Caught in the Draft (1941)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

David Butler

Writers:

Wilkie C. Mahoney (additional dialogue)
Harry Tugend (screenplay)

Release Date:

4 July 1941 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance | War

Tagline:

THE BIG LAUGH BLITZ OF 1941! (original print media ad - all caps)

Plot:

A movie star who can't stand loud noises accidentally joins the Army.

Plot Keywords:

Movie Star | Military | Colonel | Army | Marriage Proposal

Cast

Bob Hope	...	Don Bolton
Dorothy Lamour	...	Antoinette 'Tony' Fairbanks
Lynne Overman	...	Steve Riggs
Eddie Bracken	...	Bert Sparks
Clarence Kolb	...	Col. Peter Fairbanks
Paul Hurst	...	Sgt. Burns
Ferike Boros	...	Yetta
Phyllis Ruth	...	Margie
Irving Bacon	...	Cogswell
Arthur Loft	...	Movie director
Edgar Dearing	...	Recruiting sergeant
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Heinie Conklin	...	Sign hanger (scenes deleted)
Phyllis Kennedy	...	Susan (scenes deleted)

Runtime:

82 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

Finland:S | Sweden:Btl

Filming Locations:

Malibu, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

One of over 700 Paramount Productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since.

Quotes:

Bert: I went out with a girl once that told me to go jump in the lake... When I got back, she was gone.

Movie Connections:

Spoofs The Jazz Singer (1927)

Soundtrack:

LOVE ME AS I AM

SCARCELY A TRACE OF WIT

Not even Bob Hope, escorted by a raft of fine character actors, can save this poorly written attempt at wartime comedy, as his patented timing has little which which to work. The plot involves a Hollywood film star named Don Bolton (Hope), and his attempt to evade military service at the beginning of World War II, followed by his enlistment by mistake in a confused attempt to court a colonel's daughter (Dorothy Lamour). Bolton's agent, played by Lynne Overman, and his assistant, portrayed by Eddie Bracken, enlist with him and the three are involved in various escapades regarding training exercises, filmed in the Malibu, California, hills. Paramount budgeted handsomely for this effort, employing some of its top specialists, but direction by the usually reliable David Butler was flaccid, and this must be attributed to a missing comedic element in the scenario. A shift toward the end of the film to create an opportunity for heroism by Bolton is still-born with poor stunt work and camera action in evidence. Oddly, Lynne Overman is given the best lines and this veteran master of the sneer does very well by them. Dorothy Lamour looks lovely and acts nicely, as well, and it is ever a delight to see and hear Clarence Kolb, as her father, whose voice is unique on screen or radio, but there is little they can do to save this film, cursed as it is with an error in script assignment.