Tockinit not horrible nor great

ScoobyWell Great visuals, story delivers no surprises

Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

AutCuddly Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

classicsoncall Bob Hope plays a dual role in this comedy spy flick, one as his usual character throwing out humorous one liners, and the other as an international spy who Peanuts White (Hope) is asked to imitate in order to secure a valuable piece of film for the government. Hope actually looked a bit scary as the villain Eric Augustine, and it made me wonder if he could have pulled off a dramatic role in a non comedy vehicle.This was my first glimpse of Hedy Lamarr, and I wasn't too impressed with her looks when she first appeared on screen. But then, it seemed like she got better looking as the movie progressed. By the time of the film's finale and that wild hook and ladder ride, the zaniness of the scene seemed to bring out a naturalness to her personality that seemed suppressed in the early going. Actually, that scene had elements of Abbott and Costello and the Keystone Kops going for it, and was a lot more physical than any other Hope characterization I've seen.As usual, some of Hope's best zingers are of the self deprecatory kind; when one of the detectives removes his clown rubber nose in the early going, Hope's character replies - "Hey, that's not all putty"! You have to be quick when he does the gag about Bing Crosby, never mentioning him by name, but remarking how a skull he's looking at resembles a 'singer I know'. Modern audiences and non-Hope fans would never give it a second thought, but it's one of the fun things about watching these era films when you're old enough to be in on the joke.Hey, I know it's just for laughs, but there was a goof in that scene when the phone started ringing inside the suitcase. When Peanuts/Hope finally gets it out, the receiver is off the hook!"My Favorite Spy" seems to get mixed reviews, and though I enjoyed it myself, I thought about it being re-done as "Road to Tangier" with Crosby and Lamour along for the ride. Say, did you catch it when Peanuts White's real name was revealed? - it was Cecil Longwood.

MartinHafer While I enjoyed a few of Bob Hope's films, I must say up front that I am not especially a fan of his work. And, I think that others who are not huge fans of his work will probably not be particularly impressed by this rather limp comedy. That's because, for a comedy, this film has a remarkably small amount of humor. Apart from a slightly amusing situation, most of the "laughs" are the result of Hope's mugging and one-liners. For me, they frankly weren't funny at all. My opinion, and I know this might make me sound harsh, is that for years, Bob Hope cashed in on his early successes and then just kind of walked through many roles playing himself. And, this film isn't particularly different from a long string of very similar films from the 40s and 50s. While his die-hard fans will no doubt enjoy this, others will probably be pretty bored.The film is a story about Hope and a look-alike who is a master spy. The spy is captured and Hope is to take his place and secure some secret film. Along the way, he meets Hedy Lamarr--who just seems a bit out of her element. She is not a natural comedienne, but this film doesn't even allow her to try--forcing her to play a dramatic role most of the film. And, in the final chase scene, it looks like a limp imitation of a Keystone comedy. As a result, you're left with a slightly less than average time-passer and nothing more. While technically sound, I was frankly amazed how uninvolving this film was. There was just so little energy and few laughs.

bkoganbing Haven't movie fans wondered how Bob Hope has managed to have so many glamorous leading ladies fall for the schnooky characters he played in his career? It's a source of amazement and amusement too. But I've always thought that was part of the secret of Hope's appeal, that if he could get the glamor girl, anyone could.They don't get much more glamorous than Hedy Lamarr who was in the midst of a mini-comeback because of Samson and Delilah. Unfortunately the roles she got post DeMille didn't sustain her career.When one works on a Bob Hope film as a leading lady you will definitely be second banana. Hedy Lamarr was not second banana material and that was a source of some friction between her and Hope. But being second banana was something she should have known walking in.In My Favorite Spy, Hope was spoofing all those espionage/adventure films set in various exotic places like Casablanca. He gets to play a dual role here. First as Eric Augustine, Bogart like adventurer, and secondly as Peanuts White burlesque comic who is a dead ringer the U.S. government drafts into getting some secret microfilm before Sidney Greenstreet stand-in Francis L. Sullivan does. Of course Hope has a Peter Lorre type factotum in Arnold Moss.Though uneven in spots, mainly because Hope doesn't have the chemistry between him and Lamarr the way he did with Jane Russell or Madeleine Carroll, or Dorothy Lamour, My Favorite Spy does have some good moments. My favorite moment is when the truth serum is administered to Peanuts White and he starts doing his burlesque shtick for Sullivan.It's not the best of Hope's Paramount films, but it does have some good moments.And besides only Bing Crosby could ever really expect to not be a second banana.

s007davis Review contains SPOILERS:In 1951, Bob Hope made the 3rd and final entry in his "My Favorite_____" series which reteamed him with director Norman Z. McLeod("Road to Rio", arguably the best of the "Road" pictures). Fresh from her success in Cecil B. DeMille's classic Biblical epic "Samson and Delilah", the beautiful Hedy Lamarr(perhaps Hope's most glamourously exotic leading lady up to that point in his career) was cast to play the comedian's favorite spy. The result was a workmanlike but enjoyable comedy/spy thriller which seemed to satirize not only exotic international intrigue films like "Casablanca" but if it weren't for the fact that it was released 11 years before the first 007 film, a viewer might think it was also a James Bond spoof. The fire truck chase where the hero hangs on a ladder while the heroine drives the vehicle was recycled years later in the Bond film "A View To A Kill."Essentially, "My Favorite Spy"'s plot follows a typical Hope film formula: our hero is an everyman, in this case a burlesque comic, who is forced into dangerous situation(the reason being in this case, the old Hollywood movie rule that someone can pass for an identical twin of someone to whom he has no biological relation to! Alright, I know it's a cliche but it's a good cliche later reused in another comedy classic called "On The Double" with Danny Kaye). Anyway, because of and often in spite of his attempts to conquer his enemies, he outwits the bad guys and wins the affections of the knockout lead female character. It was a formula that worked for several Hope films of his prime era(1940s-early 1950s). "Spy" is typical of Hope's entries of this time. If there's any flaw to the film it's that it's never anything great. However, it makes no pretense of being a masterpiece. The filmmakers never promise the viewer anything more than an entertaining 93 minutes of fun and they completely succeed in delivering what they promise. If only more films could make that achievement.Bottom line: "My Favorite Spy" resoundingly earns a respectable *** out of **** and makes for an amusing comedy adventure well worth watching if you're a fan of either Hope or Miss Lamarr. Why it has never been released on home video is a mystery. Favorite line-"Why don't you go? If you hurry, you can catch the nine o'clock broom."For more fun with Bob in the world of espionage, I also recommend "They Got Me Covered", "My Favorite Blonde", "Call Me Bwana" and "Road To Hong Kong". For more comedy fun with Hedy, check out her underrated "Ninotchka" take-off, "Comrade X". Any of those titles would make for a good double feature with "My Favorite Spy."