Nothing But The Truth 1941

[Giacometta Fritchman]

BobHope and Paulette Goddard star in NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH (1941), just released on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber.

NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH is the third film teaming Hope and Goddard. I've previously reviewed Kino Lorber's releases of their movies THE CAT AND THE CANARY (1939) and THE GHOST BREAKERS (1940).

NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH is perhaps the least of the three films, but it still has its moments, and as a Goddard fan I really enjoy seeing her teamed with Hope. She's enormously likeable, simultaneously radiating both intelligence and daffiness; she's the more grounded of the team but at the same time she's silly enough that her attraction to him is believable.

Hope plays Steve Bennett, who's just taken a job at the brokerage firm owned by T.T. Ralston (Edward Arnold).

T.T.'s niece Gwen (Goddard) shows up at the office with $10,000 and tells Steve she needs to double it quickly.

From here it's a bit of a complicated story, but Steve ends up making a bet with T.T., T.T.'s son-in-law Dick (Glenn Anders), and Gwen's would-be suitor Van (Leif Erickson) that he can tell the truth for 24 hours. If he lives up to the bet, the $10,000 will be doubled; if not, he loses it.

Needless to say, it's pretty silly, but hey, it's a Bob Hope movie! The story picks up steam once the cast moves to a yacht, and there are some amusing moments, particularly with Hope and Goddard, who have excellent chemistry. Hope's character is a little more low-key and straightforward than some of his roles, which I appreciated, and as mentioned above I think Goddard is terrific. I wish they had made even more movies together.

Hope and Goddard were reteamed here with their GHOST BUSTERS costar Willie Best, who has some key moments straightening out the crazy goings-on. Some moments with Best may make modern viewers uncomfortable, for reasons which will be obvious, but he was a very talented and funny man whose work I appreciate. Like Goddard, Best was well teamed playing opposite Hope.

The cast also includes Rose Hobart, Grant Mitchell, Helen Vinson, Mary Forbes, Clarence Kolb, and Leon Belasco. Look for Rod Cameron in a bit role as a sailor.

The movie was based on a play by James Montgomery, based on a novel by Frederic S. Isham. Don Hartman and Ken Englund wrote the screenplay of this 90-minute film. The movie was directed by Elliott Nugent and filmed in black and white by Charles Lang.

Kino Lorber's lovely print is from a brand-new 2K master. It has excellent sound.

Kino Lorber's Blu-ray includes a commentary track by Simon Abrams; the trailer; trailers for two additional Hope-Goddard films; and a Kino Lorber promo.

NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH is one of a trio of Hope films released by Kino Lorber this month. The others are CAUGHT IN THE DRAFT (1941), reviewed here, and MY FAVORITE BLONDE (1942), which will be reviewed at a future date.

Thanks to Kino Lorber for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray.

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Vienna, I'm one of the few who isn't a particularly big fan of THE WOMEN -- but Paulette is great in it! She makes every film better.

Caftan Woman, I love that memory you have of when and how you saw the film. Things like that do stick out in the mind over time. I agree, I might not have loved this film but found it worth seeing, chiefly for Paulette.

Best wishes,

Laura

Laura, count me in on not liking THE WOMEN very much, but loving Paulette. I think she is very underrated and I wonder if it's because so many of her movies were comedies? Although often stated as being much harder than drama to play, comedy performers rarely get their due, as if making people laugh were some kind of vulgar, effortless task that has nothing to do with ART. It's a shame that attitude prevails because performers like Hope and Goddard are as unique and engaging and accomplished as anything done by Olivier and Dame Edith Evans!

Nothing but the Truth is a 1941 American comedy film directed by Elliott Nugent and starring Bob Hope, Paulette Goddard and Edward Arnold.[1] [2] It was produced and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It was Hope and Goddard's third movie together in three years..[3][4]

The premise of the film, that the protagonist must tell the truth for the next 24 hours, is based on a play of the same name written by James Montgomery, itself loosely adapted from the 1914 novel Nothing But the Truth by Frederic S. Isham. The book and play had previously formed the basis of a 1929 movie, also called Nothing But the Truth, starring Richard Dix and Wynne Gibson. [5] The 1941 film follows the plot of the play much more closely than the 1929 version. The same premise was used for a 1997 Jim Carrey movie, Liar Liar.

Steve Bennett is a stockbroker in Miami, Florida who has just accepted a position working for a man named T.T. Ralston. He is persuaded by Ralston's beautiful niece, Gwen Saunders, to invest a sum of $10,000 that she needs doubled in 24 hours. Ralston has promised Gwen that if she raises $20,000 he will double it, but has been working behind her back to prevent her from raising the initial funds.

When Steve objects to Ralston's practice of pushing bad stocks onto his clients, he claims that he could get by just as well by telling the truth as by lying. Ralston and his partner Dick Donnelly, along with client Tom van Dusen (Gwen's boyfriend), bet Steve that he can't be completely honest for twenty-four hours straight. Steve bets the $10,000 he got from Gwen. One of the conditions is that no one can reveal the bet to an outsider and it can't be cancelled.

Steve is meticulously watched by the three men during the next twenty-four hours. They are entertaining guests and clients on Ralston's yacht during much of this time, and when Steve is honest with everyone he meets, he manages to insult several of them. In the late evening, an exotic dancer named Linda Graham enters the yacht, looking for Dick, who has promised her backing for her show. Linda meets and talks to Steve, telling him about the show. Mrs. Ralston and another distinguished woman overhear the conversation and mistakenly believes Linda is Steve's wife.

During the night, the partners steal Steve's clothes to prevent him from leaving the ship, but he borrows a dress from Linda. In disguise, Steve sneaks into Gwen's room at her invitation. He tells her that he isn't married to Linda and that he is in love with her.

The next day Steve gets heat from every direction. Gwen finds out that he has been in Linda's room during the night, the ladies sees him as indecent, and Tom because he is in love with Gwen and jealous. On top of this Linda is telling everyone that she is indeed married to Steve and that they have a child together, being in cahoots with Dick to make things harder for Steve.

Close to when the twenty-four hours are up, a man named Mr. Bishop enters the ship. He is the head of the charity organization to which Gwen intended to give the $40,000. Mr. Bishop asks to see the money, and Gwen, who has learned about the bet, tries to keep the man occupied, buying some extra time to help Steve win the bet.

The clocks on the boat have been put forward by the partners, and when they strike four Steve is able to lie to Mr. Bishop about the money. The partners celebrate since they have won the bet, but it turns out Steve's valet had reset the clocks when he noticed they were wrong. Thus, Steve wins the bet and has managed to double Gwen's money after all. He tells everyone on the yacht that he had made a bet that he would lie for the past twenty-four hours, and his honor is restored. Gwen takes a liking to him and awards him a kiss.[6]

Bob Hope, playing Steve Bennett, a new partner in an investment firm, is inveigled into making a $10,000 wager that he can tell the truth, and nothing but the truth, for the next 24 hours. The rest of the movie, given this rather belabored but still promising beginning, is unfortunately about as predictable as (in general) the rest of movies come.

As if this were not enough, a showgirl trying to raise money for her Broadway-bound play is also involved. And of course Bob and Paulette Goddard fall in love, even though she already has a strapping young boy friend, one of the idle rich, and one of the guys who made the bet with Bob.

Arguing with myself on the merits of an old film I saw (and taped) on TV this many years ago is probably futile, but I have a feeling that if I watched again, I might enjoy it a lot more than I did this first time around. Comedy and humor are funny things (and you can quote me on that).

The premise of this film sounds not unlike LIAR, LIAR, where cynical lawyer Jim Carrey falls victim to a curse which prevents him lying for 24 hours. There are only supposed to be 7 plots, and there are obviously even fewer in Hollywood.

I have a multi-region player. The question is to how good the print is. There is an absolutely awful DVD available in the UK of CAT AND THE CANARY, which looks as though someone simply pointed a camera at a television set playing the movie. If the picture and sound quality in THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES is good, then it looks as if this box set could be winging its way towards me in the near future.

Bob Hope stuck in a $20,000 wager that he won't lie for 24 hours. Some of Hope's set-up/punchline schtick is rearranged as he's forced to manically double-talk his way around specific questions. I really liked Bob Hope in this one, but as long as we're being honest... I LOVED Paulette Goddard's midriff, which is the star of the show.

In 1997 Jim Carrey played a man who due to a wish couldn't lie for a day with the expected wacky results, that film was the comedy classic Liar Liar, but over fifty years earlier Bob Hope starred alongside the magnificent Paulette Goddard in a film with very much the same premise, swap out a wish for a bet, and I'll have to say it's a tough call as to which one pulled it off better. in Nothing But the Truth we get Bob Hope's trademark quips and rapid-fire dialogue as he not only tries to win the bet, by telling nothing but the truth for twenty-four hours, but he also attempts to win the heart of Paulette Goddard and the end result is a comedy gem that is a joy to watch, basically, if you liked Liar Liar check out this earlier incarnation as the legendary Bob Hope is, well, legendary.

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