The Bob Hope Collection – Volume 2 DVD Review

The Bob Hope Collection – Volume 2
2011, Shout! Factory

Since I’ve made if my life mission to own every Bob Hope movie, Shout! Factory’s second volume of The Bob Hope Collection was a great addition to my own collection. Six movies and five of them I had never seen (I already owned (Son of Paleface on DVD). Sadly, this is another collection of public domain flicks and some of Hope’s lesser known films other than the Paleface sequel.

Shout! Factory claims these are high-definition transfers but I’ve seen reviews stating this is not true though other reviews say they have been cleaned up considerably compared to other versions floating around. The Great Lover is a poor transfer but maybe that was the best Shout had to work with. Everything else looks very good to my eyes with The Private Navy of Sgt. O’ Farrell looking the best of the bunch.

The Great Lover
(1949, Paramount Pictures)

This film had the working title of My Favorite Redhead which would’ve placed it as the third film in Hope’s My Favorite… series (that honor eventually went to 1951′s My Favorite Spy). Easy Does It was another working title. It was written by Ed Beloin who I’ve already mentioned before was a writer for Jack Benny’s radio program but by this point he had left radio behind for a career as a screenwriter.

There’s something a bit off about this movie. I can’t quite place it. Bob does well but the whole premise isn’t very interesting to me and there just aren’t many funny scenes. Bob plays a scout leader on a cruise with his troops and he finds himself getting mixed up with a beautiful redhead and a murderer.

It didn’t help that the transfer is very poor and that took some of the enjoyment out of the movie for me. The movie’s title doesn’t really make much sense either. B-level effort all around.

The best part of the movie for me was seeing a cameo by Jack Benny. This was my first time seeing the movie so it completely caught me off guard. Jack & Bob have a hilarious moment over a $20 bill. Two years before taking the role of Superman on television, George Reeves has a small part in the movie as well.

Paris Holiday
(1959, United Artists)

Paris Holiday was a pet project of Bob’s. He came up the story idea, was executive producer and wanted it to be a showcase for himself and popular French comedian Fernandel. Even with the talented Ed Beloin getting a co-writing credit, there’s not much to report about this movie. Fernandel apparently knew very little English so his character doesn’t really add much to this comedy-thriller other than wild facial expressions.

True to Bob’s intentions, both actors were showcased. The story revolves around Hope as movie star visiting France  in order to secure the rights to a movie script. He ends up getting mixed up with a criminal organization that are after some important documents but Fernandel has a few scenes of his own to strut his stuff and basically acts as an accomplice to Hope’s character throughout the movie

I guess there were hopes that this movie was going to be a success because although it does have an ending there is a twist at the end to let you know that members of the crime ring are still at large and the movie ends with “The End ?”

There’s a few zany acts of physical comedy but the movie falls flat overall and as I’ve said before, at this point, Bob should’ve been acting more age appropriate and not still lusting after and falling in love with young women.

The Private Navy of Sgt. O’Farrell
(1968, United Artists)

This is one of Bob’s better movies from the second half of his career and it’s pretty surprising because this was his third-to-last starring theatrical role. His movies by this point were getting to be very hit-or-miss.

Hope plays a sergeant in the army stationed out on a Pacific island during WWII. The Japanese had sunk a ship carry supplies (beer, most importantly) and in order to improve morale Bob go to where the ship was sunk and get the beer for the rest of the boys.

Although it’s tough to buy Bob as a sergeant in the military at the age of 65, at least he’s not still skirt-chasing young women. It’s a refreshing change of pace to see Hope play a heroic and somewhat mature and more intelligent (yet still funny) character. A movie like this would’ve been ripe for Hope to partake in back in the ’40s as well but you’d have to make him a skirt-chasing coward during that decade.

The cast on this one is pretty good. Even Phyllis Diller (who I can’t stand) does well in her role and luckily she’s not much of a main character. I wasn’t expecting any good to come of this movie but it’s an enjoyable late Hope comedy and this particular print is as beautiful as Gina Lollobrigada in a floral bikini sitting on a Hawaiian beach.

There’s a couple of funny jabs at Bing Crosby in this one.

Directed by Frank Tashlin, who also directed Bob in Son of Paleface.

How To Commit Marriage
(1969, Cinerama Releasing Corp.)

Of all the Bob Hope movies I’ve seen, How To Commit Marriage is the second-to-worst and it was also the second-to-last feature for Bob and it was an independent release. By this point, Hope’s movie career was in serious decline and he was having trouble scoring roles and financing for movies. You really could’ve placed anyone in Bob’s role here because with some of Hope’s later movies you lose the feeling that you are watching a “Bob Hope movie” as opposed to it simply being “a movie starring Bob Hope”.

Most of this movie is played as a sophisticated comedy (other than Gleason’s chewing on the scenery and some old-school Hope humor towards the end) that deals with love, sex, drugs and the generation gap but it’s just soooooooooooo dated with the music and the hippies and the guru philosophy and free love ideas. I don’t know how Bob felt about doing this movie but as a huge Bob Hope fan, I can’t imagine he was proud of this effort.

Son of Paleface
(1952, Paramount Pictures)

Son of Paleface is an absolute classic Bob Hope movie and is the crown jewel in this whole collection. It’s often been said this sequel is even better than The Paleface itself but I think they are on equal ground.

Everything you could want is here. It’s that classic Bob Hope role of being the bumbling girl crazy fool who thinks he’s smarter, stronger, braver and sexier than he actually is.

I already owned this on DVD but its inclusion in this set certainly helps improve the collection’s overall appeal.

Cancel My Reservation
(1972, Warner Bros.)

The end of Hope’s leading man career. After this movie was released, he made only two cameos on the big screen (The Muppet Movie in 1979 and Spies Like Us in 1985) and then starred in the made-for-TV movie A Masterpiece of Murder in 1986 with Don Ameche.

What a way to go. This movie is terrible. Even the theme song is absolutely terrible. Pure ’70s soul/funk/pop garbage that’s trying to come off as The Jackson Five. It’s a weird mix of zaniness plus murder mystery and it doesn’t quiet balance out like some of Hope’s previous mystery-thrillers did. It doesn’t help that we’re supposed to believe Hope’s character is 42 years old when in truth Hope himself was 69 years old!

They made an honest attempt to capture some of the slapstick humor that had been a trademark of Bob’s movies (while taking more digs at Bing Crosby in the process) but the magic was gone by this point. Bob does a decent joke but the script is terrible and this was not the right type of role for him nearing 70 years old.

The movie’s real saving grace is the gorgeous Anne Archer. No, Bob isn’t lusting after her. He’s married to Eva Marie Saint in this one. Bob & Eva had previously been paired up in That Certain Feeling (1956).

It’s really sad this was Bob’s final movie.

Overall:

It’s really hard to recommend this set to anyone other than the hardcore Bob Hope fan. I’ve been trying to acquire all of Hope’s movies for quite some time so picking this collection up for a no-brainer for me. For anyone else that is a casual Hope fan and prefers his wise-cracking ways from the Road movies with Crosby, I suggest you stay away because there’s really only one classic here and the rest ranges from passable to poor.

Buy ‘The Bob Hope Collection: Vol. 2′ at Amazon.com

Here Come the Girls (1953) Review

Here Come the Girls
(1953, Paramount Pictures)

Yet another Bob Hope vehicle that has fallen into obscurity. As if you can’t tell by the poster, Here Come the Girls is a comedy-musical. The emphasis is on the musical. There are lots of numbers in this one because most of the movie takes place at a theater during a musical called, appropriately enough, “Here Come the Girls”. Working titles for the film were Champagne for Everyone and Girls Are Here to Stay.

The movie is set during the early 1900s and the plot is there’s a jealous killer on the loose who is out to murder the musical’s leading man because the killer wants the lead starlet (Arlene Dahl) all to himself. The cops & the musical’s director decide to put a chorus boy (Hope) in place of the leading man (Tony Martin) in order to lure “Jack the Slasher” out into the open. There’s some dark humor here as the play’s director didn’t want to risk the real leading man’s life and at one point he is disappointed when he is told the slasher didn’t kill Hope’s character. Of course, Hope’s character doesn’t realize he’s being used as bait and thinks that fortune has finally found its way to him and he believes he’s become a big star.

1993 VHS release

Supposedly the movie was originally shot for 3D but for whatever reason wasn’t released as such. They definitely made use of Technicolor though. Lots of elaborate flashy costumes and big bright stage settings.

I’m a bit confused as to who actually owns this movie. The only video release I can find for it is a 1993 VHS edition which was released by Paramount. So that tells me it’s not in the public domain but yet there is no DVD release. Now, the weird thing is the movie is available to stream from Netflix. I was thinking since Olive Films has gained the license to release a number of Paramount films (including Hope’s My Favorite Spy and Off Limits) and are streaming them through Netflix that maybe they held the rights to this movie but that doesn’t appear to be the case. I’m assuming that ultimately Paramount still holds the rights to the movie so hopefully the studio will see to it that this movie gets a new video release at some point. I think it’s only been in the last year or that so this movie has been available on Netflix.

While I certainly think this movie deserves to be release on video because it stars one of the greatest entertainers of all time I will say that this movie is not very memorable. Sure, there’s a great cast here but I think Here Comes the Girls focuses too much on being a musical and not enough on being a comedy.

EDIT (May 8, 2012):

I’ve been reading Donald McCaffrey’s book The Road to Comedy: The Films of Bob Hope and a little more light is shed on this movie. According to the original scriptwriter Edmund L. Hartmann, the film was NOT intended to be a musical. When asked about it turning from a comedy to a musical, Hartmann’s reply was “they fucked it up”. According to Hartmann, the script was considered to be the best Bob Hope movie yet by a number of people close to the project.

Bob Hope & Mickey Rooney in… OFF LIMITS (1953)

Off Limits
(1953, Paramount Studios)

Off Limits (released outside the U.S. as the blandly titled Military Policemen) is one of those obscure Bob Hope films that somehow has ended up online at a ridiculous price that I’m sure I’ll eventually pay. I don’t believe this is a public domain film so that would explain why it appears Olive Films has the only DVD release for it and are charging $24.95 (they are also doing this with My Favorite Spy). Luckily, before I decide to spend the money on it, it’s available for streaming on Netflix.

Having not heard much about the film, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Once you get into the 1950s, Bob’s movies could be hit or miss (even if his performances stayed top notch). Knowing that and coupling it with the fact this movie seems to become forgotten by most, I figured it was going to be an uninspired effort.

On the contrary, it’s an enjoyable movie that fits the mold of the typical Bob Hope film. Hope himself is still in top form (in what I think might’ve been one his last B&W films) and I’m sure that was helped by the fact that George Marhshall directs. George & Bob first worked together in 1940 on The Ghostbreakers and would work together on a total of 8 films.

Olive Films' DVD Release (2011)

The story is that of a boxing/military comedy hybrid as Hope plays Wally Hogan, a boxing trainer. When Wally’s world champion fighter is drafted into the Army, Hogan enlists as well to keep watch on him (a reversal of roles for Bob in regards to 1941′s Caught In the Draft). The problem is the boxer is rejected because he was deemed to be manic-depressive and not fit for enlistment. Hogan of course wants to get out since his boxer has been rejected but it doesn’t work like that.

Once enlisted, Wally ends up running into wanna-be boxer Herbert Tuttle (Mickey Rooney) and they both sign up as MPs (because it’ll be easier work) and Hope tries to make time with Herbert’s Aunt Connie (Marilyn Maxwell) while training Rooney’s character to become a top boxer.

By 1953, Bob was 50 years old. The premise that he was still a skirt-chaser and enlisting in the Army is a bit hard to swallow but he already had 15 years put into this on-screen persona, so why change it? Sure, it’s getting slightly creepy by this point but it still works.

And yes, just in case you’re wondering, there is a very brief Crosby cameo in the form of singing on television.

Off Limits may not rank with some of the best of Bob but it’s certainly better than most of the movies I’ve seen him in from the mid-1950s and into the 1960s. It may be one of the last Bob Hope movies that feels like a Bob Hope movie. If you can catch it on Netflix, I recommend it. Other than that, hardcore Hope fans will probably have to spring $20 or so to own a DVD copy.

Buy it at Amazon.com

College Swing & Big Broadcast of 1938 Bob Hope Double Feature DVD Review!

College Swing / The Big Broadcast of 1938
(2002, Universal Studios)

Another Bob Hope Double Feature DVD Review! I was pretty excited to check this disc out as it features Bob’s first two feature films. He previously appeared on screen in two shorts from 1934: “Going Spanish” and “Paree, Paree”.

College Swing
(1938, Paramount Pictures)

When I think of “college swing”, I think of something entirely different. Something like Girls Gone Wild: College Swing. As you can see from the billing, Bob Hope was not the star of this film. Top billing went the the husband-wife comedy duo of George Burns & Gracie Allen (who is much cuter than I ever realized). There is a loose story revolving around Gracie trying to pass an exam in order to become owner of the college but it’s all just an excuse for love, screwball comedy, dance and song.

There’s typical college hi-jinks and some fun physical comedy here. The cast is very good. In addition to Burns & Allen and Hope, we also get Martha Raye, Betty Grable (looking as hot as ever), comedian Ben Blue, Jackie Coogan (who would later play Uncle Fester on The Addams Family television show) and future Bob Hope radio program cast members Jerry Colonna & Skinnay Ennis. There’s even a brief cameo by Mary Livingstone (wife/cast member of Jack Benny). It’s so brief I didn’t even notice it! I’ll have to go back and look for it.

Not a great piece of work but it’s very interesting for the cast alone and there are a few legit laugh out loud moments.

The Big Broadcast of 1938
(1938, Paramount Pictures)

Bob’s first picture already has him working with a few gals he would go on to work with a number of times in his career: Martha Raye, Dorothy Lamour and Shirley Ross. Bob doesn’t play a major role in this movie. The Big Broadcast of 1938 is another variety picture featuring music, dancing, love and comedy. W.C. Fields is the star and while he was a big name comedian in his day, I’m not really a fan. Maybe it’s just how the print has been preserved but I find it’s hard to understand what he’s saying sometimes. He seems to mumble so much.

Much like College Swing, this is another one of those movies that may not be a true highlight but it’s entertainng given that it features a young talented cast that would go on do to so much more in films. I do believe this movie is historically important for another reason — it debuts “Thanks For the Memory” which is sung by Bob Hope & Shirley Ross. That song would follow Hope throughout his career and would be considered his signature (or even theme) song until his passing.

Overall:
This DVD is definitely a must-own for fans of classic Hollywood comedies & musicals.

Buy the DVD at Amazon.com

The Transformers – Seasons Three and Four [25th Anniversary Edition] DVD Review

The Transformers – Seasons Three and Four
[25th Anniversary Edition]
2010, Shout! Factory
Originally Aired: September 15, 1986 – November 11, 1987

Bonus Features

• “The Autobots, The Decepticons & The Fans” – A look at the loyal fans of The Transformers
• From the Files of Teletraan-2
• Rare PSAs
• Archival Hasbro Toy Commercials
• Art Gallery

Picking up a few months (years?) after the events of Transformers: The Movie, Seasons 3 & 4 continue down the dark sci-fi path that the film set forth. Up to this point, The Transformers was basically G.I. Joe with a cast of robots but the series now goes completely sci-fi and gets dark and weird. When this season started up, if you had missed out on the movie, your brain would have exploded… New characters, new setting, new attitude, new theme music!

Various planets and creatures are seen and the show doesn’t spend too much time on Earth. I should point out that it seems like most of the remaining/surviving Autobots from the first two seasons are stationed on Earth so it’s the cast from the animated movie that is still front and center.

Season 3 kicks off with the five-part “The Five Faces of Darkness”. You can count this as a sequel to Transformers: The Movie. After the events of the movie, the lifeless head of Unicron now orbits Cyberton, Decepticons are desperate for energon and leaderless, Cyclonus & Scourge go off in search of Galvatron (who returns as a mad man due to some of his circuitry being damaged) and the Quintessons are back as well and scheming to destroy all Transformers so they can reclaim control of Cyberton (turns out they created Cyberton AND the ancestors of the Transformers).

So now the rest of the series is a battle between the Autobots, the Decepticons and the Quintessons although the Decepticons and Quintessons often are uneasy allies and attempt to use each other. Then there’s Starscream who makes two appearances in Season 3. He is now a ghost who can take control of other Transformers’ bodies (none of that is explained) and he is scheming to get his old body back plus get revenge on Galvatron.

Starscream’s real shining moment is in “Ghost in the Machine” where he forces Scourge to help him bring Unicron’s head back online and attempts to join Unicron’s head to Cybertron in order to bring Unicron back to full power so that Unicron will give him his body back. This is one of the better episodes of the season and could’ve easily been flushed out to being another multi-part story. Unfortunately, it’s the last we see of Starscream as he’s blown out into space (he got his old body back) at the end of the episode and is never to be seen or heard from again for the rest of the series.

A few words about Galvatron: I don’t like him. I loved Megatron. Megatron was a villain but he had a sense of honor, common sense and leaderskills that Galvatron is severely lacking. Galvatron is nuts and temperamental and even though it’s explained why he is this way after the events of the movie, I still don’t like it. He’s always flying off the handle, shooting and punching his own Decepticons in the middle of battle just because things aren’t going the way he wants. Megatron would have never acted like that. Frank Welker voiced Megatron and voices Galvatron as well (though the role of Galvatron was originally played by Leonard Nemoy in the movie) but I don’t like the voice he’s using for him. I was hoping he’d use something closer to Megatron’s voice.

There’s an episode that devotes itself even more to Galvatron’s insanity. In “Webworld”, Cyclonus tricks Galvatron into going to a planet that treats beings for mental illness. It does not end well for that planet and Galvatron’s sanity is not restored.

As far as characters go, pretty much everyone in the movie is still heavily featured. For the Autobots there’s Rodimus Prime, Ultra Magnus, Kup, Arcee, Wheelie, Blurr, Wreck-Gar, Springer and the old guard are mostly represented by Perceptor, Blaster, the Aerialbots and Grimlock (the other Dinobots are rarely seen and Swoop is completely MIA for some reason). I was surprised by how much Perceptor and Blaster get used. Cosmos, Omega Supreme, Warpath and Jazz make cameos. Bumblebee is rarely seen and his only notable role is during “The Return of Optimus Prime” when he joins the Throttlebots and becomes Goldbug.

The Witwicky family (Spike, Carly and their son Daniel) are still around and there’s a new human Autobot ally: Capt. Marissa Fairborn of the Earth Defense Command. A few new Autobots have been brought in: the city-bot Metroplex (the biggest Autobot of them all… he’s the Autobots’ base on Earth), Sandstorm, Sky Lynx, the Throttlebots and the Technobots being the most prominent.

On the Decepticon side, the main characters are Galvatron, Cyclonus, Scourge and the Sweeps. Soundwave, the Constructicons, the Stunticons and Astrotrain play various minor roles and the rest of the old guard are basically background characters. New Decepticons include Octane, the Predacons, Runabout, Runamuck and the Terrorcons. Both the Predacons and Terrorcons appear in the series with no explanation. I always liked the origin episodes for the combiners so I was disappointed to see them thrown out there with zero back story.

Then there’s the Quintessons and their Sharkticons and all of these guys are basically interchangeable and were seen in the movie.

Despite some good episodes such as the five-parter, “Dark Awakening” (Optimus Prime returns from the dead), “The Return of Optimus Prime” (Opitmus Prime returns from the dead for real) and the episodes featuring Starscream’s ghost there are some truly horrid episodes. “Carnage in C-Minor” may be the worst TF episode EVER and “The Dweller in the Depths” (written by Paul Dini!) & “Nightmare Planet” are garbage too although my online research says “Dweller” is a fan favorite. There are also LOTS of animation mistakes throughout the these episodes.

1987′s “Season 4″ is just three episodes. Hasbro was ready to cease production on the cartoon but as a gesture to the fans we get “The Rebirth” three-parter to give the series a conclusion. I’m fairly certain Hasbro’s motives weren’t entirely altruistic though because in addition to starring Optimus Prime and some major Season 3 characters these episodes are FULL of recent additions to the Transformers toy line such as the Targetmasters, Headmasters, Punch-Counterpunch, the Horrorcons, the Decepticon/Autobot Clones, Scorponok and Fortress Maximus. It’s unfortunate that the transfer on these final three episodes is not very good. The  color is washed out and the animation isn’t all that great either but animation wasn’t Season 3′s strong-suit either.

Technically, there is a Season 5 that aired in 1988 but it was a “best of” season that features a stop-motion Optimus Prime in Powermaster form re-telling Autobot adventures to some kid.

Despite some terrible episodes, truth be told, this set is pretty good. It’s just that the series has a totally different vibe from Seasons 1 & 2 and it’s a bit off-putting at first. I really don’t have a problem with the new characters but it would have been nice to have seen other surviving Autobots from the earlier seasons interact with the new regime and Rodimus is no Optimus. I think Season 3 was really hurt by the fact that Optimus Prime was absent from it.

Still, I had fun watching these two seasons and the set is definitely worth picking up for G1 fans if only to see the original Transformers saga come to a close (in the U.S. anyway but we’ll get to into that at a later date).

Highlights: “The Five Faces of Darkness” Parts 1-5, “Dark Awakening”, “Starscream’s Ghost”, “Fight or Flee”, “Webworld”, “Ghost in the Machine”, “The Ultimate Weapon”, “Grimlock’s New Brain”, “The Return of Optimus Prime” Parts 1 & 2, “The Rebirth” Parts 1-3

Buy the DVD set at Amazon.com

Masters of the Universe (The Live Action Motion Picture) DVD Review

Masters of the Universe
2009, Warner Home Video
Original Release: 1987, Cannon Films

Special Features
Feature-Length Commentary by Director Gary Goddard
Theatrical Trailer

Do you remember walking through the movie theater in 1987 and seeing this…

?

I do! YES! A live-action version of Masters of the Universe! But wait… That’s gotta be He-Man but why does he look like he belongs in a Mad Max movie? Why is he holding an assault rifle ?! Why is the gun more prominent than the Power Sword ?!

Yes, I remember seeing that poster and instantly feeling a mix of joy and doom. I was extremely happy that a live-action He-Man movie was coming but just by the teaser poster alone I already was not liking how they were going to be portraying the world of Eternia. Oh yeah… Eternia. Didn’t really feature as much in the movie as we He-Man fans would’ve wanted, did it?

That is probably my one biggest gripe about the movie — how can you have the very first Masters of the Universe movie and then not set the entire film on Eternia? Granted, the movie is a goofy cheesy ’80s movie no matter what but taking the majority of the film to Earth in the year of 1987  extremely dates the film and isn’t what people wanted to see. Maybe something like that could’ve been done for a sequel but for the initial MOTU film? Nah. Keep it on Eternia.

Given that Cannon Films was usually very budget conscious, my theory is that they built the bare minimum set pieces that they could for Eternia (basically Gwildor’s hut and Skeletor’s throne room) and then filmed on location in Los Angeles because it was cheaper to do that than having to build even more set pieces. So that’s why we ended up with the story of He-Man & Co. ending up on Earth. To be fair though, I think this movie was probably had one of Cannon’s biggest budgets. Wikipedia states $22 million but in the director commentary Gary Goddard states they had a $17 million budget at a time when most movies had $6-8 million budgets.

 As you can see from of the artwork, they were really going for a Star Wars vibe right down to getting Drew Struzan to do the artwork. Great artwork though and it does a great job of making the movie look amazing. Even Skeletor’s soldiers (something he didn’t have in the cartoon) look like Storm Troopers except their armor is black and their helmets appear to be that of Imperial Gunners.

Anyway, Eternia issues aside, it would’ve been nice to also see a bit more character depth. I guess the writers & producers just assumed anyone coming to see this movie already knew the backstory so we get thrown right into the middle of the action. That’s commendable on some levels because I know many fans of geek culture groan over “origin” movies but it still would have been really nice to see a live-action transformation of Prince Adam to He-Man. There is no mention of Prince Adam at all in this movie.

Even the Power Sword receives very little recognition in the film. He-Man seems to prefer using laser blasters. He holds it up one time towards the end of the film to yell “I HAVE THE POWER” but it’s too little too late and the moment is glossed over. The He-Man/Skeletor sword fight is pretty brief and lame compared to what Luke Skywalker & Darth Vader had done. In the movie’s defense, director Gary Goddard does that that due to time restrictions the final battle was not staged the way he wanted it and some portions of the throne room set went unused.

Another weird quirk is the absence of the typical MOTU villains. Sure, we have Skeletor, Evil-Lyn and Beastman but what about Tri-Klops, Merman or Trap-Jaw? The movie introduces some new villains: Blade (who almost seems like a stand-in for Tri-Klops), Saurod (a reptilian creature that reminds me of the Goombas from the Super Mario movie) and Karg (who reminds me of the late Ronnie James Dio). None of those three characters were ever on the TV show, which was canceled by this time anyway, but Blade & Saurod were given action figures.

On the Heroic Warriors side, I think they did pretty well: He-Man, Man-At-Arms, Teela and a captive Sorceress. They could’ve expanded upon that if there was a sequel and added Mekaneck, Stratos, Man-E-Faces, Ram Man, Buzz-Off and/or Orko. Speaking of Orko, even as a kid, I  always assumed Gwildor was meant to be his replacement in the movie. Upon listening to Goddard’s commentary, he confirms that by saying it would’ve been too financially & technically difficult to put Orko in the movie. So, they replaced a magician that always screws up and is played for humor with an inventor that always screws up and is played for humor.

Ultimately, the film was not a critical or financial success. Released in August 1987 (and I remember seeing it in Fort Walton Beach, Florida on opening weekend while visiting my grandparents), it made only $17 million total. Had it been released a year or two earlier (remember, the show had been canceled in 1985 and the toy line had been losing steam as well since it had no show to help promote it) and had it stayed more faithful to the fantasy-based cartoon/toy line rather than going in a sci-fi direction (that was inspired by Jack Kirby’s “Fourth World” comics from DC Comics) it probably would’ve done better.

Even though the movie kinda broke even or maybe even lost a few million for Cannon, a sequel was written and planned. Unfortunately, Cannon ran into financial troubles in 1989 and could no longer afford the MOTU license. The sequel’s script would later go on to be re-worked into Cyborg starring Jean-Claude Van Damme and when that movie was played on television it was sometimes retitled Masters of the Universe 2: Cyborg.

I think Masters of the Universe is a fun cheesy ’80s fantasy/adventure. It almost seems forgotten but I think it’s a real cult classic. Dolph Lundgren was a great voice (visually at least) for He-Man and Courtney Cox is cute as a button in her first movie role and plays her part well.

With plans for a new MOTU on the way, I’m sure a small spotlight will get thrown back on this movie in the next few years. I think the movie has been released on DVD twice. Once in 2001 through Warner Home Video but it was in a snap case. I made sure to order the 2009 edition because it features the standard DVD keep case which I prefer over the snap case that Warner Bros. well hell-bent on using for a number of years. Both editions have the same special features. My particular copy was made for distribution in U.S. & Canada so that’s why you see the film’s title in French on the cover.

I’m truly surprised they even bothered giving the movie a director’s commentary. You’d think something like would would’ve been made bare bones and then thrown into the $5 bin at Walmart. I usually never listen to commentaries but for this movie, I felt like trying it and enjoyed it.

Either DVD edition can be found for $6-8 and it’s well worth picking up for all He-Man fans. Sure, it’s not the MOTU we wanted to see but it’s a lot better than New Adventures of He-Man that’s for sure!

Buy the movie!

Caught In the Draft & Give Me A Sailor… Bob Hope Double Feature DVD Review!

Caught In The Draft / Give Me A Sailor
2002, Universal Studios Home Video

This double feature DVD was “lost” in my collection for about a year or so. I felt like I owned it but I didn’t even have it checked off in my “Bob Hope DVD” Word document! Luckily, I found it a few weeks ago while sorting through the DVDs in my closet. I had rented this collection from Netflix before but I don’t think I ever watched the movies once I owned them. I had seen Caught in the Draft a few times courtesy of AMC (Remember when American Movie Classics used to show classic movies… in B&W no less?) but I had viewed Give Me A Sailor just the one time when renting it.

Caught In The Draft
1941, Paramount Pictures

This is a typically funny Hope movie from the 1940s. Other than Hope, this is a great cast: Lynne Overman (who previously was in The Big Broadcast of 1938 with Hope) & Eddie Bracken (who would later be in Star Spangled Rhythm) are great as Hope’s friends and flunkies and Dorothy Lamour brings her usual mix of class & sex appeal to the screen. She’s super-adorable in this one and I love the scene where she’s down at the Army recruiter’s office and they do a close-up of her winking.

In this one, Bob plays a big Hollywood actor that is trying to dodge the draft by getting married to Dorothy’s character Tony (whose father is a colonel), whom he recently met on set while filming a war movie. Problem is, she figures out his true motives, gets mad and then when Hope tries to win her back and impress her by setting up a fake enlistment, it turns out he signs on for real!

Comedy ensues as Hope gets his buddies to sign up too and as they try to make it through basic training, Bob tries to win the love of Tony while also also trying to impress her father.

One of Bob’s better movies that doesn’t feature Bing (not even a cameo this time!).

Give Me A Sailor
1938, Paramount Pictures

Not really a Bob movie at all this is more a vehicle for Martha Raye though Hope does co-star with her. It’s based on a play called Linger Longer Betty and has Letty (Raye) longing for Jim’s (Hope) brother Walter and Jim longing for his brother’s girlfriend Nancy (a hot Betty Grable). They try to break them up and eventually succeed. Letty gets engaged to Walter and Jim dates Nancy but then Letty & Jim discover what they really want is each other. Reading that back, they don’t really sound like likable characters and neither really suffers any consequences for breaking up Walter & Nancy but oh well. It worked for the time. I don’t think you could pull something like this off in a movie today without the characters coming across as huge jerks.

Not a great movie but worth watching once or twice to see Bob acting instead of constantly spitting out one-liners. Martha Raye is pretty cute in an odd way.

Overall:

A worthy DVD to add to the collection of any Bob Hope fan!

Buy ‘Caught in the Draft/Give Me A Sailor’ at Amazon.com