Road to Bali

Road to Bali

Paramount

December 25, 1952

Comedy
DVD
C

I really liked the Road movies as a kid, but this entry took so long for setup that Lamour barely made it into the first quarter hour.  Hal Walker directed, the year after At War with the Army.

My Favorite Brunette

My Favorite Brunette

Paramount

April 4, 1947
Comedy, Mystery

DVD
C-

A promising cast and concept, and it was nice seeing the Bay Area in the '40s, but I just didn't find the opening quarter-hour funny.  Elliott Nugent directed.

The Lemon Drop Kid

The Lemon Drop Kid

Paramount

April 2, 1951

Comedy
DVD
D+

I probably saw this as a kid but at first I was mixing it up with Sorrowful Jones, which I remember liking.  Oh well.  This is based on the Damon Runyon story, as it tells us.  Sidney Lanfield and Frank Tashlin directed.

Critic's Choice

Critic's Choice
Warner Bros.
April 13, 1963
Comedy
DVD
C+

Although I don't remember this movie specifically, I did spend a good chunk of the second decade of my life watching movies like this on television, many of them with Hope and/or Ball, and today I found it unfunny yet fascinating.  There's tremendous cognitive dissonance between what the movie thinks it's showing onscreen and what we're actually seeing.  For instance, when his twelvish son gives his opinion on why she hasn't gotten pregnant yet, I wanted him to say, "Because you're 59 and she's 51."  (If you're curious, Jessie Royce Landis was technically old enough at 66 to be Lucy's mother, although she doesn't look it.)

Bob is a theater critic and Lucy is an aspiring playwright, and we're meant to pity him for her neglecting him, and possibly having an affair, even though he flirts with his ex-wife and puts down both women at every opportunity.  The subtext does rise to the surface at times, as when Lucy calls Bob a "male chauvinist"!  And the performances aren't bad, especially Rickey Kelman's as the son/stepson, adding nuance to what could've just been a precocious-brat role.  So, yeah, recommended, even though I heard only one marginally funny line (Bob's about a compact car and a big head).

Don Weis directed this about a year before Pajama Party, a movie where subtext just overthrows text and, yes, parties all night.