bruno-32 Judging from some of the reviewers here I feel I have to mention a well known fact back then when this movie was made. Bob is Paramount's top comedy moneymaker. Hedy after her triumph role as Delilah a year or so earlier, had to make this movie cause paramount and Bob wanted her to. It turned out that Hedy's best parts were either cut or slimmered down, cause it made Bob second banana in some scenes. Naturally, the studio could not let that happen to their top money maker, so that is what was released ..a toned down Hedy role. Sneak previewers had caught the original version and most agreed that Hedy stole that movie from Bob, mainly cause no one expected it from her. Towards the end we do see some of her funny scenes, but not enough.

classicsoncall Bob Hope plays a dual role in this comedy spy flick, one as his usual character throwing out humorous one liners, and the other as an international spy who Peanuts White (Hope) is asked to imitate in order to secure a valuable piece of film for the government. Hope actually looked a bit scary as the villain Eric Augustine, and it made me wonder if he could have pulled off a dramatic role in a non comedy vehicle.This was my first glimpse of Hedy Lamarr, and I wasn't too impressed with her looks when she first appeared on screen. But then, it seemed like she got better looking as the movie progressed. By the time of the film's finale and that wild hook and ladder ride, the zaniness of the scene seemed to bring out a naturalness to her personality that seemed suppressed in the early going. Actually, that scene had elements of Abbott and Costello and the Keystone Kops going for it, and was a lot more physical than any other Hope characterization I've seen.As usual, some of Hope's best zingers are of the self deprecatory kind; when one of the detectives removes his clown rubber nose in the early going, Hope's character replies - "Hey, that's not all putty"! You have to be quick when he does the gag about Bing Crosby, never mentioning him by name, but remarking how a skull he's looking at resembles a 'singer I know'. Modern audiences and non-Hope fans would never give it a second thought, but it's one of the fun things about watching these era films when you're old enough to be in on the joke.Hey, I know it's just for laughs, but there was a goof in that scene when the phone started ringing inside the suitcase. When Peanuts/Hope finally gets it out, the receiver is off the hook!"My Favorite Spy" seems to get mixed reviews, and though I enjoyed it myself, I thought about it being re-done as "Road to Tangier" with Crosby and Lamour along for the ride. Say, did you catch it when Peanuts White's real name was revealed? - it was Cecil Longwood.

Harri85274 I read somewhere here in this forum a readers take on the Bob-Hedy friction. Let me settle this once and for all. Hedy was always Bob favorite...look at some of the old war newsreels with the stars getting involved in the war, in their own way. There's a clip where Bob is surprisingly sharing a bed with his crony, Bing Crosby and in his dreams, he keeps calling out for Hedy. Hedy was an MGM player, so odds were against them making a movie together, each under contract to different studios. It turned out that some of Hedy's best funny scenes were cut, because the studio head at Paramount, didn't want anyone to be more funnier than their bread and butter comedian. She resented it, after all she was in the midst of making a comeback, as they called it in those days, after her terrific success in Samson and Delilah for that same studio a year before. Its odd that in 1951, Bob and Hedy made a comedy radio stint on top of a U.S.Navy flattop, in front of the sailors, in San Diego port. They even made jokes about appearing together in that movie. So, if there was friction, it was short lived. As far as her role, she was suppose to be playing it straight to Bob's antics. To me,the funniest scenes involved Hedy, mainly because I was surprised at how well she did handle comedy. Her hitting Bob like a wildcat, after he 'punched' her. Her double take upon seeing "both" Bob's was priceless...and that ending, with her driving the fire truck.

Mark Tyler This movie, while far from Hope's best, has Bob in a duel role as Peanuts White and Eric Augusine, the latter being a notorious spy.What is unique is that the character of Augustine is shown as a humorlous brutal killer, and for a few brief scenes we see a serious side of Bob Hope that to my knowledge has never been shown since in any effort.The closest to it in terms of range would be Beau James which he did some years later.