Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number!

Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number!
June 8, 1966
United Artists
Comedy
VHS
C+

This time around Bob isn't so much worried about his children's potential sex lives (since they're younger than Tuesday was in I'll Take Sweden, and they're more interested in onscreen than real-life sexiness).  Instead, Phyllis Diller, as Hope's wacky maid, is worried about Bob's possible adultery with Elke Sommer as a French [sic] bathing beauty.  Diller of course steals most of the scenes she's in, especially when she's rocking out in the kitchen to a song that has lyrics like "Murder me with kisses," or tearing down the (allegedly rural Oregonian) roadway on her motorcycle.  Hope actually has more scenes with her, due to the plot twists, than he does with his wife, played by Marjorie Lord in a towering bouffant that has dated far worse than Phyllis's sort of proto-new-wave egg-beatered look.  Speaking of being dated, if you ever wanted to hear Bob Hope say, "I've got more fuzz on my tail than a French poodle," this is the film for you.  I'd go with a B-, like I'll Take Sweden, but I don't like the way that Sommer is treated onscreen.  Yes, her character is immature, but she does go through mistreatment, from getting exploited and lied to by her fiance/director (Cesare Danova) to getting locked in a spider-filled cellar, and we're just supposed to laugh and think she deserves it.

Joyce Jameson, who as the telephone operator is sort of responsible for the title situation, was "The Blonde" in The Apartment.  (I think the one who sounded like Marilyn Monroe.)  Arthur Tovey, who had a bit part in Dear Brigitte, is an onlooker at the soap factory and would work his way up to Hotel Guest in The Graduate.  Norman Leavitt, who's Titus Zeale, Gas Station Proprietor, would be Herbert the Ice Cream Vendor in The Swinger.  Keith Taylor, who plays Plympton, would be Henry in The Perils of Pauline (1967).



This completes the first 100 of my movies I've reviewed.  The breakdown on grades is 1 A, 3 A-s, 9 B+s, 12 B's, 26 B-s, 29 C+s, 10 C's, 8 C-s, 1 D+, and 1 D-.  Given my tastes, Comedy is the most popular of the overlapping genres, 82%.  Groucho Marx has more appearances than anyone, 14, and he's not quite finished.  Paramount is the most popular studio, with 18% of the movies, although this is less the case for the '50s and '60s than for earlier.