Sun 23 Mar 2014
Archived Movie Review: MY FAVORITE SPY (1942).
Posted by Steve under Films: Comedy/Musicals , Reviews[3] Comments
MY FAVORITE SPY. RKO Radio Pictures, 1942. Kay Kyser, Ellen Drew, Jane Wyman, Robert Armstrong, William Demarest, Harry Babbitt, Ish Kabibble. Director: Tay Garnett.
I don’t have much to say about this movie. Either you like band leader and long-time radio star Kay Kyser in the role of a movie hero, or you don’t. His overripe meekness and exaggerated gestures of astonishment and surprise can wear on you awfully quickly.
He’s no Pee Wee Herman, though. I think of him as an early Woody Allen type, southern style. Utterly cornball, in other words, but still funny.
His orchestra plays only a minor role in this one, as Kay is asked by the army to help unroot some spies working out of the night club where he and his band are playing, The only problem is that he’s not able to tell his wife what he’s doing, and their honeymoon is constantly being interrupted. You can see what this means, and you can take it from there.
March 23rd, 2014 at 10:44 am
Well, anything with Ellen Drew. As for Kay Kyser, he does require an adjustment, but after that is/ or if, it is done, he becomes a pleasant companion.
March 23rd, 2014 at 12:29 pm
Kyser himself was pleasant enough, but like any performer, he needed good writers to carry him through a movie–which didn’t seem to be the case in YOU’LL FIND OUT.
March 24th, 2014 at 3:31 pm
Kyser made a few fairly good films including this one. Though several band leaders appeared in movies, Kyser is one of the few ever called on to actually act (Cugat had at least one dramatic role in a Dennis O’Keefe film — Chicago Confidential I think). I’m not a huge fan, but the music is usually pleasant and there is usually an attractive girl or two.
This one has a good cast and director Garnett going for it, and I recall it as a pleasant time killer, but nothing else.