The U.S. wasn't at war yet when this film came out on July 4, 1941. But, the war in Europe had begun nearly two years earlier when Germany invaded Poland (September 1939). America soon began providing aid to England and it was only a matter of time before the U.S. would enter the fighting. Of course, no one knew how that would happen when in just five months the Japanese would bomb Pearl Harbor. So, what's this history got to do with "Caught in the Draft?" This film, and others like it were being made in Hollywood in anticipation of America's entry into the war. This is one of a handful of films that treated induction and enlistment in the Armed Forces with humor. Just six months earlier, Abbott and Costello's "Buck Privates" debuted. It poked fun at some of the training and Army life in boot camp, with Lou as a hilarious misfit. Others of theirs would follow with the boys in the Navy and the Army Air Corps (which would become the U.S. Air Force after WWII). This film with Bob Hope is an unusual comedy piece for him. Hope's trademark comedy developed around dialog and funny scenes. But here, he shows some zaniness of antics not unlike those of the Marx Brothers, or even the Three Stooges. Bob is not the bumbling fool or inept soldier that Costello and others portrayed. He has a head on his shoulders, and is cunning with an eye on the Colonel's daughter. Dorothy Lamour plays Tony Fairbanks, daughter of Col. Peter Fairbanks, played by Clarence Kolb. But Hope's Don Bolton has a couple of buddies whose miscues often wind him up in trouble. Lynne Overman plays Steve Riggs and Eddie Bracken plays Bert Sparks. Bolton goes through a series of situations and encounters that have funny mishap results. Aside from the KP duty and GIs standing watch, this film has little else that could be considered realistic about boot camp, training or the Army – even way back then. The incongruous things are part of what makes this film so funny. Bolton enters basic training and is able to get leave or take time to visit the Colonel's daughter on post. He becomes a driver in boot camp. He drives a tank in some very hilarious scenes. And he even goes up in an airplane to train for the new parachutist units. All of this is far-reached. No Army base had all of those types of units, nor did boot camp ever expose men to those fields. The American parachute forces were just being formed for training in the summer of 1941 at Ft. Benning, GA. But these various types of Army units and training for them are the basis of a wacky plot that is filled with humor. No doubt this and similar films helped prepare the public, and many men, for military service. And, the light and funny treatment of military training may have helped ease tensions and the apprehensions the public otherwise may have had about preparing for war. But today, many decades later, we can look at dated films like this and appreciate them for the time and culture they represented. And, we should also enjoy the comedy. It's a type that never becomes outdated. I enjoy this film more than any of the seven "Road" films that Hope and Bing Crosby made together, beginning in 1940 and into 1962. This is a nice look at Bob Hope's early film comedy that was refreshing and original, before the Road movies and other later films used the technique of the actors talking to the audience at times. I think modern audiences today should enjoy this film, and the kids should get a kick out of some of the funny antics.

The year prior to the American declaration of war saw preparation with a draft and even movie stars were not excluded from being forced to enlist. For romantic movie idol Bob Hope, military service is the last thing on his mind, and in order to avoid the draft, he tries all sorts of maneuvers to keep out. But when colonel's daughter Dorothy Lamour encounters him, romance brings on patriotism and the results would make Hirohito laugh!Insincerity as a recruit gets him into all sorts of funny antics as the American army becomes his worst enemy as they strive to make him into a soldier. Joining in on Hope's antics is rising funny man Eddie Bracken as Hope's agent. Veteran character actor Clarence Kolb offers droll straight man slow burns as Lamour's pop. One of the potential recruits reminded me of a heavy set version of Red Skeleton. This was one of several comedies about funny men in boot camp, the most popular being Abbott and Costello's "Buck Privates".I'm surprised by some of the comedy here which the Hays code seems to have missed. In one sequence where Hope sees Lamour for the first time in a bathing suit, he squeezes his hot dog so hard that the wiener actually shoots out of the bun! Most of Hope's comedy is of the cowardly and verbal kind but when the visual takes over, make sure you aren't drinking a beverage at that time. Ironically, in one scene where Hope goes through a batch of unseen pictures, he comes across one which he identifies as Lucille the vivacious redhead. This was two years before the famous red-headed Lucille had changed her hair color! Within a year, Hope would be preparing for his own stint in the service, traveling the world to entertain the real troops!

Bob Hope plays a cowardly movie star who is afraid of being drafted. So he concocts a scheme to marry pretty Dorothy Lamour, in hopes of avoiding the draft. But general's daughter Dorothy figures him out and is disgusted by his cowardice. Having actually fallen for her, he comes up with another scheme to pretend to join the army to impress her, but it backfires and he finds himself actually enlisted. You can pretty much guess what will happen next. Decent WW2 comedy with the usual likable performances of Hope and Lamour. Eddie Bracken plays Bob's sidekick. It's a pleasant time-passer but nothing exceptional. It's fun to see Hope and Lamour in a movie without Bing Crosby. I kept expecting Bing to pop up and steal Dorothy away, as Bob rarely got the girl in their movies together.

For Bob Hope, in the 1940s, this is pretty routine stuff. Hope pretends to enlist in order to impress his girl friend, Dorothy Lamour, and winds up in the army by mistake. I don't know why this isn't funnier than it is. It has a cast of seasoned comedy actors, of which Lynn Overman is the best, with his dry Edgar-Buchanan wisecracks. The problem is with the script. It has a ground-out quality. Abbott and Costello, Laurel and Hardy, Mickey Rooney -- everyone seemed to be making the same movie, and this role could have been handed over to anyone. Hope is an extremely funny guy in the right context but this isn't the context. The script is unimaginative. The direction by David Butler is leaden. There are long pauses after a gag, before the dissolve, while the audience is supposed to be laughing. It seems at times that eons come and go, dynasties rise and fall, geological epochs pass, while we wait for the dissolve to the next scene in a silent room. Hope was a lot better later on, especially in the Road movies with Bing Crosby to play off. And he would be much better by himself too, in such outings as "My Favorite Spy." This one is worth watching and at times is engaging fun, but, for Hope, strictly by the book.