The Paleface   Starring: Bob Hope and Jane Russell Distributor: Fabulous Films / Fremantle Media Enterprises RRP: £12.99 Certificate: U Release Date: 27 April 2015

Out in the territories someone is selling guns to the Indians. Intent on finding out whom, and putting a stop to it, the Governor secretly breaks Calamity Jane out of prison and offers her a clean record for her help. The plan is that she will pretend to be married and as husband and wife she will be lost amongst the other families in the wagon train, but when she arrives at her meeting, she finds the man dead and gunmen on her trail. Improvising on the spot, she hijacks Painless Potter, a correspondence course dentist and his wagon and heads out into the west...

The Paleface (1948. 1 hr 27 min 10 sec) is a comedy directed by Norman Z. McLeod and starring Bob Hope and Jane Russell. The film won the Oscar (1949) for best song ‘Button and Bows’.

There is something endearing about the vaudevillian type of comedy, which relied on prat falls and word play and this film has them in abundance.

Bob Hope is Painless Potter and when we first meet him the irony is not lost on the audience as he proceeds to remove the wrong tooth, whilst at the same time trying to learn on the go from his correspondence course. Although Hope became known for his film roles, he had originally started out in vaudeville and theatre and his comedy continued to demonstrate these roots. His first big break was with Road to Singapore (1940) and this paring with Bing Crosby would last the length of both of their careers.

Jane Russell got her first break thanks to Howard Hughes, staring in The Outlaw (1943), her ample figure scoring an immediate success, she would go on to more notable roles, including playing opposite Marilyn Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953). The Paleface is a good film, but not the best that either performer was capable of.

Calamity Jane is all sass and spit, able to hold her own against the men sent to kill her and you can see why Painless is drawn to her, apart from her voluptuous figure. There is a running joke that every time he tries to kiss her she brains him with a handy implement leading Painless to conclude that she is one hell of a kisser.

When the one fateful day comes that painless has to step up, he fails miserably, with Jane actually gunning down the opposition, but in order for her secret to remain safe she attributes the act of heroism to Painless, who then becomes the man of the hour.

As they make their way across the land the two become closer leading to an almost unbelievable romance developing.

Overall it is a light, winsome comedy, from an age where it was difficult to offend, unless you count the portrayal of the Indian chiefs, played by real Indian chiefs, and they also provide one of the funniest skits in the film.

The print is clean with the original aspect ratio of 4:3 - 1.33:1, with English subtitles for the hard of hearing and whilst it may not reach the heady heights of comedy that the ‘Road’ films did, it will none-the-less be a welcome addition to any Bob Hope fan's collection. The disc contains no extras.

7

Charles Packer