My Favorite Spy (1951 film)

My Favorite Spy
My Favorite Spy
	1951 US Theatrical Poster
Directed by	Norman Z. McLeod
Written by	Edmund L. Hartmann; Jack Sher ; Hal Kanter ; Lou Breslow ; Edmund Beloin
Produced by	Paul Jones
Starring	Bob Hope; Hedy Lamarr ; Francis L. Sullivan
Cinematography	Victor Milner
Edited by	Frank Bracht
Music by	Victor Young
Production; company	Paramount Pictures
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date	December 25, 1951;
Running time	93 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$2.6 million (US rentals)

My Favorite Spy is a 1951 American comedy spy film directed by Norman Z. McLeod and starring Bob Hope, Hedy Lamarr and Francis L. Sullivan. It was produced and distributed by Paramount Pictures and forms the third of a loose trilogy featuring Hope including My Favorite Blonde and My Favorite Brunette.

Plot

US intelligence agents recruit burlesque comic Peanuts White to pose as international spy Eric Augustine, whom he resembles, to acquire a million-dollar microfilm in Tangier, Morocco. There, he encounters the irresistible Lily Dalbray, Augustine's one-time "friend," who is now in league with his arch-enemy, Brubaker.

Peanuts is persuaded to take the dangerous assignment via a phone conversation with an unseen President Harry Truman.

Arriving in Tangiers wearing an uncomfortable money belt containing one million dollars in payoff money, Peanuts is assigned a right hand man, Tasso. Peanuts enjoys the part of the assignment where he must surround himself with beautiful women. Repeated attempts on his life he does not enjoy. On one occasion, he and Tasso must dodge assassins inside a 2-man camel costume.

The real Eric Augustine escapes from the hospital and arrives in Tangiers. He goes to Lily's room and without a word, beats her up. As soon as he leaves the room, he is killed by Brubaker's men.

Lily thinks Peanuts hit her and tears into him. Peanuts confesses the deception just to calm her down (finding Augustine's corpse also aids in this).

Peanuts and Lily are captured by Brubaker and taken to his villa. Peanuts is injected with truth serum, but this only causes him to recite some of his old burlesque routines.

After Lily switches loyalties, she and Peanuts escape after setting fire to Brubaker's mansion. They run to the nearest firehouse, don fireman disguises, only to have the fire alarm take them right back to Brubaker's house. They make their final escape in a hijacked fire engine with Peanuts dangling precariously from the highest point of a hook-and-ladder.

Brubaker makes such a public spectacle of himself during the chase that he is recognized and arrested. The microfilm ends up in the right hands. And Lily ends up in Peanuts' hands.

Cast

Bob Hope as Peanuts White/Eric Augustine
Hedy Lamarr as Lily Dalbray
Francis L. Sullivan as Karl Brubaker
Arnold Moss as Tasso
John Archer as Henderson
Luis Van Rooten as Rudolf Hoenig
Stephen Chase as Donald Bailey
Morris Ankrum as Gen. Frazer
Angela Clarke as Gypsy Fortune Teller
Iris Adrian as Lola
Frank Faylen as Newton
Mike Mazurki as Monkara
Marc Lawrence as Ben Ali
Tonio Selwart as Harry Crock
Ralph Smiley as El Sarif
Joseph Vitale as Fireman
Nestor Paiva as Fire Chief
Helen Chapman as Miss Dieckers
Kasey Rogers as Maria
Veola Vonn as Tara
Suzanne Dalbert as Maid
Torben Meyer as Headwaiter
Suzanne Ridgway as Dancer
Steven Geray as Croupier
Joan Whitney as Woman In Bathtub (uncredited)
Ralph Sanford as Husband of Woman In Bathtub(Uncredited)
Chester Conklin as Short Man Hiding In Closet (uncredited)
Hank Mann as Short Man Hiding In Closet (uncredited)
Roy Roberts as Johnson, FBI Agent (uncredited)
Duke York as "Man" (uncredited)
Ralph Byrd as Unnamed Government Official (uncredited)
Rolfe Sedan as Room Service Waiter (uncredited)
Norbert Schiller as Dr. Estrallo (uncredited)

Production

The film was produced from late January to early April 1951 under the working title Passage to Cairo.

Hope's character, Peanuts White, was first conceived as a schoolteacher who, while impersonating a recently deceased gangster, is sent to Cairo to obtain information. The character was later converted into a standup vaudeville comedian who resembles a leading international spy, and is persuaded to impersonate him on a mission to Tangier.

Release

The world premiere of the film took place in Bellaire, Ohio, in the living room of Anne Kuchinka. The Ohio housewife won a letter writing contest sponsored by Hope's radio show, in which participants gave reasons why the premiere should be held in their home. Prior to the screening, a star-studded parade and radio broadcast were held in Bellaire. According to a November 19, 1951 Time article, Corp. Karl K. Diegert of the Army Hospital at Camp Atterbury, Indiana, persuaded Hope, who was known for his USO shows, to do a second screening at the camp the day after Bellaire's.

References

^ 'Top Box-Office Hits of 1952', Variety, January 7, 1953

External links

My Favorite Spy at IMDb
My Favorite Spy at the TCM Movie Database
My Favorite Spy at AllMovie
My Favorite Spy at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films

[1] 'Top Box-Office Hits of 1952', Variety, January 7, 1953

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