Son of Paleface [Import]

Quite seriously (in a manner of speaking!) this is the best of all of Bob Hope's movies. Although the Road To.. films are classics and will forever feature in the Comedy Hall of Fame, this little-known gem is a real riot! This probably comes closest to Road to Utopia in terms of zaniness.
A sequel-of-sorts to the hugely inferior The Paleface, this movie lays it's cards on the table from the very beginning as we are introduced to the titular 'hero' through a very witty narration ("This girl has just the kind of lips I like to kiss - one on top and one on the bottom") that includes the almost obligatory Bing Crosby cameo. Following this is a few minutes of plot development (and, strangely, this film has more plot than most straight westerns) before Junior Potter (Hope) bursts into town. Great one-liners abound ("I'm an innocent man and if you have any justice in you, you'll accept my bribe") but the real beauty of the film is the surreal, almost cartoon-like direction. Of course the direction has every right to be cartoon-like - it's directed by Frank Tashlin who started in Hollywood directing Porky Pig! Wild action includes Hope's reaction to a Micky Finn, Hope's attempts to blend in with his cowboy costume, Hope and Trigger sharing a bed and talk (tastefully done!) and a crazy chase finale involving banana skins!
Supporting players Jane Russell, Roy Rogers and, of course, Trigger do extremely well in the shadow of Hope who pulls out all of the stops for a career-best performance. The songs, including Buttons and Bows with a twist, are great and the script, apart from the few straight seems which are kept to a minimum, compares well with the Marx Brothers at their best.
Don't believe me - watch it and see for yourself!

Paramount Pictures presents "SON OF PALEFACE" (1952) (95 min/Color) -- Starring Bob Hope, Jane Russell, Roy Rogers, Bill Williams, Lloyd Corrigan & `Trigger'

Directed by Frank Tashlin

A sequel to Bob Hope's 1948 box-office success The Paleface, 1952's Son of Paleface is a superior product in every way, thanks largely to the spirited, creative direction of Frank Tashlin.

Peter `Junior' Potter (Bob Hope) is a Harvard-educated dude who heads West to claim the inheritance left him by his gunslinger father. Much to his chagrin, Junior discovers that his dad has left him nothing but debts. To stave off Potter Sr.'s angry creditors, Junior pretends that his father has salted away a fortune somewhere in the hills. This arouses the attention of curvaceous saloon owner Mike Delroy (Jane Russell), who doubles as a mysterious masked bandit known as The Torch. Meanwhile, federal agent Roy Barton (Roy Rogers) keeps tabs on Junior, hoping that he'll lead him to The Torch and her gang. True to form, ex-cartoonist Tashlin fills the screen with a wealth of inventive sight gags and inside jokes.

Hope & Russell get to reprise of The Paleface's Oscar-winning "Buttons and Bows," this time performed with the help of Roy Rogers.

Best scenes in Son of Paleface involve the smartest horse in the west, Trigger, constantly outsmarting Hope

A side splitting film. Bob Hope's wisecracking persona and writer-director Frank Tashlin's cartoon-like gags make a perfect blend. And anyone who enjoys Jane Russell has to check out her opening shot in the movie, in which the camera pans up her gorgeous legs while the band plays on, with Hope and Rogers looking on.

Oscar nominated for Best Song ("Am I in Love")

BIOS:
1. Frank Tashlin (aka: Francis Fredrick von Taschlein] (Director)
Date of Birth: 19 February 1913, Weehawken, New Jersey, USA
Date of Death: 5 May 1972 - Unknown

2. Bob Hope (aka: Leslie Townes Hope)
Date of Birth: 29 May 1903 - Eltham, London, England, UK
Date of Death: 27 July 2003 - Toluca Lake, California

3. Jane Russell (aka: Ernestine Jane Geraldine Russell)
Date of birth: 21 June 1921 - Bemidji, Minnesota
Date of Death: 28 February 2011 - Santa Maria, California

4. Roy Rogers [aka: Leonard Franklin Slye]
Date of Birth: 5 November 1911 - Cincinnati, Ohio
Date of Death: 6 July 1998 - Apple Valley, California

5. Trigger (the Smartest Horse in the Movies)
Date of Birth: 1932
Date of Death: 3 July 1965

Mr. Jim's Ratings:
Quality of Picture & Sound: 5 Stars
Performance: 5 Stars
Story & Screenplay: 5 Stars
Overall: 5 Stars [Original Music, Cinematography & Film Editing]

Total Time: 95 min on DVD/VHS ~ Paramount Pictures ~ (November 21, 2000)

SON OF PALEFACE is a sequel, of sorts, to Bob Hope's 1948 hit PALEFACE. It reunites Hope with Jane Russell (Calamity Jane in the previous movie, Mike 'The Torch' Delroy in this one.) Singing cowboy Roy Rogers rounds out the lead roster as Federal Agent Roy Barton.
Hope plays Peter 'Junior' Potter Jr., a recent Harvard grad who travels west to claim his inheritance. Russell plays a masked bandit and Rogers the Fed investigating a series of stagecoach holdups. There's a search for a cache of gold hidden by Junior's father but beyond that the plot doesn't get in the way much at all. If it did, you'd wonder how the masked Torch is able to keep her identity a secret. Yeah, she's wearing a mask, but the hip-hugging jeans and tight blouse she wears when a-robbing make it kind of obvious who it is under the mask.
Not that it matters much. The plot is just thick enough, thank you. Russell and Rogers play it straight and provide Hope with strong foils to play against. By 1952, when SON OF PALEFACE was made, Bob Hope had the blustering coward schtick down cold. Teamed here was director and former Warner Brothers animator Frank Tashlin things get a little wacky. Non sequiturs, snappy one-liners and mugging close-ups are the rule here. Tashlin throws in some very cartoon-y gags, as well. Hope drinks an impossibly tall drink in a bar. After a moment the pipe he's smoking straightens out and spits fire. The H on his Harvard shirt curls. The pipe curls and his nose is caught in the bowl. Smoke hisses out of Hope's ears. His head spins rapidly, then his body. His head sinks into his coat and his hat covers the neck hole. Russell lifts the hat and peeks in....
You get the idea. It's all good family fun with just a scene or two that might zoom past the uninitiated. For instance, when Hope drives his roadster across the desert two vultures perch on the rumble seat. At one point Hope turns on them and says "Hey! Martin and Lewis! Beat it!" Fortunately, the visual and verbal gags come at such a rapid-fire rate we aren't forced to mull over such mysterious references. Before we're given a chance to think about it Hope has driven through an ice-rink desert mirage and the vultures have changed into penguins.
SON OF PALEFACE is one of those rare movies that will appeal to almost everybody and offend almost nobody.