"My Favorite Blonde" is one of the zaniest, fast-paced, and great comedies of all time. I count no fewer than 18 specific sequences of hilarity. Each has some sidesplitting lines. And, the only types of transportation missing seem to be a rowboat and a hot air balloon. This isn't just a film of one-liners. It isn't a film full of slapstick. It is a masterful work of witty dialog, repartee, and wonderful action combined that will keep an audience laughing throughout. The writers did a great job with the script. The direction is excellent and the settings and technical values are very good. But, it's the casting that nails this film. Bob Hope and Madeleine Carroll are perfectly matched for this wonderful farce. They play Larry Haines and Karen Bentley. With the breezy, witty and at times, uproariously funny script, they bounce off each other with ease and perfection. There are no real supporting roles, but many minor ones. The nemeses of Karen and Larry carry out their roles well in providing the occasional slightly serious overtone to the film. Gale Sondergaard, George Zucco and Lionel Royce are Nazi spies trying to knock off Larry and Karen and steal the secret scorpion message. But, several minor comic roles add to the overall comedy of the film. Edward Gargan as Spike Mulrooney, and James Burke as the union secretary, go at it in two short hilarious scenes. If a movie was continuous shooting, these would have been timely to allow Larry and Karen to catch their breath. Fred Kelsey and Edgar Dearing play Los Angeles policemen, Sam and Joe. They can't stomach the "icky-wicky" chatter of Larry and Karen in the back of their squad car, so they turn them loose. Their looks and lines are very funny. After a dramatic slow start aboard a passenger ship, the story gradually picks up speed and it accelerates throughout the film. Larry and Karen move from scene to scene using different modes of transportation. They dodge pursuers by taxi, passenger train, airplane, bus, more taxis, a hopped freight train, police cruiser, sheriff's car, stolen pickup, stolen bus, stolen airplane and stolen hearse. The movie is one frantic and hilarious scene after another. Karen frequently changes her persona, reacting to the appearance of her pursuers. At first, this catches Larry off guard because he's not convinced of her plight. His expressions and reactions to her changes nearly had me rolling with laughter. Here are some sample lines to whet one's appetite. Karen, "My name's Karen Bentley. I can't tell you any more." Larry, "My name's Larry Haines. There's no more to tell." Karen, "Be quiet please. I'm being followed by two men in black." Larry, "You sure you don't mean two men in white?"Leaving the theater with Larry, Karen sees two pursuers nearby, so she changes her voice to a hilarious one. Karen, "Say, Jack, remember dat week in Wacko when we was Flip and Nip? Boy, did we wow 'em. And dat hotel, Floppy Louie's. Was it crawlin? Was it crawlin'?" Larry, "Yeah, Flip and Nip at Floppy Louie's institution." At the train station, Karen says she is going with Larry to Chicago. She glimpses the spies on her trail. She kisses Larry and pushes him onto the train car, "Goodbye. Goodbye." Larry, "Hello." Karen, "Don't forget to take your pills. And, that green stuff, take lots of that. It's good for you." Larry, "OK. But don't you drink any more. You've got quite a snoot full now." Karen, "And don't you worry about Winky and Pinky. I'll see that they don't ride their bicycles in traffic." Larry, "Hey, how do you ride bicycles in straitjackets? Winky and Pinky!"In an apartment, with spies all around outside, they have no way to escape. Larry starts throwing vases at the windows. He throttles Karen and tells her to scream. She gets it and they call each other goofy names and destroy the apartment before the police come to haul them away. Larry, "So I'm a snit drivel, am I?" Karen, 'Yes! And you're also a scridge podge!" Larry, "A scridge podge! Why you!"In the back of the police cruiser, Karen snuggles up to Larry, and they start babbling. We can see the faces of the two burly cops turning sour and grimacing. Karen, "Is daddy sorry he hit his boopsy woopsy with his lampy?" Larry, "Yes, daddy is sorry he hit boopsy woopsy with the itsy bitsy piano stool. And, daddy's going to kiss where he made a little bumpy wumpy. Does boopsy woopsy forgive daddy waddy?" The police stop the car and tell them to scram. Joe, "Sam, I couldn't take any more of that." Sam, "Me either. I was ready to throw up."Larry and Karen get on a Teamsters bus going to a picnic. The repartee with Turk O'Flaherty (played by Charles Cane) is hilarious. The bus breaks out singing "When Irish Eyes are Smiling." Bob Hope has a good voice, and Larry adds some harmony solos in the song to everyone's delight. Karen's smiles seem almost to break out in laughter as she watches Hope at his best. Of the many movies Bob Hope made, this is by far his best and funniest. His match with Madeleine Carroll is perfect. They seem to play off one another spontaneously and with ease. This movie is a real hoot and one the entire family should enjoy. The younger kids will be entertained by some of the antics and the babbling scenes. Adults can explain the subtleties of the dialog to teens and others were needed. I wonder if John Hughes, the writer and director, didn't get his idea from this film for his 1987 smash comedy, "Planes, Trains & Automobiles." I have both films in my comedy library. "My Favorite Blonde" is one of the best.

Carroll is a British secret agent on the run from German spies. She's carrying valuable information that must reach Los Angeles. She lands in New York and eludes her pursuers by dashing into Hope's dressing room while he's on stage doing a bad act with a penguin. The thin plot has Hope and Carroll traveling across country with the bad guys always on their tail. So far, just formula. But Hope is excellent here, much better than in the Road pictures. He's less self-conscious here -- no talking to the camera, no in-jokes between him and Crosby, no leering at Lamour. Woody Allen once said that his film persona was to a large extent modeled after Bob Hope's character and nowhere is this more evident than here. As you watch the movie, try to imagine Woody playing Hope's role. You can easily visualize Woody doing the lines as Woody and it's not much different from Hope (though Hope's character isn't a New York neurotic). Definitely worth watching.

Bob Hope was in his prime in this one, and once the roller coaster of laughs starts it doesn't quit for 90 minutes. It's a road format movie: Bob and Madeleine Carroll have to get across WWII America from New York to Los Angeles with secret plans before the Nazi spies intercept them. It's a formula plot but handled most inventively and Sidney Lansfield's competent comedic direction gives Bob a perfect opportunity to develop what became his trademark character. The scenes of Percy the Penguin loose on the train, the bus driver's picnic, Hope impersonating a child psychologist for a meeting of proper small town ladies - they're little miracles of laughter. If you don't think you like Bob Hope - try this one.

Larry Haines is a vaudeville entertainer who's act involves a roller skating penguin. He becomes entangled in a war time plot when British agent Karen Bentley is forced to use him as cover to help her get American bomber plans into the right hands and keep it safe from the Nazis.It's a shame that this film has eluded me until the great man himself has actually died, but it was to mark his passing that this film got screened on television recently. The plot is largely meaningless but is good natured and involving enough to keep the film moving along as a thriller of sorts. However it is really no more than a nail from which to hang a series of quips, one liners and wise cracks from Bob Hope. These are scripted well and the film manages to be very funny even more than half a century later.Hope is at his best here as the cowardly, self-depreciating performer who is sucked into the plot with his trademark unwillingness. His lines are still sharp and his delivery here is as good as some of his best work. Madeline Carroll was never going to be able to share the limelight with Hope given that she has to carry the plot side of the film, however she does really well and has some laughs herself. The nazis fail to make a significant mark in the film and I struggle to remember them other than stooges even a short time after watching the film.Regardless of this, the film should and will be enjoyed for it's main selling point – the wise cracking comedy of Bob Hope. This film seems to be forgotten against some of his other works but it is a fine example of the wisecracks, jokes and delivery that made Bob Hope famous years after he left show business and will keep him famous for many more years yet.