Starring Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, Peter Lorre, Lon Chaney Jr., John Hoyt
Directed by Elliott Nugent
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
A baby photographer who aspired to become a detective's partner is mistaken for the detective and hired to expose a scheme involving kidnapping and a uranium mine.
This is a pretty good outing for Hope, with the comedian poking fun at hard boiled detective films with his usual rapid-fire jokes which may take multiple viewings to catch them all. There's also some memorable sight gags and celebrity cameos, and an opportunity for Hope to romance Lamour on screen without Bing Crosby along as his usual rival. The supporting cast has some famous names as well, with Charles Dingle's villain employing henchman Peter Lorre and Lon Chaney Jr. Lorre casts his usual menace as a knife-throwing foreigner, and Chaney plays a variation on his Lenny character from Of Mice And Men, as a dimwitted tough guy, cracking walnuts in his elbow. The plot gets a little convoluted sometimes, but it's still a fun film, and Hope and Lamour have strong chemistry as always.
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