IT CAME FROM THE BOTTOM SHELF!

Over the last few years, Kino Lorber Studio Classics has released new remasters and restorations of several classic comedies starring funnyman Bob Hope. These individual Blu-ray releases continue this year, beginning with Sorrowful Jones (1949) on February 2nd and Thanks for the Memory (1938) and Never Say Die (1939) on March 21st. It is an interesting group of titles, because although they are all good films, featuring the actor in his prime, none of them are exactly what you expect from a Bob Hope comedy. Let’s take a closer look at the February release, Sorrowful Jones (1949).

By the time Sorrowful Jones came along, Bob Hope was a well-established movie and radio comedian and one of the top ten moneymaking stars in Hollywood. His films were of remarkably consistent quality. A Bob Hope film was guaranteed to generate both big laughs and profitable box office. However, there was a certain “sameness” to the product. In each of Hope’s solo outings, he would predictably play a coward who gets pulled into a dangerous situation by a beautiful woman. Using self-deprecating one-liners to steady his nerves, he would find hidden reserves of bravery to save the day and win the girl. It was a great formula but a limiting one.

With Sorrowful Jones, Hope stepped a bit outside of his safety zone. The film is an adaptation of the Damon Runyon story “Little Miss Marker,” which had been previously filmed in 1934 with Adolphe Menjou and Shirley Temple. Stepping into the Menjou role, Bob Hope plays Sorrowful Jones, a cynical Broadway bookmaker, who is self-centered and tight with a dollar. When Sorrowful finds out that gangster Big Steve Holloway (Bruce Cabot) has fixed a horse race, he promotes the sure-loser, Dreamy Joe, to his unsuspecting customers. He even accepts a bet from gambler who is short of funds, accepting a four year-old girl, Martha Jane Smith (Mary Jane Saunders), as collateral for the wager. When the gambler gets wind of the fix, he gets bumped off by Big Steve and his lackey, Once Over Sam (Tom Pedi). Sorrowful is saddled with the four year-old orphan, a responsibility he initially finds abhorrent. However, Martha Jane breaks down Sorrowful’s defenses, and the bookie becomes a surrogate father, with the help of nightclub singer Gladys O’Neill (Lucille Ball) and fellow bookmaker Regret (William Demarest).

In the same way that Abbott and Costello’s non-team movies Little Giant and The Time of Their Lives (both 1946) were a departure from their standard formula, Sorrowful Jones isn’t a typical Bob Hope film. The movie is both darker and more heartfelt. Murder was often a component of Hope’s “brave coward” comedies, but dead bodies were usually used as opportunities for physical “scared shtick.” In Sorrowful Jones, the killing of the gambler is taken seriously and has real ramifications. Likewise, Big Steve and Once Over Sam are more tangible threats than the slightly comic villains that Hope usually found himself up against. While the movie is funny throughout, it has high stakes, including threats to the lives of a little girl and an innocent racehorse.

Sorrowful Jones also represented an acting change of pace for Bob Hope. Stepping into Runyonland, the comedian still wisecracks like his “brave coward” character, but Sorrowful has sharper edges. Sorrowful is more cynical and conniving, and the role calls for Hope to play some serous notes in relation to the little girl. Some critics have pointed to Sorrowful Jones as a step forward in Bob Hope’s development as an actor. I disagree. Hope was already a solid movie actor, and his early films (before he had fully solidified his comedic persona in My Favorite Blonde) showed that he was capable of playing other character types. Instead, Sorrowful Jones represents a movie star taking a break from his established image, possibly with the foresight that he couldn’t rely on playing the same notes forever.

Hope receives nice support from Lucille Ball in the first (and best) of the four films in which they were teamed. Her character represents a more down to earth love interest for Hope than the princesses, heiresses, and spies of the comedian’s more fanciful pictures; and Lucy has nice chemistry with him. I only wish the producers hadn’t forced Ms. Ball to lip-sync to Annette Warren’s vocals in a nightclub scene. It’s the one false note in the movie.

The rest of the cast is populated with excellent character actors, including the aforementioned Bruce Cabot, Tom Pedi, and the always reliable Bill Demarest. Thomas Gomez doesn’t have a lot to do as the local flatfoot, but he does it well. Best of all, Mary Jane Saunders isn’t overly cloying as the little girl, and her scenes with Hope are cute.

Sorrowful Jones may be an atypical Bob Hope film, but it’s a good one. It’s both darker and funnier than the comedian’s second foray into Runyonland, The Lemon Drop Kid (1951), and I think it’s a better movie overall. I prefer the comedian’s “brave coward” movies, especially My Favorite Blonde (1942) and Where There’s Life (1947), but Sorrowful Jones is an interesting novelty in the comedian’s filmography. If you’re a Bob Hope fan, I think you’ll want to add this disc to your library.

USA/B&W-75m./Dir: Sidney Lanfield/Wr: Edmund Hartmann & Melville Shavelson (based on the story “Little Miss Marker” by Daymon Runyon)/Cast: Bob Hope, Lucille Ball, William Demarest, Bruce Cabot, Thomas Gomez, Tom Pedi, Mary Jane Saunders, Paul Lees, Houseley Stevenson

For Fans of: Even though Sorrowful Jones is an atypical Bob Hope film, fans of the comedian’s golden period will likely enjoy it.

Video: Kino Lorber Studio Classics Blu-ray release of Sorrowful Jones is derived from a new 2K master. The image is sharp, with good contract and appropriate film grain. There are a few random speckles or scratches, but none of them get in the way of the the story. I doubt the film will ever look better on home video.

The original mono DTS sound is solid, presenting dialogue, sound effects, and the musical score with clarity. I detected no age-related hiss or distortion. Whether you are a fan of this particular film or Bob Hope movies in general, the disc is highly recommended.

The bonus features consist solely of promotional material for other Kino Lorber comedy releases:

• KLSC Bob Hope Promo: Clips from My Favorite Brunette, Road to Rio, The Lemon Drop Kid, Road to Bali, and Son of Paleface.
• Original trailer for Sorrowful Jones
• Bonus Bob Hope trailers: Fancy Pants, Never Say Die, The Cat in the Canary, Road to Singapore, The Ghost Breakers, Road to Zanzibar, Caught in the Draft, Nothing But the Truth, My Favorite Blonde, Road to Morocco, Road to Utopia, Where There’s Life, The Paleface, and Alias Jesse James
• Optional English subtitles for the feature

Streaming: At the time of this review, Sorrowful Jones was not streaming as part of any of the major subscription services.  The film was also not available for digital rental or purchase.

More to Explore: You can’t go wrong with most of the Bob Hope films produced between 1939 and 1954. Classic film fans are likely familiar with the Road pictures that Hope made with Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour. Below I posted links to Blu-ray releases of some of the best of Hope’s films as a solo comedian.

Trivia: When Sorrowful rides Dreamy Joe down the New York City streets, a movie theater displays a marquee for the Marx Brothers film A Night at the Opera (1935). This probably is not an indication that the story was meant to be set in 1935. There was a re-release of A Night at the Opera in December of 1948, so it was probably just an accident of timing.

For More Info: There have been many film references and biographies written on “Old Ski Nose,” but the definitive tome on the comedian is Hope: Entertainer of the Century by Richard Zoglin. If you are looking for a Bob Hope film reference, The Road to Comedy: The Films of Bob Hope by Donald McCaffrey provides a nice overview.