IT CAME FROM THE BOTTOM SHELF!

Young audiences may be surprised to learn that before Bob Hope trashed his legacy with execrable TV specials in the 1970s and beyond, he was one of the most reliable funny-men to ever grace the silver screen.  After his breakout role in 1939’s “Old Dark House” mystery/comedy, The Cat and the Canary, Hope had a fifteen year string of critical and box office hits that were almost universally good (and in some cases, great).  Whether teaming with Bing Crosby for the “Road” pictures or with some of the most popular female stars of the day for one of the “My Favorite…” films, the blueprint of Hope’s comedies was more or less the same.  Hope played a coward, who through an association with a pretty girl or a variation on the Hitchcock “wrong man” plot, found himself in hot water with gangsters, spies, pirates, Nazis, or other baddies, with nothing but his smart mouth to get him out of trouble.  This blending of comedy with elements of thrillers was a winning formula for the comedian, but Bob Hope found his greatest solo success when he brought his “brave coward” character to the Western genre in 1948’s The Paleface.

For The Paleface, Hope teamed with the hottest female star of the moment, Jane “The Outlaw” Russell.  Even though The Paleface was only Russell’s third film, Hope graciously shared above-the-title billing with his co-star.  The co-lead status was well deserved, as Jane Russell carried most of the plot on her shoulders as “outlaw turned federal agent” Calamity Jane.  The story begins with Jane being offered a full pardon to go undercover among settlers in a wagon train to ferret out villains who are illegally running guns to the Indians.  When the agent who was to pose as her husband winds up dead, Calamity tricks a dentist, “Painless” Peter Potter (Hope), into marrying her to add to her cover.  When the gunrunners begin to get too close to Jane, she uses Painless as a decoy to mislead to criminals.  However, things get complicated when she finds herself falling for her patsy.

While a couple of the Crosby/Hope Road pictures were bigger box office performers, The Paleface was Hope’s biggest hit as a solo comedian.  It was Paramount’s best box office performer of 1948, and it is easy to see why audiences were so taken with the film.  In the same way that Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein works as much as a horror film as it does as a comedy, The Paleface is as much a solid Western as it is a laugh-producer.  In fact, a surprising amount of the screen time is devoted to the Western plot.  Hope doesn’t even show up until nine minutes into the film (10% of the running time), but the Russell-led opening scenes are never boring.  Grounding of the film as a straight Western, with dastardly gunrunners and heavily armed Native Americans, provides Hope with higher stakes to play against and gives his jokes a better payoff.

Hope was at the top of his game when he made The Paleface, and he is simply marvelous here.  His verbal timing is second to none, and his physicality and facial expressions milk the greatest comedic potential from every line and farcical situation.  The less-practiced Jane Russell proves to be a natural straight woman (as she would continue to demonstrate in later successes, such as Gentlemen Prefer Blondes); and as a strong, dominant, and alluring woman, she provides perfect contrast for Hope.  She was also a damn good actress, and The Paleface helped cement her stardom.

The Paleface also stands out in the Bob Hope filmography, because it was the second time the comedian would introduce a song that would go on to win an Academy Award.  In his first feature film, The Big Broadcast of 1938, Hope introduced the world to “Thanks for the Memories,” which would win the “Best Original Song” Oscar and would serve as his theme song for the rest of his career.  In The Paleface, Hope performs a marvelous rendition of “Buttons & Bows,” which would become a Billboard charting record for several vocalists, in addition to garnering the golden statuette.

While Bob Hope made a few films that I find funnier, The Paleface is a “Grade-A” Hope vehicle, which still holds up today (despite some expected stereotyping of Native Americans).  Not only did the public find it special; Hope did as well.  Consequently, four years later, he re-teamed with Jane Russell and writer Frank Tashlin to produce his only direct sequel, Son of Paleface (which ended up being one of Hope’s last great movies).  If you only know Hope from his late-career TV work, I urge you to give his 1940s filmography, and The Paleface in particular, a try.  I think you’ll be surprised at how gifted he was at the peak of his movie career.

USA/C-91m./Dir: Norman Z. McLeod/Wr: Edmund Hartmann and Frank Tashlin/Cast: Bob Hope, Jane Russell, Robert Armstrong, Iris Adrian, Bobby Watson

For Fans of: As I stated above, The Paleface is a good Western in addition to being a good comedy.  If you are a fan of Studio-era films of either genre, you will likely love The Paleface.

Video: Kino Lorber recently released The Paleface on Blu-ray under their Kino Lorber Studio Classics imprint.  The scan displays a few speckles here and there that remind you that you are watching a 70 year-old title shot on film.  However, any print damage is minimal.  Overall, the presentation is beautiful.  The Blu-ray nicely captures the look of a 3-strip Technicolor movies of the time.  In other words, while the colors don’t exactly look “natural” they do look accurate to how the film would have looked when originally projected.   The image is also sharper than I expected — sharp enough that I could easily see the wires used for the arrow special effects.  The DTS sound is solid, presenting dialogue, sound effects, and music with clarity and no age-related hiss.  Fans of the film should have no complaints.

Blu-ray Special Features:

• A full-length audio commentary by film historian and critic Sergio Mims — The commentary is relaxed and informative.  While Sergio Mims tends to ramble a bit, I prefer his off-the-cuff style to commentaries where the host is obviously reading a prepared essay.
• Entertaining the Troops: A 6-minute vintage featurette on Bob Hope’s USO work
• ”Buttons & Bows” Sing-Along
• Command Performance 1945: This five-minute excerpt from Army-Navy Screen Magazine presents filmed segments from a 1945 live recording of the Command Performance radio show.  Bob Hope hosts the show, which includes an appearance by comedian Jerry Colonna.
• The theatrical trailers for Bob Hope movies The Paleface, The Cat and the Canary, Road to Morocco, and The Ghost Breakers
• Optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature

Streaming: The Paleface isn’t currently streaming as part of any of the major subscription services.  However, it can be rented or purchased in digital form from Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, and other digital retailers.

More to Explore: The natural follow-up to The Paleface (1948) is the wackier sequel Son of Paleface (1952).   In addition, several of Hope’s solo comedies have made the transition to Blu-ray (and both The Cat and the Canary and The Ghost Breakers are due in September).  I’ve provided Amazon links to some of my favorite Hope titles below.

Trivia: Twenty years after the release of The Paleface, comic actor Don Knotts recycled the story under the title, The Shakiest Gun in the West.

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.  It is incredibly well researched and even-handed in its discussion of the comic’s talents and character flaws.