Let's Face It (1943) User Reviews (9)

Quite A History

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 4 March 2008]

A little research will yield some interesting results sometimes. Let's Face It was originally a very risqué comedy from the Roaring Twenties entitled Cradle Snatchers. It was written by Norma Mitchell and Russell Medcraft and produced on Broadway by Sam Harris and ran 332 performances in 1925. It concerned some college kids working as gigolos who some married women pick up after their husbands take one too many trips out of town for some frolicking of their own. Two of the married women were Mary Boland and Edna May Oliver and one of the college kids was Humphrey Bogart. I would love to have seen this play.

By the way it should be remembered at this time Bogart was playing young juveniles on Broadway and it was he who uttered the line "tennis anyone" for the first time. Maybe it was here.

Fast forward to 1941 and Cole Porter sees the possibilities of this play as a book for one of his musicals. It certainly has the plot elements for his double entendre lyrics. The book was updated to have the gigolos be recent army draftees from a nearby camp and it starred Danny Kaye and Eve Arden.

But as what happens in all of Cole Porter's work it gets watered down so it's a passably good comedy now for Bob Hope. Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn write extra material suited to Betty Hutton. Eve Arden repeats her role as one of the man hungry women. Betty Hutton is in this as the proprietor of a fat farm where three husbands led by Raymond Walburn dump their wives so they can frolic.

Only this time Arden and her chums decide to do some frolicking on their own as in the original play. Who do they pick but Bob Hope and two of his fellow draftees. Hope incidentally is going out with Betty Hutton and she catches wind of the scheme. I think you can figure the rest out.

Cole Porter's score was totally emasculated for the screen version. Some additional numbers were written for Betty Hutton, I don't think Porter exactly wrote her type of material. And of course it even has a Nazi submarine in the plot. That you have to see to believe.

Hope and Hutton do click very well, it's a pity they didn't get to work together again on material that was constructed for them as opposed to something watered down. I imagine you could sure make a film of Cradle Snatchers now without the censor.

But imagine, a story done by Humphrey Bogart, Danny Kaye, and Bob Hope. Great piece of trivia at your next tournament.

Facing the facts that Hollywood had it in against Broadway.

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 11 February 2017]

Between "Anything Goes", "Panama Hattie" and "DuBarry Was a Lady", Cole Porter's Merman show became a shell of themselves on the big screen. This hit 1941 show is his most obscure hit, and the film and TV versions only give a glimpse of what was. The story remains if jealous wives pretending to have their own love nest to get revenge on their philandering husbands. Involved in their schemes are soldier Bob Hope and fat farm proprietor Betty Hutton, creating marital discord and getting hope in hot water with the army.

Hope and Hutton, in their only teaming, are amusing, but it's the three wives who get the best moments even if Betty and Bob get the songs. "I'm going out to get stinking from drinking", Zasu Pitts says, with fellow comic Eve Arden also getting in some great lines. Joining them is "The Women's" Phyllis Povah. The comedy is amusing, but only three of Porter's songs make it into the film. Future Broadway hit writer Jule Styne gets the other three. So as a comedy this works, although there was no reason to throw in a brief spy plot. A missed opportunity that only the talented cast manages to make acceptable.

Let's Face It was a mostly funny Bob Hope and Betty Hutton vehicle

[tavm · 7/10 · 5 July 2015]

After about 35 years of knowing about this movie and the original Cole Porter musical this was based on, I finally got to see Let's Face It starring Bob Hope, Betty Hutton, Eve Arden (reprising her Broadway role), and Zazu Pitts. Hope has plenty of funny scenes and lines and Hutton is good with a funny song and many funny lines and reactions herself. Ms. Arden and Ms. Pitts have some witty lines as well. Most of the farce was fine with me...until the climax which concerns a submarine and some Nazis inside of it. That was just too silly for my tastes. I think there's only one Porter song performed with the other two tunes being Betty Hutton numbers written by someone else. Anyway, Let's Face It is very much worth a look for any Hope or Hutton completists out there.

Hutton and Hope a Good Team

[drednm · 25 May 2007]

Zippy comedy based on a hit Broadway comedy that starred Danny Kaye.

Here it's Bob Hope as the army slacker who sells snacks at a fat farm run by girl friend Betty Hutton. After he wrecks a jeep, he's desperate for money.

Eneter three frustrated wives whose husbands have "gone fishing" for the weekend, leaving them mad. So they decide to "hire" some boys for a party. Eve Arden, Zasu Pitts, and Phyllis Povah are the ladies. But the husband also show up with their dates just as Hutton and friends track down Hope and his two stooges.

Lots of zingy lines as the various couples square off. Hutton sings a couple songs. Co-stars Joseph Sawyer, Dave Willock, Raymond Walburn, Andrew Tombes, Dona Drake, and Cully Richards.

Hope and Hutton team up for nutty comedy

[csteidler · 6/10 · 14 March 2012]

The sign over the gate announces a "milk farm": "Reduce by exercise. Milk diet." Betty Hutton is a trainer at the farm, where we first see her encouraging, cajoling and leading her guests through a rigorous set of "reducing" exercises and then sending them out for their big snack—a glass of milk. Even just marching in place, Betty is bursting with energy.

Bob Hope, meanwhile, is a soldier driving a jeep full of supplies across bumpy fields to be delivered to….the back entrance of the milk farm? Yes, he's bootlegging in pies and éclairs and chocolates to the hungry residents. It quickly turns out that Bob and Betty are engaged; their continuing efforts to make it to a wedding day are a main subject of the picture.

The other plot involves three middle-aged husbands taking off for a weekend of "fishing," and their three wives making up their minds to pursue some sports of their own—namely, rounding up three boisterous soldiers to join them on a Sunday outing at the cabin where they suspect their husbands will be. Sure enough, it turns out to be a full house.

Musical numbers include a neat dance by Hope and his two buddies, and also an acrobatic and humorous specialty dance from a night club duo (Nicco and Tanya?). Hutton delivers a bouncy tune complete with fast-talking (!) bursts that make one scramble to keep up.

Hope is good and has the wildest role, including a passage where he feigns injury and insanity with a ketchup-soaked cloth on his head. Hutton is always fun to watch; she and Hope make a cute and wacky couple. Zasu Pitts has a couple of hilarious lines but it's the way she says them that's funny—her chiding a soldier by calling him a "nasty little boy" is only funny the way Zasu says it.

Joe Sawyer is a natural as the often clueless sergeant. The look on his face is priceless when Hutton attacks him with the mystifying charge, "You big brute! You didn't have to murder him just because he hit you with a piece of pie!"

It all gets pretty wild toward the end—the madcap last half hour certainly picks up steam from the early going. The script is not exactly highbrow, but the cast carry it off with enthusiasm and high spirits.

Scene that must be seen to be believed: The film's opening shot shows a row of cows eating out of a trough, then pans to a rear view of the row of cows…then fades into the rear view of a row of fat ladies bending over in the exercise room.

Ah! Finally! A good night's sleep!!

[dstanwyck · 4/10 · 31 August 2015]

4 snoozes. If that many. Somehow or other, this was on Broadway in the early 40's and ran for a year and a half. Score - not in this movie - by Cole Porter, of all wonderful composers. Danny Kaye in the Hope role and Eve Arden reprising the role she had on the stage. There is no one better in droll delivery than Eve Arden. No one better in anything than Eve Arden. But she can't pull this mediocre nonsense together. Bob Hope tries and goes no further than his usual shtick. And, of course, Betty Hutton is Betty Hutton is Betty Hutton and if you like Betty Hutton, you are home free. For those of us, like myself, who feels as if you might as well be pulling a two ton truck, uphill, and you want to save yourself some energy - let this one rest in the land of best forgotten entertainments from an era that mostly knew better. Outrageously unfunny and, in fact, unkind - the 3 females out on the make to spite their straying husbands - are made fun of and called all sorts of names that would have feminists up in arms today. As well they should be. Anyway, if you like Eve Arden, you'll be happy. AS for the rest -- I think I'd rather go to the dentist.

Let's face it - this is not a great comedy

[gridoon2024 · 5/10 · 28 January 2017]

Considering its cast, this wartime farce is a forgettable trifle. But there are a few memorable moments: the high spot is Betty Hutton's unusual, lightning-fast "Let's Not Talk About Love" number, which includes such lyrics as "Let's talk about drugs! Let's talk about dope! Let's try to picture Paramount minus Bob Hope"! Bob has a few funny lines, the best probably being "She looks like Madeline Carroll, Dorothy Lamour and Claudette Colbert all rolled up into one big lump. She's yours!". Some of the casting is strange: the middle-aged and unattractive Phyllis Povah, the not pretty but cute Zasu Pitts, and the legitimately beautiful Eve Arden are supposed to elicit similar reactions as possible "dates" from Hope and his two soldier-buddies. In reality, any man would be lucky to be with Eve Arden! ** out of 4.

Hope and Hutton star in screwball romantic comedy

[weezeralfalfa · 9/10 · 8 May 2018]

Bob Hope and Betty Hutton are two of my favorite all around entertainers from 'The Golden Age of Hollywood'. Herein, I finally found a film where they costar, albeit a rather short one at 76min.. It was released in the middle of WWII, thus the special appropriateness of Hope characterized as a private in the army, always getting into trouble, and the thumbing of noses at the Nazis, via the U Boat caper("Tell that to your paperhanger").......Based upon the 1941 Broadway play of the same title, most of Cole Porter's songs were deleted, transforming it from a musical comedy into more of a screwball romantic comedy. Four of Porter's songs were retained, plus 3 new songs composed by Jule Styne, were added. Betty does one song featuring her signature rapid fire nonsensical dialogue. She sings another, alternating with Hope. Hope and 2 GI buddies do an eccentric dance. Also, a pair of dance specialists do an elegant floor dance, with some comedic moments, ending with the man twirling the woman around and around his body.......I haven't read of this screenplay being labeled a screwball romantic comedy, perhaps because of the subsidiary musical content. But, to me, it clearly fits in that category. At one point, we have 3 sets of 3 women converging on 2 sets of 3 men in a house, the characters being a menagerie of spouses, girl or boyfriends, or first time dates. The set of dates for the 3 husbands soon exit when they encounter their wives. The other four sets retire to a nearby nightclub, where the 3 wives sit with their official dates: the 3 GIs(including Hope), while the 3 husbands sit with Betty and her 2 girlfriends, who are the girlfriends of the 2 GIs with Hope. The 2 groups sit across from each other, carrying on, trying to make the other group jealous. If that doesn't constitute screwball romantic comedy, I don't know what does!....... Hope and Betty are a romantic pair, whose wedding keeps being put off for various reasons, including lack of money. Betty, as Winnie, runs a 'fat farm', where overweight women come to shed pounds via a rigorous exercise program plus very restricted diet: namely milk(reduced fat content?). This 'farm' is located near the large army base where Hope lives. His job is to deliver packages to the base, in his jeep. But, he also often makes extra money delivering rich snacks and disserts, on the sneak, to certain of the fat farm participants. When Betty catches him delivering his contraband, she remarks "So you're the one who's been stuffing these 2 turkeys" Then, "I'm trying to deflate these blimps, and you come along and inflate them again" Does the Hope/Betty romance weather the several messes that Hope gets himself into? See the film to find out. It's presently available at YouTube......Some of the costars include Eve Arden, as one of 3 matronly women dates for the soldiers, including Zasu Pitts, and Phyllis Povah. Marjory Weaver and Dona Drake play the 2 friends of Betty, who show up with Betty to replace the dates the husbands brought.

I can see why this isn't one of Hope's more famous films.

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 22 January 2016]

The army setting for "Let's Face It" appears to have been used simply because the play and film came out during WWII and it was appealing patriotism. However, this really didn't work well simply because this is NOT a military comedy. Although Bob Hope stars in the film and there are a few wartime references and a submarine near the end, this is no "Caught in the Draft" but a film which has almost nothing to do with the war. Because of this, the overall film seems very strange and Hope and his fellow soldiers seem out of place. This reminds me of most Hollywood college films--where you never see the students attending a single class!! Here, you'd never know a war is on and the three soldiers in the film seem about as menacing as three potatoes.

The story involves three older women who want to cheat on their husbands with three soldiers. And, at the same time, the husbands want to cheat on their wives. When both sides discover what the other is doing, they seek to make their partners jealous and pretend to be having a wonderful time with their gigolo army boyfriends or three young girls. None of this is particularly funny and it's punctuated by an occasional song by Betty Hutton. There are some lesser plots...most of which just aren't funny (such as sneaking food to women at a 'fat farm' and some accompanying fat jokes). I would certainly put this among Hope's lesser films and I can see why it's one of his less famous films. Plus it isn't so much a Hope film as one in which they put Hope in the lead. It just seems very inconsequential and at best a time-passer.