Bob Hope – The Ultimate Collection
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: B- Main Programs: B+
Bob Hope’s career is getting lost on a new generation or
two because of misimpressions of his politics (pro-Military at any cost, which
is not the case), old fashioned (not quite), someone who was just liked to be
liked and even unfunny. Bob Hope –
The Ultimate Collection was issued for the Centennial of his birthday (May
29th, 2003) and goes a long way in correcting all those myths. The three DVD set is a surprisingly solid
treasury of his work on the road, television, radio and even early cinematic
work.
DVD One offers the 50 Years Of Laughter special in
two parts, meant for hour-long TV time slots when little of it was reserved for
TV commercials. This was actually made
for his 25th anniversary on TV, which is important because of the
unbelievable array of stars that appeared with him in such a short period of
time. Very often, you want the guest
appearances to play out in full length, but the show just keeps moving on to
more big names and at a pace that was rather rapid for its time. It could even be accused of being MTV-short,
but the idea was to stir up the memories of Hope’s past shows, all of which
were consistently high in the ratings.
This was the kind of compilation event that would be famous on TV
sitcoms when they wanted to reflect on past shows.
DVD Two more compilations, one of which is devoted to his
entertainment service in all the wars he was there for U.S. troops over. It is all originated on film, likely 16mm,
and is edited for impact, showing the soldiers and their participation. Hope was a master showman in all these
cases. He was sometimes criticized by
the time Vietnam became an issue, but did not suffer the kind of rejection Martha
Raye did for wanting to support the troops at any cost. The other hour-long show is a Christmas
compilation that adds clips form many past shows with an all star gathering at
Hope’s house (I guess it is the real one) with then-current stars, especially
on the NBC network at that time. It is
not as sappy as expected and has some good moments even atheists can enjoy!
DVD Three is the strongest here, offering some great
extras and a surprisingly strong, later special compilation of Celebrity
Bloopers that far exceeds the specials of the time that were about bloopers
until it looked liked they were faked into a bad model for reality TV. Showing why he was not just pandering to war
efforts, the monologue at the beginning of this show is as bold, if not bolder,
smarter, wittier, more individualistic, and more mature than just about any
supposedly cutting-edge comic today, especially most of those hosting their own
shows. They could learn plenty from the
master, especially from this show, eh Dennis Miller? The show has more newly-taped footage than expected, meaning Hope
was still insisting on top-quality productions at NBC even this late in the
game, as he knew his name was going on them.
That is what is supposed to become a legend most.
The image is full frame on everything, including the
supplement footage, and is as good looking as this footage is going to get on
DVD. Being how long Hope’s career went
on, you get an amazing mix of film and tape, black & white and color. Some of the footage is kinescoped and all
varies as much a Documentary, which the five main programs more or less
function as, and consider this is only a small sampling of a vast library of
material. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is
just fine for the age of the material, making some of this sound the cleanest
fans will ever hear it, despite Dolby’s compression schemes. Extras are featured only on DVDs 1 & 3,
with 1 offering a brief biography and some stills. All three have exceptional menus that are actually fun, though it
is not easy to forward them. DVD 3 has
two early Two-Reeler short films Hope made for Warner Bros. that helped put him
on the map, Hope himself in what is the newest of all the contributions in the
set does voice-over on more of his USO touring in a Memories of World War II
and there is an outstanding early radio program he did in 1935 when he took
over as host of a terrific music entertainment program called The Intimate
Review. Sponsored by Bromo Seltzer,
the show had the audacity to be classy and feature fine Classical Music works
in between commentary and commercials.
Of all the things on this set, it is ironic that this might be the most
telling about Hope, his personality subtly coming through in all of its future
dynamic glory. Even then, way ahead of
his time, Hope knew how to cut his personality through the medium. Part of it was caring and being witty, while
the other was just the man being himself.
Yes, Bob Hope is a legend for a reason and seeing why has
been lost on at least one generation.
When you hear the term “national treasure” used to refer to a talent,
there is a good reason to have such a term.
Bob Hope – The Ultimate Collection is one of the great arguments
for it.
- Nicholas Sheffo
