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| Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard |
Steve Bennett (Bob Hope) works for stockbroker T. T. Ralston (Edward Arnold) in Miami Beach. Ralston's niece, Gwen (Paulette Goddard), gives Steve $10,000 and asks him to invest it for her. Steve tries to double the money by accepting a crazy bet that he will do nothing but tell the truth for 24 hours, leading to hurt feelings and various misunderstandings. Nothing But the Truth is based on a play that had already been filmed in 1929, and critics in 1941 found the enterprise rather creaky but still entertaining. Hope is in top form, as is Goddard, and there is fine support from Arnold; Leif Ericson [Three Secrets] as Gwen's boyfriend; Helen Vinson [In Name Only] as a predatory actress; Glenn Anders [The Lady from Shanghai] as Steve's co-worker; and Willie Best as his valet; among others. The movie has some real laughs and is consistently cute, but after awhile there seems to be more witless running about than anything else. This premise still worked for an amusing I Love Lucy episode wherein Lucy also had to tell the truth for 24 hours to win a bet from Ricky, Fred and Ethel. The same premise was also used for Jim Carrey's Liar, Liar 56 years after the Hope version!
Verdict: Enthusiastic players put this over. **1/2.
This one looks like a lot of fun, and I bet Hope has good chemistry with the lovely Paulette Goddard. She was talented as well, great at comedy (The Women) and would have even made a decent Scarlett O'Hara, from those screen tests she made for Selznick.
ReplyDeleteHope was lucky, he had a lot of terrific leading ladies!
-Chris
He sure did. And I agree that Goddard might have made a splendid Scarlett. But it was not to be.
ReplyDelete