Never Say Die

Name: Never Say Die
Genre: Comedy
Released: 1939-04-14
Duration: 1 h 22 min
Rating: 7
Cast: Martha Raye, Bob Hope, Andy Devine

19391939
ApprovedApproved
1h 22m

7.0/10

494

Bob Hope, Andy Devine, and Martha Raye in Never Say Die (1939)

Comedy

A wealthy hypochondriac and an heiress are both experiencing romantic complications, prompting them to marry each other.A wealthy hypochondriac and an heiress are both experiencing romantic complications, prompting them to marry each other.A wealthy hypochondriac and an heiress are both experiencing romantic complications, prompting them to marry each other.

7.0/10

494

Director
- Elliott Nugent
Writers
- Don Hartman(screenplay)
- Frank Butler(screenplay)
- Preston Sturges(screenplay)
Stars

Top credits

See production, box office & company info

See more at IMDbPro

Bob Hope and Martha Raye in Never Say Die (1939)

Director
- Elliott Nugent
Writers
- Don Hartman(screenplay)
- Frank Butler(screenplay)
- Preston Sturges(screenplay)
All cast & crew
See more cast details at IMDbPro

Bob Hope is being stalked by a predatory widow who is a widow of wealthy husbands many times over. Martha Raye is a Texan heiress who wants to marry her boyfriend Andy Devine, but her father is determined that she marry into royalty. To solve both their problems, Martha Raye and Bob Hope decide to marry, but will they ever find love together? —laird-3

Taglines
- A LAUGH TONIC THAT'LL CURE ANY CASE OF OLD WINTER BLUES! (print ad - Lubbock Evening Journal - Palace Theatre - Lubbock, Texas - May 24, 1939 - all caps)
Genre
- Comedy
Certificate
- Approved
Parents guide

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. It was released on DVD 8 October 2002 in tandem with Louisiana Purchase (1941) as part of the Bob Hope Tribute Collection.

Quotes
Man who loads pistols: There's a cross on the muzzle of the pistol with the bullet and a nick on the handle of the pistol with the blank.

Connections
Featured in The Gossip Columnist (1980)

Soundtracks
The Tra La La and The Oom Pah Pah
Written by Ralph Rainger and Leo Robin

Top review

2/10

Laughs come haltingly when they come at all

This supposedly light-hearted romp through Switzerland seems more like spending the weekend at Berchtesgaden with Adolf and Eva.

This is quite a surprise when you consider that the script was co-authored by Preston Sturges, and that the cast includes Bob Hope and Andy Devine. I only have to imagine Andy saying "Wild Bill" in that puberty-stricken voice of his, and I laugh. Unfortunately, this is not the old Wild Bill Hickok show.

The next Preston Sturges project to misfire as badly as this one would probably be The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend in 1949, with all of those masterpieces still to come lying in between.

The film has one interesting sequence, the duel scene, which contains this dialogue: "There's a cross on the muzzle of the pistol with the bullet and a nick on the handle of the pistol with the blank." When you hear this in the movie, said with the proper rhythm, you will recognize it immediately as the "chalice from the palace has the brew that is true" bit in "The Court Jester" with Danny Kaye from 1956. I suppose Melvin Frank and Norman Panama knew a good idea when they heard one and helped themselves. Or do both scenes derive from an even older vaudeville routine?

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