all a great day!

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  14. You're very welcome, Dorian! Glad to help out a fellow Lorre fan. I purchased a Bob Hope collection DVD set, too, with the restored "Brunette" -- but unfortunately, the DVD with "Brunette" is scratched. Right at the scene where Bob is trying to keep the incriminating record away from the hotel suite full of villains. I'll see if it plays any better in my Blu-Ray, but if it doesn't, I'll have to return it. What collection did you get? If the seller doesn't have another copy of this particular DVD box-set, I might have to go with another Hope collection.

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  15. Cheryl, I'm sorry to hear that the copy of MY FAVORITE BRUNETTE in your Bob Hope DVD collection was scratched. The Hope collection my husband Vinnie got me for Christmas was "The Bob Hope Collection" five-movie DVD set from Shout Factory. Their remastered films have a great reputation, and I wasn't disappointed! As Vinnie aptly stated on Twitter, "The MY FAVORITE BRUNETTE print was like restored Grand Central ceiling; what a difference!" By the way, the other films in that Bob Hope/Shout Factory collection include THE LEMON DROP KID, THE SEVEN LITTLE FOYS, ROAD TO BALI, and ROAD TO RIO.

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  16. Thanks, Dorian! Sounds like I need to get mine from Shout. And I'm glad "Road to Bali" is included. It's my favorite of the "Road" pictures.

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  17. i've heard VCI entertainment is going to be releasing MFB in June 2012 restored with bonus material.

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