There is something about Bob Hope that inherently makes me want to laugh at whatever he is about to say or do, though few movies seemed to use him to his full potential. Such is the case with 1952’s Off Limits, a film funnier than I expected to find a Hope picture of which I was previously unaware, yet not as funny as it thinks it is.
Something off-kilter is indicated right at the start of the opening credits, when we see the film titled as Military Policemen. Now there is a title that doesn’t suggest much hilarity ahead. And Hope is paired not with Bing Crosby, his best screen foil, but Mickey Rooney.
I find it telling these two only appeared together in this movie, yet they work together better than I thought possible. I wouldn’t go so far as saying they have any real chemistry, but they at least accommodate each other, and each other’s style, on the screen.
They will be working together as M.P.’s after Hope enlisted. He had only done so on the insistence of gangsters Marvin Miller and Richard Weil, who inform him: “You’re going to be a good, healthy soldier or a badly damaged civilian” And they were so insistent because Stanley Clements, a boxer in which they have a serious financial commitment, has just been drafted. Hope, as the fighter’s manager, is the man they think can best keep an eye on him in the service. The twist is Clements is rejected after it is determined he is schizophrenic and unstable. I don’t think anybody would have to be a psychiatrist to come to the same conclusion, given how Clements destroys a hotel room after a big match. And that was when he won. Imagine what he would have done if he had lost.
So, the boxer is now free while Hope has to do his stint. Bitter about being in the service and losing his fighter, an opportunity arises in the form of Rooney. When I say arises, it doesn’t rise too far, given the man’s stature. But he apparently is the material of which a new boxing champion might be made. That the film’s climax pits him against Clements in the ring should come as a surprise to absolutely nobody.
One impediment on the road to success is Marilyn Maxwell. She’s Rooney’s aunt, a nightclub singer who despises prizefighting. Another non-surprise is she will be the love interest for Hope. As if that doesn’t stretch credulity enough, the first scene in the movie has Hope being pursued by at least six beautiful women who are all desperate to marry him. It is hard to tell whether any of this is supposed to be funny or if they really are supposed to be gaga about this middle-aged man.
And about his age: you will need to completely suspend disbelief the armed forces would accept into its ranks a man of his age. Some other considerations are Rooney’s age, as the actor was clearly over 30 at this point, but they film seems to try passing him off as being in his early 20’s. At least, it is implied there is a greater age disparity between he and Maxwell, though she was one year younger than him in real life.
Of Maxwell, my wife commented how interesting it was to see an age-appropriate love interest for Hope. While there is obviously a wide gap in their ages, she does have the bearing of an older and more-established woman. And I wouldn’t go so far to say her character is liberated, but she is more forthright than such roles in many similar pictures of the time.
She is especially a strong force in a brawl Hope tries to break up in the nightclub where she performs. What starts like a scene from 1941 quickly escalates into a free-for-all where I swear some of the extras swarming the background are genuinely laying into each other. There is a brief silence when Hope demands to know who started it, and Maxwell hits him over the head with a bottle, screaming, “I DID!” Then the melee picks up right where it left off.
Other women don’t fare as well here, with the exception of a female MP who disarms Hope’s would-be lothario with a surprise Judo throw. But then there’s a buxom soldier Hope and Rooney make stand to attention and the buttons of the jacket pockets right over her breasts shoot off. It is times like that I find myself embarrassed to be a guy.
The film’s showcase gag is when Hope thinks he’s finally standing up to the gangsters who intimidated him into enlisting. In a wonderfully drawn-out setup, he joyously desecrates what he believes is their car by keying it and smashing the windows. He even takes a bucket of whitewash and continues the curve of the whitewall tires onto the fender skirts. Naturally, this will prove to not be the car he believes it to be, but instead that of a high-ranking military official.
Off Limits is an enjoyable enough piece of fluff which isn’t as bad as I suspected it would be, but which will be of interest only to Hope fans who have tired of the Road series. Overall, it is a fairly bland production, and one where I was quite surprised to see legendary costume designer Edith Head in the credits. Given the overwhelming number of uniforms on screen, I would have been amused to see the credit amended to “Edith Head…and the military”.
Dir: George Marshall
Starring Bob Hope, Mickey Rooney, Marilyn Maxwell
Watched on Kino Lorber blu-ray