Scarcely A Trace Of Wit.
Not even Bob Hope, escorted by a raft of fine character actors, can save this poorly written attempt at wartime comedy, as his patented timing has little which which to work. The plot involves a Hollywood film star named Don Bolton (Hope), and his attempt to evade military service at the beginning of World War II, followed by his enlistment by mistake in a confused attempt to court a colonel's daughter (Dorothy Lamour). Bolton's agent, played by Lynne Overman, and his assistant, portrayed by Eddie Bracken, enlist with him and the three are involved in various escapades regarding training exercises, filmed in the Malibu, California, hills. Paramount budgeted handsomely for this effort, employing some of its top specialists, but direction by the usually reliable David Butler was flaccid, and this must be attributed to a missing comedic element in the scenario. A shift toward the end of the film to create an opportunity for heroism by Bolton is still-born with poor stunt work and camera action in evidence. Oddly, Lynne Overman is given the best lines and this veteran master of the sneer does very well by them. Dorothy Lamour looks lovely and acts nicely, as well, and it is ever a delight to see and hear Clarence Kolb, as her father, whose voice is unique on screen or radio, but there is little they can do to save this film, cursed as it is with an error in script assignment.

+1/2 Lightweight pre-war military comedy
Eddie Bracken and Dorothy Lamour star, respectively, as Bob Hope's comedic and romantic foils in this lightweight military comedy. Bob plays Don Bolton, a pampered, smartaleck-y movie star who latches onto marrying Lamour as a way to to avoid the draft ("I'm not a coward," he says, "I'm just allergic to bullets.") The trouble is his would-be wife is also the daughter of a bristly old-school Army Colonel, and she shares daddy's distaste for shirkers. Their love-hate relationship slowly tilts towards love, and eventually he proves himself worthy of her hand. The sketch-oriented script has episodic laughs, but is pretty predictable and sluggish: it might have been funnier at a time when universal conscription was becoming a reality, and civilian America was ramping up to meet a total war economy. In that regard, it's an interesting cultural relic.

Pleasing wartime Bob Hope effort
"Caught In The Draft" is an amusing film not well known today and certainly it is not one of Bob Hope's more frequently seen films. I believe the reason for this was that it was definately a product of its time, as America was preparing to move into the Second World War and was just feeling its way about such issues as conscription and compulsory training of soldiers.

Adapted as a vechicle for Bob Hope's very unique style of comedy acting it is a pleasant and at times very amusing film. While not up there in my opinion with such Hope classics as "The Cat And The Canary", "The Ghost Breakers" or "My Favourite Blonde" it is still an amusing way to pass an hour and a half. Bob Hope was one of Paramount's biggest stars in 1941 when "Caught In The Draft" was filmed. In his solo comedies and in his memorable work as a team with Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour in the "Road" films he had become an icon for American comedy. In this outing he is joined as his leading lady by Dorothy Lamour and the two, despite Lamour's limitations both with her role here, and her acting in general, have a real screen chemistry that plays very well.

Bob Hope plays Hollywood movie star and big shot Don Bolton an actor who definately believes his own publicity and who wants to avoid the draft for army service at any cost since it will interfer with his career and his endless womanising. Falling for Lamour playing an army colonel's daughter he seeks to impress her by pretending to enlist in the army only to find that through a chain of circumstances he has indeed actually enlisted in the toughest regiment there is!! What develops then is an amusing series of incidents as Hope adjusts to life in the army and finds himself constantly getting into trouble much to the chargin of Colonel Fairbanks, just the man he needs to impress as he is the father of his love interest Antoinette "Tony" (Dorothy Lamour). His mishaps involve, attempting to parachute out of a plane without his parachute attached properly, gun practice even though he is mortally afraid of even the sound of a gun going off, attempting to drive a tank across terrain without being able to see where he is going (the most hilarious sequence in the film by far!) which results in him crashing into the Colonel's vechicle. Among the most memorable scenes is when Bob is pulled in to doing guard juty when he is dressed only in his underwear under his coat. What develops is a very funny sequence of events as Bob's two buddies Steve and Burt (Lynne Overman and Eddie Bracken in stand out performances)try to get his clothes to him under the eye of Colonel Fairbanks who is visiting the hospital at that moment. It contains some of Hope's most hilarious work as he ducks out windows, jumps into beds and receives the unwelcome attentions of a concerned nurse armed with a castor oil bottle.

While not his best work "Caught In The Draft" shows Bob Hope in his familiar guise of the loveable coward right at the time his illustrious career was at a peak. It's an enjoyable farce and and even though it's Hope's vechicle all the way, Dorothy Lamour given the limited role she has to work with, makes the most of it and the superb Edith Head fashions she wears are superb and most flattering and go a long way to explaining why Lamour was considered one of the most beautiful women in Hollywood in the early 1940's. Enjoy this story set in a period which is now part of our history.

Hilarious!
This is one of Bob Hope's least known and least appreciated films, but it's a gem. Bob gives his patented "dumb, naive" characterization, and it will have you in stitches. The scene where Hope tries to drive a tank while his sight is obstructed will have you on the floor laughing hysterically.

If you are a fan of Bob Hope, movies of the World War II era, and if you just like to be entertained, this movie is for you.