Caught in the Draft (1941)

Sorry, this movie sucks

So much average

hyped garbage

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

The U.S. wasn't at war yet when this film came out on July 4, 1941. But, the war in Europe had begun nearly two years earlier when Germany invaded Poland (September 1939). America soon began providing aid to England and it was only a matter of time before the U.S. would enter the fighting. Of course, no one knew how that would happen when in just five months the Japanese would bomb Pearl Harbor. So, what's this history got to do with "Caught in the Draft?" This film, and others like it were being made in Hollywood in anticipation of America's entry into the war. This is one of a handful of films that treated induction and enlistment in the Armed Forces with humor. Just six months earlier, Abbott and Costello's "Buck Privates" debuted. It poked fun at some of the training and Army life in boot camp, with Lou as a hilarious misfit. Others of theirs would follow with the boys in the Navy and the Army Air Corps (which would become the U.S. Air Force after WWII). This film with Bob Hope is an unusual comedy piece for him. Hope's trademark comedy developed around dialog and funny scenes. But here, he shows some zaniness of antics not unlike those of the Marx Brothers, or even the Three Stooges. Bob is not the bumbling fool or inept soldier that Costello and others portrayed. He has a head on his shoulders, and is cunning with an eye on the Colonel's daughter. Dorothy Lamour plays Tony Fairbanks, daughter of Col. Peter Fairbanks, played by Clarence Kolb. But Hope's Don Bolton has a couple of buddies whose miscues often wind him up in trouble. Lynne Overman plays Steve Riggs and Eddie Bracken plays Bert Sparks. Bolton goes through a series of situations and encounters that have funny mishap results. Aside from the KP duty and GIs standing watch, this film has little else that could be considered realistic about boot camp, training or the Army – even way back then. The incongruous things are part of what makes this film so funny. Bolton enters basic training and is able to get leave or take time to visit the Colonel's daughter on post. He becomes a driver in boot camp. He drives a tank in some very hilarious scenes. And he even goes up in an airplane to train for the new parachutist units. All of this is far-reached. No Army base had all of those types of units, nor did boot camp ever expose men to those fields. The American parachute forces were just being formed for training in the summer of 1941 at Ft. Benning, GA. But these various types of Army units and training for them are the basis of a wacky plot that is filled with humor. No doubt this and similar films helped prepare the public, and many men, for military service. And, the light and funny treatment of military training may have helped ease tensions and the apprehensions the public otherwise may have had about preparing for war. But today, many decades later, we can look at dated films like this and appreciate them for the time and culture they represented. And, we should also enjoy the comedy. It's a type that never becomes outdated. I enjoy this film more than any of the seven "Road" films that Hope and Bing Crosby made together, beginning in 1940 and into 1962. This is a nice look at Bob Hope's early film comedy that was refreshing and original, before the Road movies and other later films used the technique of the actors talking to the audience at times. I think modern audiences today should enjoy this film, and the kids should get a kick out of some of the funny antics.

The year prior to the American declaration of war saw preparation with a draft and even movie stars were not excluded from being forced to enlist. For romantic movie idol Bob Hope, military service is the last thing on his mind, and in order to avoid the draft, he tries all sorts of maneuvers to keep out. But when colonel's daughter Dorothy Lamour encounters him, romance brings on patriotism and the results would make Hirohito laugh!Insincerity as a recruit gets him into all sorts of funny antics as the American army becomes his worst enemy as they strive to make him into a soldier. Joining in on Hope's antics is rising funny man Eddie Bracken as Hope's agent. Veteran character actor Clarence Kolb offers droll straight man slow burns as Lamour's pop. One of the potential recruits reminded me of a heavy set version of Red Skeleton. This was one of several comedies about funny men in boot camp, the most popular being Abbott and Costello's "Buck Privates".I'm surprised by some of the comedy here which the Hays code seems to have missed. In one sequence where Hope sees Lamour for the first time in a bathing suit, he squeezes his hot dog so hard that the wiener actually shoots out of the bun! Most of Hope's comedy is of the cowardly and verbal kind but when the visual takes over, make sure you aren't drinking a beverage at that time. Ironically, in one scene where Hope goes through a batch of unseen pictures, he comes across one which he identifies as Lucille the vivacious redhead. This was two years before the famous red-headed Lucille had changed her hair color! Within a year, Hope would be preparing for his own stint in the service, traveling the world to entertain the real troops!

Caught in the Draft finds Bob Hope as an egotistical movie star who may be subject to the draft so he's going to do the unthinkable, get married and get a deferment. But you'd think the last person he'd try that with is a daughter from a military family. Yet Hope pursues Dorothy Lamour in his usual wolfish Hope way, but the net result is he winds up still single and actually enlisting in the army when a Sting like con game backfires on him. But I will say Hope has loyal friends, his agent Lynne Overman and general factotum Eddie Bracken also enlist. To say they don't exactly have the makings of Audie Murphy is to put it mildly. Still what they won't do for a pal. I know I didn't have friends like that back in the day.Caught in the Draft has the usual run of service comedy situations and Hope while not as hopeless a soldier as Lou Costello, still he gets his usual laughs. It's a dated film in the sense we haven't had a draft in this country for almost 40 years, but I still think audiences can appreciate it today.Look for good supporting performances by Clarence Kolb as Lamour's father and Hope's commanding officer and Paul Hurst as the eternal tough training sergeant.

Although very well written, I think the previous review of this relatively early Bob Hope picture is a little harsh. Perhaps it is written from a professional viewpoint.As an ordinary punter that happens to be a Bob Hope fan, there are more than enough good quips and comical situations here to keep me chuckling throughout.I would class this as a picture that is simply meant to be enjoyed, rather than dissected and analysed in intimate detail. In fact, good "old-fashioned" entertainment that will provide more than a fair share of laughs on a winter's afternoon.