classicsoncall I give up, was this supposed to be a comedy? You would think with Bob Hope and Katherine Hepburn in a film that it would be worth seeing but this is simply a travesty. Actually, I don't think I've ever run into a film in which all the posts for it in the reviews section on IMDb uniformly call it a bad picture. The movie merits a 5.6 rating from all (710) viewers as I write this, but just for the heck of it I did a quick average of the 'stars' given by the folks writing comments on it, and I come up with a 3.25. My rating isn't going to sway that either way.I can't even imagine what the film makers might have been thinking, before, during, and after this picture was made. Hepburn's Russian was fingernails on chalkboard to my ear, and try as they might, the chemistry that was supposed to exist between the stars just didn't work for me. The gags fell flat and even Hope's one liners lacked punch. At least he managed to invoke Crosby when the Judo Sleepwalker (????) Sutsiyama (Tutte Lemkow) called him 'Dog Nose', but even that wasn't funny.Quite honestly, and I make an effort at this, but I can't think of any redeeming feature of the film that might even remotely recommend it. But even as incomprehensible a romantic match that Hope and Hepburn seemed, Major Chuck Lockwood's fiancé Lady Connie (Noelle Middleton) might have even been worse. Considering how bizarre the whole concept of the story was, you'd think she could have cracked a smile now and then. You know, I'm beginning to think it might have been true when Captain Kovelenko (Hepburn) said at one point - "This would not have happened if Stalin were alive".

jjnxn-1 Very minor reworking of Ninotchka with Hope and Kate, whose accent is all over the place, sharing little to no chemistry. The script is weak but if Cary Grant, her best costar, had appeared in this as originally planned it might not have been a classic but because of their rapport a much better film than it is. A product of much backstage enmity. Hope and Hepburn disdained each other and Hope and the film's writer Ben Hecht fought to the point they took the battle public in printed ads denouncing each other, the resulting picture hardly seems worth it. A flat, inert misfire necessary only to completist of the starring duos work.

Welly-2 What was Hepburn thinking? This is a really poor film that goes nowhere and feels like it takes a long time doing it. Bob Hope relies, as ever, on the knowing side-glances but hasn't anything funny to say to justify them, whilst Hepburn spends the whole film doing a dreadful Russian accent to no purpose other than to annoy. It's a clumsy, stereotyped and frankly disturbing film that says much about the paranoia of the times. For the film's publicity to rave about the chemistry between Hepburn and Hope is laughable....their only chemistry is of the kind that brews sleeping potions.Is there anything to salvage 87 minutes that feels like 200? Absolutely, the great Richard Wattis makes an appearance just as you are reaching for the remote. It's only a brief moment as he tries to sell sexy under-ware to Hepburn, but it's an oasis worth waiting for.Bottom line....dreadful nonsense that never raises a smile

barrymn1 This is the notorious forgotten movie that Bob Hope and his gagwriters imposed many rewrites and ad-libs.So many that not only did Hepburn's get horribly reduced, but writer Ben Hecht demanded that his name be removed from the credits.He apparently took an ad out denouncing Hope's inappropriate take over.The movie seems to have disappeared from the face of the world making it certainly Hepburn's most obscure released movie.It's a shame since it's a reworking of Billy Wilder's screenplay "Ninotchka".I'd love to see it, but it's apparently one helluva stinker. Ooofta!