The Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell

Most of Bob Hopes best films were made in the 1930s and 40s. Many of his later movies, to put it charitably, looked like he was just going through the motions...at best. Because of this, I had pretty low expectations of this film when I sat down to watch it...especially since he is 65 and is playing a sergeant! Were my instincts right? Read on...

Sgt. O'Farrell is stationed on a small, out of the way island in the Pacific during WWII. While they don't see any action, they don't see much of anything else, as their supplies have been cut off and they are desperate for some female companionship. Suddenly, a transport plane makes it through and their wish is granted...of sorts. The 'woman' is Nurse Krause...and she's played by Phyllis Diller! As for the rest of the nurses...they're all guys! Inexplicably, Gina Lollobrigida just happens to be there. And, soon beer cans from a sunken supply ship start washing ashore...and suddenly morale improves tremendously. But the Sergeant needs to keep a secret....his partner who is helping him retrieve all the beer is a Japanese soldier (Mako) who has little interest in the war.

So does all this sound very funny? No. And that's the problem. You would expect a Bob Hope film to be a comedy but barely anything even comes close to making you laugh and the biggest jokes(???) are about how ugly Diller is...and that really isn't particularly funny. As a comedy, it stinks...and as a war picture, it's not much either due to the strange plot, overuse of bad stock footage and an almost complete lack of anything exciting. A dud...but amazingly NOT among Hope's very worst films of the era, as he managed to be even more unfunny in films such as "How to Commit Marriage" (1969)....a film about as funny as Ebola.

I own this movie and I really did not think that it would be all that great. But I was pleasantly surprised. It's GREAT and Bob Hope and Phyllis Diller work great together. I highly recommend it. I love the two of them together. I have to say that I consider Bob Hope to be in the top 10 of funniest comedians.

By the time Bob Hope got to making The Private Navy of Sgt O'Farrell the comedy well was running a bit dry. Thiw was material that he could have done 20 years before, during the post World War II period.

Somebody must have gotten an idea for this film noticing that in McHale's Navy, Ernest Borgnine, Tim Conway and the gang had their own personal Japanese prisoner. So a whole film was built around a leftover Japanese soldier on the backwater island that Hope is stationed on. Hope has his own Ensign Parker in Jeffrey Hunter and his own Captain Binghamton in John Myhers.

We've got both Army and Navy personnel here though the Navy seems to be in charge. John Myhers is no Joe Flynn with that officious monotone as Captain Binghamton. And no one would ever say that Jeffrey Hunter had Tim Conway's gift for comedy.

And Hope looks every bit of the 65 years he had under his belt when this film was made. He ought to have been stateside collecting those first Social Security checks issued.

Mako does well as Calvin Coolidge Ishimura an American Japanese who had the misfortune to be visiting relatives in the old country at the time of Pearl Harbor. And Phyllis Diller as the man starved nurse Krauss earns a few laughs.

The film is about Hope's pursuit of a sunken supply ship that was loaded with beer. From what I remember of the army it probably would have been near beer which was all an enlisted man could get on Fort Polk, so I didn't see what the fuss was about. Frank Tashlin the director clearly ripped this one off from the classic British comedy Whiskey Galore.

Joke kind of fell flat as the beer probably was.

I should start by affirming that I am NOT a fan of Bob Hope. He may have been one of the most admired comedians for years, but my parents' generation knew Hope as the old-school yakker taking Playboy Bunnies to Vietnam - so that he could cheer on the war, mind you - and he was practically forgotten by the time my generation became aware of entertainment (I might add that in the '80s, Hope disgustingly made jokes about AIDS-afflicted people). I'd wager that a lot my generation learned of him through a "Simpsons" episode where Homer watches footage of Bob Hope and Phyllis Diller acting like a caricature of hippies.

So it's inevitable that "The Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell" is one of the cringiest movies that I've ever sat through. This stillbirth was obviously made for the older generation, as no one taking an interest in Hollywood's newer, edgier output would've subjected themselves to this. To be certain, I suspect that the most recognizable cast member to my generation is Dick Sargent, best known as the second Darrin on "Bewitched".

In conclusion, Frank Tashlin directed far better stuff in earlier years (he did a number of Looney Tunes cartoons, and then did some Jerry Lewis movies). I'd rather have my fingernails pulled out than watch this again.

"The Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell" is a solid 1960's comedy. This may be my favorite Bob Hope movie. It's a very funny movie. The jokes are great. The story is a great comedy plot. The supporting cast is very strong. All around "The Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell" is a great way to spend 90 minutes. It's a lot of fun. Honorable Mention: a very dreamy Gina Lollobrigida.