My Favorite Blonde movie storyline. Larry Haines, a mediocre vaudeville entertainer, boards a train bound for Los Angeles. Is Hollywood waiting for him with open arms? Not really as the one he signed a contract for is Percy, his roller-skating penguin partner! But, as the proverb says, the shadow of glory is better than no glory at all! Anyway, doesn’t Larry meet a woman on the train?
And a blonde one! And a British agent into the bargain! The delicious creature who is carrying a coded message hidden in a brooch and is being pursued by Nazi agents. She will need Larry (and Percy)’s help to elude her pursuers and to get the secret information to destination. The mission will be accomplished, although in an eventful and hilarious way.
My Favorite Blonde is a 1942 American comedy film directed by Sidney Lanfield and starring Bob Hope and Madeleine Carroll. Based on a story by Melvin Frank and Norman Panama, the film is about a vaudeville performer who gets mixed up with British and German secret agents in the days just before America’s entry into World War II. The film features an uncredited cameo appearance by Bing Crosby.
About the Story
When a British secret agent is murdered in the line of duty, agent Karen Bentley inherits the mission from her partner. The mission is to deliver a flight plan for a hundred American bomber planes to a British agent in Chicago. The plans are hidden in a small medallion of a scorpion that Karen wears.
Karen arrives to New York City from Europe by ship and escapes the clutches of enemy agents by hiding in a variety theatre. To improve her chances of getting away and get a good cover, she charms an actor named Larry Haines, who performs a small act called “Percy” involving his penguin. Larry tells her that he and his penguin are heading west to Hollywood to appear in a film. They have a contract paying $500 a week for Percy and $30 for him as his trainer.
Karen accompanies Larry to the train and plants the medallion on him before he boards the train. Unaware of what he is now carrying, Larry leaves New York, and the German agents, Mme. Stephanie Runick and Dr. Hugo Streger, are also on board the same train, keeping a close eye on Larry. The agents manage to scare up Larry with their odd behavior, and in Albany, Karen boards the train.
Larry meets Karen and finds her a little too odd, since she didn’t board the train back in New York with him. When the train stops for three hours in Chicago, Karen manages to steal Larry’s suitcase, which now contains the jacket where the medallion is hidden. Larry follows Karen and the suitcase to an address where she is supposed to meet an agent, but Karen finds the agent murdered and has to change her plans. She is instructed to continue to Los Angeles instead.
Since Larry has already seen her and the dead body, Karen reveals her true identity to him and asks his help. When the German agents are watching, they fake a domestic argument between the two of them, where Larry is violent against Karen. The police arrive to the scene and they are both arrested for disturbing the peace. While under arrest, the two of them are transported safely out of the building and past the German agents.
Karen and Larry are released after they make up in the police patrol car. They don’t get very far until the police chase them again, because the German agents anonymously tell the police they are responsible for murdering the British agent. The murder is on the news and Larry is named the “love slayer”.
During their frantic escape from the police, Karen and Larry fall in love. They find a place to hide at the top of Union Hall for the night, but the morning after they get on a bus headed out of the city on a sightseeing tour. They hijack the bus and then steal a plane to fly to Los Angeles. When the plane is out of fuel they land in the middle of nowhere and are arrested again, this time for stealing food on a farm.
My Favorite Blonde (1942)
Directed by: Sidney Lanfield
Starring: Bob Hope, Madeleine Carroll, Gale Sondergaard, George Zucco, Lionel Royce, Walter Kingsford, Victor Varconi, Otto Reichow, Esther Howard, Edward Gargan, James Burke
Screenplay by: Don Hartman, Frank Butler
Cinematography by: William C. Mellor
Film Editing by: William Shea
Costume Design by: Edith Head
Art Direction by: Hans Dreier, Robert Usher
Music by: David Buttolph
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Paramount Pictures
Release Date: April 2, 1942 (USA)
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