They Got Me Covered (1943)

7/10

bkoganbing8 March 2007

They Got Me Covered is one of two films Bob Hope did on loan out from Paramount to Sam Goldwyn. After that Goldwyn once again signed his own house comedian Danny Kaye so he wouldn't have to pay an exorbitant ransom Paramount put on Hope's talents.

Hope's a bumbling newspaper reporter who turned out to be the only wire service man who did not get the story of the German invasion of the Soviet Union. That got him fired by boss editor Donald MacBride in one of his patented movie temper tantrums,

If you can believe it Hope actually won a Pulitzer Prize, but we soon learn the reason for it. He's got a Rumanian source named Venescu played by John Abbott. Abbott's got another big story for him, but he manages to get himself killed. Hope and ever suffering gal pal Dorothy Lamour have to find out what happened.

This could have been the plot line for any number of melodramatic noir type films, but this is a Bob Hope film so we're talking satire of same. Hope gets a lot of help from a very good cast of players Sam Goldwyn assembled here. Representing the Axis are Otto Preminger, Philip Ahn, and Eduardo Ciannelli plus a very seductive Lenore Aubert as the traditional femme fatale.

Best moments for me are those that Hope has with Donald Meek playing an addled old caretaker who believes the Civil War is still going on. The two of them reprise a couple of old burlesque routines in Abbott and Costello style.

Also look for a really nice performance by brassy blond Marion Martin as stripper Gloria the Glo-Girl.

They Got Me Covered despite the dated World War II topical references still has quite a lot of laughs for today's audience.

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7/10

Hope/Lamour WWII comedy

blanche-23 November 2006

Bob Hope is a Pulitzer-prize winning Robert Kittridge reporter who, after assuring his editor that Germany will not invade Russia loses his job in "They Got Me Covered." He thinks that this minor infraction can be forgiven if the man who won him the first Pulitzer, his contact Vanescu, will just come through with the story he says he has. But he's too nervous and tells Kittridge to have a stenographer (Lamour) meet him and she should carry a red bag and a green umbrella. His girlfriend/secretary calls home and arranges to have her roommate meet them - but Kittridge has the meeting place mixed up and by the time they get to the right place, the roommate has been taken away in a car. She gets the story in shorthand but the Nazis can't decipher it. They bring in decoder after decoder who look at the notes in dismay and say things like, "This isn't Gregg shorthand...this isn't Pittman....this isn't speedwriting..." - a very funny scene that probably had the secretaries in the audience laughing. The poor roommate then becomes a target.

The script is loaded with war jokes about rationing, the swing shift, etc., and Hope pops them off in his usual wry manner. When he hears Crosby on the radio, he turns it off and says, "That guy is haunting me." Lamour sports a big, high hairdo that almost looks like she's got it intertwined with a fur piece. She gives Hope great support. The Axis powers are a scream - Otto Preminger, Eduardo Cianelli, and Philip Ahn. In one very funny scene, Hope, disguised as a dummy, is eavesdropping on them at a health club when Preminger decides to show his skill with a knife - at the dummy.

Wartime audiences must have loved this, and much of "They Got Me Covered" still holds up even if that particular war is over. Great comedy delivered by masters.

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7/10

An enjoyable WWII propaganda film...

planktonrules25 February 2011

Paramount Studios loaned out Bob Hope to Sam Goldwyn to make two films--"The Princess and the Pirate" (1944) and this film. Despite a new studio, however, the style and enjoyability of this film is about on par with Hope's films of the late 30s and through the 1940s. This was Hope's most productive period--with one excellent comedy after another. None are masterpieces, but all are consistently worth seeing.

Hope stars as an incompetent reporter. His boss is so fed up with his lack of talent in sniffing out a story that he fires him. However, when a man approaches Hope and promises to give him important secrets about the Nazis, Hope sees his chance to win his job back and tell an important story. But, unfortunately, things don't go that smoothly and soon Hope's days seem numbered, as Axis agents from all three powers are all mobilized to kill him and gain the secrets for themselves. Along for the ride is the ubiquitous Dorothy Lamour.

All in all, the film is breezy and fun--and relies more on fun situations than one-liners. It also is a good propaganda film, as although like most of these films it's a bit preachy, it's entertaining enough that you just don't care. If only Hope's later films were this much fun....

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6/10

WWII spy comedy with Hope and Lamour...

Doylenf8 March 2007

Typical BOB HOPE comedy popular during the war years when his gags were timely and always on target kidding the current political situation and the entertainment world with breezy one liners. DOROTHY LAMOUR is the fetching sweetheart who helps Bob in his efforts to win back his reputation as a Pulitzer Prize journalist after his big gaffe in predicting that Germany will never invade Russia.

It's the breezy sort of thing Hope always did so well, with a nice supporting cast of character actors who knew how to be foils for his comic gags. Among them: EDWARD CIANNELLI, LEONORE AUBERT, DONALD COOK, OTTO PREMINGER, MARION MARTIN and DONALD MacBRIDE. Cook has a surprising against type role as a crazy gangster who at one point says to Hope: "You're cool, ain't ya?" (The use of "cool" way ahead of its time!).

Directed at a fast pace by David Butler, it's certainly not one of Hope's best films but easy to see why Hope vs. Nazis was such a fun idea in those WWII days when the best villains were always those notorious Germans.

The plot has Lamour helping Hope win his reputation back by capturing a bunch of spies in Washington, D.C. Fans of Hope and Lamour should find this one satisfying enough despite its flaws.

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7/10

Hope and Lamour vs. spies in D.C.

csteidler13 March 2012

Foreign correspondent Bob Hope is recalled to the States. He has, as he puts it, "slipped up a little bit on the Russian rumpus." Meaning—he was the only foreign correspondent in Europe who didn't report the invasion of Russia by the Nazis. (Instead he sent home a cable saying to disregard all such rumors.)

Fired, Hope winds up in Washington, hoping to redeem himself and his job by begging (and buying) another scoop from a spy named Vanescu (John Abbott). He is going to need help from his girlfriend on the Washington bureau—Dorothy Lamour, of course.

One thing leads to another, and the plot develops into a spy thriller involving a missing notebook; a kidnapped stenographer (Phyllis Ruth); a blonde dance hall star (Marion Martin) who musters up her patriotism when it counts; a murder or two; and a beauty parlor that is actually a nest of Axis spies.

Donald Meek has one great scene as a nut who thinks he's fighting the Civil War. Donald MacBride has a wild bit as the managing editor who is flabbergasted at Hope's incompetence and takes great relish in loudly firing him. Lenore Aubert is wickedly tempting as the beautiful fortune teller and spy near the center of the plot.

The patriotic element is there, too: When the emergency is on, Lamour rounds up her roommates—all government office workers in one department or another. For muscle, the girls bring along their boyfriends: a marine, a sailor, and so on. It's a team very easy to cheer for as they swoop onto the scene.

Of course, Hope and Lamour always look good together. A fair number of snappy one-liners and a decent plot keep this one moving.

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6/10

Action and chase scenes save a weak comedy

SimonJack16 October 2015

The best parts of "They Got Me Covered" are its action and chase scenes. As a comedy, this is not one of Bob Hope's best films. After a while, his stand-up comedian persona becomes irritating and doesn't seem to fit with the film or the humor. This is most evident in his aside comments to himself, usually. Nor are they very funny. The funniest scene of the entire film is that with Donald Meek who plays the little old man (the crazy one). Meek is one of the long- lasting Hollywood supporting actors whom old film buffs will recognize and enjoy. He is a real hoot in this comic scene. And that's when Hope's glance askance as though looking at the audience really works.

The story is OK, but bounces around a lot. Most of the performers are good. And the technical aspects are fine. But as a comedy, this just doesn't have enough gas or gags to make it anything better than an average film.

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6/10

Not a comedy classic, but sometimes very funny

gridoon202425 April 2022

This wartime Bob Hope comedy is not a classic, but it does produce laughs - including some out-loud ones - with adequate frequency. The topical elements (the Gestapo, air raids, saboteurs, etc.) are played fairly straight, which is interesting to see. Dorothy Lamour looks great as Bob's girl - I got Woody Allen-Diane Keaton vibes from their partnership. **1/2 out of 4.

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10/10

Underrated WWII comedy-thriller is one of Bob Hope's best

s007davis27 April 2004

Warning: Spoilers

Warning: review contains SPOILERS.

Fresh off their success with "The Road to Morocco", Bob Hope, his frequent leading lady Dorothy Lamour and expert comedy director David Butler teamed up for this (then)topical laughfest about a bumbling news correspondent who uncovers an Axis spy ring on the eve of the U.S.'s entry into WWII. In an adventure that takes him to Moscow, New York City, Washington, D.C. and Niagara Falls, Hope runs across international cutthroats, femme fatales, undercover agents, blond burlesque queens, Axis saboteurs, a crazy Civil War vet, and (sort of-spoiler here) an unforgettable fellow airplane passenger. All of the riotous mayhem culminates in a hilarious conclusion in Washington beauty salon where Hope outwits the villains in a way that has to been seen to be believed.

When it comes to comedy, nothing beats Bob Hope in his prime(1940s) and the one-liners provided for him here are classics. The often underrated Miss Lamour shines as a Lois Lane-type reporter. She and Hope have fabulous chemistry together and their comic timing as a team is impeccable. Directing great Otto Preminger("Exodus", "Laura") is perfect as the villainous Nazi spymaster while the lovely Lenore Aubert{"Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein") makes an alluring femme fatale. Harry Kurnitz script is stronger-than-average for a Hope vehicle while David Butler again proves he was one of Hollywood classic era's most capable and underrated directors. Wisely, they allow the villains to play it straight to give this mostly light film a serious(but not too much so) undertone which makes it seem edgier and thus more effective as a comedy thriller.

Bottom line: One of Hope's best that deserves to be rated higher in Hope's 1940s film canon. *** 1/2 out of ****.

Makes a good double feature with either "Caught in the Draft"(1941) another Hope/Lamour/Butler collaboration or "My Favorite Blonde"(1942), another Hope comedy/WWII spy-thriller classic.

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4/10

Best shorthand skills

AAdaSC8 May 2016

Inept reporter Bob Hope (Kittredge) gets fired after being the only newspaper reporter out of all the different newspapers who doesn't get a story about the Nazis attacking Russia during WW2 – his report says to ignore the rumours as it will never happen. He really is a terrible reporter. However, he has a contact John Abbott (Vanescu) ready to tip him off about a big spy ring operating in the USA which could win back his reputation. His girlfriend Dorothy Lamour (Christina) is there to help him with things and the film follows his antics as we get misunderstandings, the enemy wanting to kill him and a lot of Bob Hope, so if you find him funny, you'll enjoy the film.

Bob Hope is one of those actors that I want to find funny and I keep giving his films a chance. Unfortunately, I don't get it. I found him completely unfunny (again) in this film to the point where I was bored. The plot skips about and I had to remind myself on a couple of occasions as to what the storyline actually was as Bob Hope managed to kill the film with his unfunniness. The worst scene in the film is the thoroughly pointless drawn-out routine with Donald Meek who plays an old man who's gone bonkers. It's contrived and moronic. A similar example of unfunniness is the entire end sequence when Hope is pretending to be a dummy sitting on a bicycle. This is not humour – this is pure annoying foolishness with the emphasis on annoying.

However, set against this, I found that Dorothy Lamour played her role well and I think she should have had more screen time. Where was her song? I thought she always got a song? She didn't get one but showgirl Marion Martin (Gloria) did. This provided the best sequence of the film with a great song and an outcome that will shock. It didn't seem to belong in this lightweight comedy.

So, it's a thumbs down from me but I still want to like Bob Hope. Curious, isn't it? And this film does serve as a blueprint for shorthand technique.

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9/10

Hope at his best

merrywater1 January 2015

Always loved this movie since I saw it on television when I was 14. It doesn't have a very convincing, or even good, script but it's still extremely entertaining, not only because of Bob Hope. There are some scenes without him that are quite on the spot, like that one where the Nazi, Fascist and Japanese sabotage heads meet in order to get a stenographic notebook transcribed:

the Nazi guy (played by Otto Preminger who directed "Laura") calls for his expert: "Send in Schulz!" Schulz enters immediately and is greeted by the words "What delayed you?"

As Schulz can't read the notebook, the Fascist guy calls for his expert: "What is needed is a fine Italian hand! Send in Mr. Testori, please. We do things differently!" Testori enters and is hearty greeted but gets a blow on the head and a dressing down when he too can't read the notebook.

Then the Japanese guy calls for his expert, Hawara, a humble servant of the Emperor who knows all stenographic systems. He's not greeted at all ("Transuration, purease.") but he can explain that the notebook is written in a system of its own (and is subsequently reproached for this information).

There is some suspense in it too, and a memorable killing of an airhead sing-and-dance girl on stage by the throwing of a knife inserted in some kind of cotton ball. (The Fascist guys previously warned her: "Remember, an empty head is better than no head at all!").

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5/10

Funny lines about a not so funny topic

dexter-1014 December 2000

Bob Hope's comedy seems always funny, and this satire is funnier yet. Spies and secret foreign agents have the run of Washington. This movie is best described as Hope meets Axis spies, while Dorthory Lamour laments that the "dreadful Nazi" is responsible for the perfume shortage. The movie is replete with comic dialogue which the war weary audiences on the Homefront during World War Two must have found refreshing. Hope's best line in this one (about Lamour): "She must work the swing shift." Lamour's best line (to Hope): "Bet a new tire?"

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8/10

Hope at his funniest.

rmax30482322 January 2006

Warning: Spoilers

This is no carefully crafted masterpiece of comedy. The plot line is ridiculous, the performances are no more than enactments of stereotypes. But still the gags come thick and fast. They center around Bob Hope, who plays Bob Hope, the greedy libidinous sniveling cowardly liar. And he's just about at his peak here, even though the humor depends a good deal on his running from room to room in a disguise or making one-line wisecracks offhandedly. The gorgeous Lenore Aubert tells him something like, "I know it is true, because I feel it here." She places her fingertips on her breast. Hope glances down and mutters, "Oh. There." But Hope gets some cracking good support in this movie too. What a trio of enemy goons -- Otto Preminger, Eduardo Cianelli, and Philip Ahn -- an axis of evil, so to speak. Hope is disguised as a dummy at a health and grooming resort while the meanies are holding a meeting and discussing their strategy for destroying the world. One thug's ability to kill instantly by throwing a knife is challenged and he insists on demonstrating his skill. Okay. Preminger points to "Dzah dummy dzere -- on dzah bicycle." (Hope.) "Pierce dzah dommy sqvarely between dzah eyes." The way Preminger draws out that looooong vowel sound in "pierce", the ominous threat behind that uvular "r", you've gotta love it.

One of the funniest scenes in the movie has Donald Meek playing a madman who believes he is ferreting out Yankee spies during the Civil War. (I told you, the plot is rather loose.) Well worth catching, Palsy Walsies.

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5/10

Mediocre War Comedy, Some amusement but ultimately flat.

mark.waltz17 February 2010

Warning: Spoilers

War correspondent Bob Hope lets the scoop of the Germans attacking Russia go, causing his editor (Donald MacBride) to fire him. He tries to convince girlfriend Dorothy Lamour that he fixed everything with him, and ends up involved with a group of Nazi spies, lead by Otto Preminger and Lenore Aubert. If stupid is as stupid does, we would have lost the war had any reporter like Hope been involved with spies. It is only by accident that Hope ends up saving the day, yet he gets all the credit.

But in the meantime, 90 minutes of predictable Hope gags fly by, and one plot development, of the Nazis using a burlesque queen (Marion Martin) to try and destroy Hope's reputation, comes along that actually adds some plausibility. Of course, Ms. Martin has no idea that she's being used for a Nazi plot, and ends up paying for it. I always felt that Marion Martin never got the credit she deserved as a character actress. Blousy but ultimately gold-hearted (weren't all these women?), she wasn't as soft as Joan Blondell or Ann Sothern, and could be very, very tough. But when she did have a fairly good part, she added a layer of vulnerability and warmness just below the surface that made her more likable. Along with Iris Adrian and Barbara Pepper, she made these characters very memorable and a small part of cinema history.

"They Got Me Covered" is a re-tread of films war audiences had seen before, perfectly covered for me by the brassy Warner Brothers comedy/drama "All Through the Night" with a more serious and less stupid Humphrey Bogart in the Hope role, and Conrad Veidt and Judith Anderson in the Preminger/Lenore Aubert parts. Bogart had a great gang of Warner Brothers character actors to back him up, but here, Hope is backed up by a group of women, including Ms. Lamour and the Mary Wickes look-alike Mary Treen. It is only their invasion of the beauty salon that ends up saving Hope from the Nazi's revenge. I thought the beauty salon set was very beautifully art-decco, but that couldn't take back the dislike I had for Hope's character being just so out of his element and obviously someone that should have been assigned a desk job rather than reporting serious news of the day.

There were some amusing performances, particularly Donald Meek as a psychotic man (who thinks its in the middle of the civil war), whom the Nazis use to scare out of their hideout, and the always funny Florence Bates as a gypsy woman who reads Hope's fortune. Aubert replaces Hope's usual sleek villain foil, Gale Sondergaard, in this film, and is both lovely and convincing. Preminger is appropriately authoritative. His voice is quite right for this type of part, and caused chuckles just by his voice similarity to General Bulkarter's on "Hogan's Heroes", a spoof of his role in the classic "Stalag 13".

In retrospect, I don't think it was wise during World War II to show any American being in a position such as Hope's to come off so idiotic. Other comics were usually just in the wrong place at the wrong time, creating all sorts of gags that were amusing yet not uncomfortable.

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10/10

They don't make them like this anymore!!!

kimpunkrock5 August 2008

One of the funniest Bob Hope movies made without Bing Crosby, this world war two era comedy must have really helped the home front with the laughs. Hope plays a bumbling reporter who messes up many big war time scoops, must to the chagrin of his editor. The funniest scene in the whole movie is when Hope's character comes back to the States and gets yelled at by his editor. The whole scene from when he walks in the office to when he leaves is absolutely hilarious. They really do not make them like this anymore. This country is so starved for a man like Hope these days. No comedian today can even hold a candle to him. I give this film a 10 out of 10 just for Hope performance and the laughs. A dose of Bob Hope a day will keep the head shrinker away. May he rest in peace.

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1/10

They can't be serious!

maxaira31 May 2023

I've been on this planet for eight decades. I have been a movie fan for just about all those years even working in a theatre for a time and I've seen the best and the worst, and this was surely one of the worst. Most of these reviewers must have had some money in the film. There was nothing funny about any of it and all those who think otherwise should check their funny bone. I have undoubtedly seen most if not all of Hope's on screen work and there have been a few with very little comic appeal and this one's at the top of the list. Why and how his leading lady got herself roped into this one is equally surprising. I would think a lot had to do with pushing the propaganda value having been released in '43. View it if you like, but funny it ain't even with Bob Hope in it.

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10/10

Classic Bob Hope. Faster than Malcolm Campbell.

kindofblue-7822123 June 2023

Let's be clear from the start. I'm a massive Bob Hope fan. I'm also aware that there are those who don't share my appreciation.

Such people will mark his films down just for the sake of it.

They got me covered is a marvelous romp with the gags coming fast and faster.

Bob was rarely faster.

Bob was rarely funnier.

It's a familiar story with Bob playing Richard Hannay. The 39 steps provided the perfect template for all sorts of films.

I laugh and laugh at this film even after over 50 years of watching.

Bob always had the best gag writers and those production values clearly show here.

Of course you're supposed to see some gags way ahead. It's that kind of humour.

Bob wasn't often better than in this wonderful comedy.

A film for people who like comedies. Just make sure you're up to speed.

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8/10

a world war two comedy... if that's possible.

ksf-222 November 2023

A war time propaganda film from bob hope. Don't get me wrong; total props to bob h for entertaining the troops during world war two. Here, bob and his sidekick dorothy lamour, star with donald macbride, his loud, blustering boss at the newspaper. Macbride had worked with the marx brothers and so many others in comedic roles. Kittredge (hope) can't seem to get anything right as a reporter, so he needs to prove himself to keep his job. So when the germans get the ally notes, and the girl who wrote the notes, it's up to kittredge to get them back. You'll also see donald meek and otto preminger in here. Even the amazing flo bates, as the gypsy card reader. It's all a comedy, in true bob hope form, with a war time plot. Is kittredge really married, or not? He can't remember! One of his farces, with a serious back story. All in good fun. It's a great example of weaving a serious story in with comedy. Directed by david butler. He and hope worked on so many projects together.

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