In "They Got Me Covered," Robert is lecherous, cowardly, boastful, screw-whacky, and undoubtedly the worst reporter that ever pounded Dorothy Lamour's typewriter. He had special tips on Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Quisling--but forget to cable "Amalgamated Press" about it because he was snooping for bigger news. When the picture opens, Germany has just invaded Russia, and Hope is the only loreign correspondent who missed the scoop. He sent back work that it was all a nasty rumor. Amalgamated recalls him; fires him; and he spends the remaining reels exposing a nest of Gestapo agents in our nation's capital, strictly in spite of himself.

But it isn't the action that makes "They Got Me Covered" a five-star, on-the-nose, A-1 priority laff fest. Give me Groucho Marx for slapstick and Charlie Chaplin for pantomine. No, Hope is best when he is talking. He has a microphone personality and a master-of-ceremonies approach. Unlike your fat-and-thin combos (Abbot & Costello, Laurel & Hardy, Maxwell & Winchell), with Hope the ceremonies themselves don't seem to matter. Nobody cares what this quipping correspondent is doing; they just want to hear what he has to say about the situation. And from this point of view, "They Got Me Covered" has two advantages over previous Hope vehicles: Miss Lamour is content to be infrequent and supporting; and there is no Bing Crosby (lovable though he may be) to take up precious feet of fun.

"The Black Swan"

At the Paramount-Fenway

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"Yankee Doodle Dandy"

At the Metropolitan

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"Random Harvest"

At Loew's State-Orpheum

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"Gentleman Jim"

At the U.T.

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