Bob Hope had established himself as a major comedy star with lighthearted horror comedies like The Cat and the Canary and The Ghost Breakers and the first Road movies with Bing Crosby when he brought his touch to the spy movie with My Favorite Blonde (1942).
Hope plays Larry Haines, a vaudeville comedian with a penguin sidekick who is swept into an espionage adventure involving Nazi spies, assassins, and top-secret intelligence hidden in a scorpion pin. Don Hartman and Frank Butler, who wrote Hope's earlier Road movies, were brought in to script from the original story by Norman Panama and Melvin Frank (it's the first screen credit for both), but unlike earlier Hope spoofs, this one plays the world of cloak and dagger spies straight.
The opening scenes, which send secret agent Karen Bentley (Madeleine Carroll) fleeing cold-blooded German spies (Gale Sondergaard and George Zucco), could have come from a genuine spy thriller. Director Sidney Lanfield creates a sense of danger in the shadow-strewn scenes as the spies murder their way through American agents and that gravity never leaves the film. Larry is just an innocent bystander that Karen uses as cover in her escape and she alternately romances and rejects him during the cross-country chase to deliver vital information to the American Air Force.
Hope gives Larry a little more dimension and courage than in earlier roles and less cynicism in his wisecracks, and he has a paternal affection for his penguin sidekick that adds sweetness to the slapstick. Carroll, best known for historical dramas and thrillers, proves adept at comedy. She layers in performances within performances as Karen changes personality as the situation calls for it, but manages to maintain a sense of affection for poor Larry while shamelessly manipulating him for her mission.
It was produced just as the U.S. entered World War and, though it is set the year before, it plays to patriotism and the war effort. Hope returned to the genre with My Favorite Brunette and My Favorite Spy, which were produced long after the end of the war and took a lighter approach. This is like a comedic take on Alfred Hitchcock "wrong man" thrillers, where innocent "everyman" characters are plunged into dangerous situations, and it stands out from Hope's more whimsical comedies.
It's also an interesting example of the sudden turn that American films took after Pearl Harbor ushered the U.S. into World War II. In black and white, fine for all audiences. The Blu-ray debut comes from a new 2K master and features commentary by film historian Samm Deighton, who places it within the films made during the early war years. Recommended.