DVD Review: The Paleface (1948)

Kino Lorber has released many classic Bob Hope comedies on blu ray, and this continues with "The Paleface," one of the comedian's very best.

Bob Hope was a star in vaudeville, on Broadway, on radio, and in movies. From roughly 1940-1955, Hope films could do no wrong. Along with the Road pictures with Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour, Hope scored in such enduringly funny classics as "My Favorite Brunette" and "My Favorite Spy." Most of these have already been released on blu ray by Kino Lorber.

One of Bob Hope's biggest hits was "The Paleface," a western comedy in which he plays a dude dentist named Painless Potter who gets mixed up with lady gunslinger Calamity Jane (Jane Russell). She is on a mission and Painless must pretend to be her husband when the man planning to do so is killed. Potter, a coward who will likely mess everything up, is therefore not told of the mission, so he thinks Jane has actually fallen for him. He is also mistaken for a gunslinger himself, as he appears to wipe out several bad guys without realizing it is Jane doing the shooting while hiding nearby.

What is so brilliant about "The Paleface" is that it starts off as a serious western with Jane Russell and plays very effectively as such while the plot is revealed. Hope makes his appearance about ten minutes in, after the story has been presented, and is thereafter its consistent comic addition. The western part of the narrative continues to be played straight, with Bob Hope supplying all the comedy. Jane Russell's seriousness gives him a base to play off of, and he commands the comic situations perfectly.

From his very first moments in the movie, as he performs dentistry on patients while consulting an instruction book, Hope is fresh and funny, dealing with impatient tough guy Nestor Paiva who needs a bad tooth pulled. Before Painless Potter is done, both are overcome with laughing gas of which Potter says "It's the safest thing in the world ---- um, would you mind paying me now?" Later he responds to being mistaken as a gunslinger by exhibiting comically heroic posturing. One of the film's many highlights has Potter about to have a serious showdown, being told several bits of advice by well wishes, all of which he gets humorously mixed up as he repeats them to himself. Hope cavorts through the film with his wisecracks and comical responses to situations in a quintessential performance that also features him singing the Oscar-winning song "Buttons and Bows."

Along with one of Bob Hope's best films, the Kino Lorber blu ray also includes some great special features. First there is the great documentary "Entertaining the Troops," which chronicles Bob Hope's many years doing just that. Shot in 1988, it includes new footage of Hope and his famous troupe of Francis Langford, Tony Romano, and Patty Thomas, all of whom have since passed away. The clips are magnificent, with Abbott and Costello, James Cagney, The Andrews Sisters, Jack Benny, Humphrey Bogart, Joe E. Brown, and Bing Crosby included in the archive footage. It also includes a Command Performance film segment from 1945, a fun Buttons and Bows singalong, and new audio commentary by film critic Sergio Mims. And, finally, "The Paleface" has always had striking Technicolor, and that responds quite well to blu ray.

"The Paleface" was such a box office hit, it inspired a sequel, "Son of Paleface," featuring Hope and Russell with Roy Rogers and Trigger. That film is also available from Kino Lorber on blu ray and both films are recommended. You can purchase The Paleface at this link: Hope/Paleface.