Movie review of The Princess and the Pirate, one of Bob Hope’s funniest and most popular movies. The cowardly, inept Sylvester the Great (Bob Hope) gets embroiled in rescuing the beautiful Princess in disguise (Virginia Mayo). It’s hilariously funny!
The Princess and the Pirate (1944) starring Bob Hope, Virginia Mayo, Walter Slezak, Walter Brennan, Victor McLaglen
Bob Hope is at his best in The Princess and the Pirate. He plays the part of Sylvester the Great, an inept performer who’s on his way to his next disastrous performance. One of my favorite memories of the movie occurs early in the movie where Sylvester is showing some of his press clippings to the Princess Margaret (Virginia Mayo) who’s traveling in disguise. She reads them and quotes from one, “Stinko?” Bob Hope quickly snatches the clippings back and retorts, “That means ‘great’ in Russian!”
The basic story …
The basic plot has Princess Margaret running away from her forced marriage, traveling in disguise, where she runs into Sylvester. Pirates attack, and the head of the pirates knows who the Princess is. He plans to ransom her for a fortune. Her only hope is the inept Sylvester, giving Bob Hope plenty of opportunities to show off his comic abilities. And, he doesn’t disappoint.
Cowardly Bob Hope at his best
He pretends to be a gypsy soothsayer (since the pirates are killing all of the men on board the ship). He has a treasure map tattooed on his chest by the nearly-mad Walter Brennan. And he gets into and out of hot water on a regular basis. For instance, at one point Bob Hope and Virginia Mayo make it to an inhabited island. Only to have Bob Hope witness a murder within moments of being on the island. He quickly finds a lawman, and reports what he’s seen. To have the man tell him, “That’s all right, citizen, he has a permit.” Bob Hope then does a wonderful take, “He has a permit?” Bob Hope excels here at his trademark cowardly everyman character, and the movie is a delight from beginning to end. I highly recommend it.
Product Description of The Princess and the Pirate starring Bob Hope, Virginia Mayo
The legendary Bob Hope takes to the high seas in this hilarious, Oscar (r)-nominated* romantic comedy co-starring Virginia Mayo, Walter Slezak, Walter Brennan and Victor McLaglen! Sylvester the Great (Hope) is a 17th-century entertainer with an act so atrocious, he’s exiled from England. Aboard a ship bound for America, he finds himself falling for the beautiful Princess Margaret(Mayo), a woman uninterested in love not to mention his lousy one-liners. But when an evil band of pirates attacks the ship and captures the princess, her only hope is the cowardly comedian. Can Sylvester stop cracking jokes and muster the courage to rescue his royal love? In other words, will he and Margaret end up walking down the aisle or walking the plank? *1944
Cast of characters
- Bob Hope (The Ghost Breakers) … Sylvester the Great
- Virginia Mayo (A Song is Born) … Princess Margaret
- Walter Brennan (Sergeant York) … Featherhead
- Walter Slezak (The Pirate) … Governor La Roche
- Victor McLaglen (The Quiet Man [John Wayne]) … The Hook
- Marc Lawrence (Life with Blondie) … Pedro
- Hugo Haas … Proprietor ‘Bucket of Blood’
- Maude Eburne (The Vampire Bat) … Boar’s Head Inn Proprietess
- Adia Kuznetzoff … Don José
- Brandon Hurst … Mr. Pelly
- Tom Kennedy … Alonzo
- Stanley Andrews … Captain ‘Mary Ann’
- Robert Warwick (In a Lonely Place) … The King
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