Let’s Face It (1943)

Directed by Sidney Lanfield and released on August 5, 1943, Let’s Face It is an American musical comedy produced and distributed by Paramount Pictures. Adapted from the 1941 Broadway stage hit by Dorothy and Herbert Fields with music by Cole Porter, the film stars Bob Hope, Betty Hutton, ZaSu Pitts, and Eve Arden, and serves as a quintessential wartime morale-booster tailored specifically for its leading man’s comedic persona.

Plot Overview

When three wealthy women—Cornelia (ZaSu Pitts), Maggie (Eve Arden), and Nancy (Phyllis Povah)—suspect their husbands of infidelity during a so-called “fishing trip,” they decide to exact revenge. They scheme to hire three young G.I.s from nearby Camp Arthur to act as their dates for a weekend at Cornelia’s vacation home, hoping to make their husbands intensely jealous.

Enter resourceful but trouble-prone Army private Jerry Walker (Bob Hope), who desperately needs $300 to pay off debts after crashing a jeep. He agrees to the women’s proposal and ropes his reluctant army buddies Barney (Dave Willock) and Frankie (Cully Richards) into the gig. However, Jerry’s energetic fiancée, Winnie Porter (Betty Hutton), who runs a local weight-loss camp, catches wind of his suspicious “special assignment.”

Winnie and the other soldiers’ girlfriends trail the men to the vacation house, leading to a frantic collision of cheating husbands, vengeful wives, and panicked soldiers. The escalating screwball chaos eventually culminates in a wild chase and a bizarre, highly patriotic encounter with a surfacing German U-boat.

Cast

• Bob Hope as Jerry Walker
• Betty Hutton as Winnie Porter
• ZaSu Pitts as Cornelia Figeson
• Eve Arden as Maggie Watson
• Phyllis Povah as Nancy Collister
• Dave Willock, Cully Richards, and Raymond Walburn in supporting roles

Production Notes & Trivia

• The original 1941 Broadway production starred Danny Kaye in the lead role, which helped launch him to stardom; Bob Hope stepped in for the film version, bringing his own signature wise-cracking, cowardly persona to the character
• Eve Arden was one of the few cast members to reprise her role from the original Broadway run
• Although based on a Cole Porter musical, Hollywood drastically altered the material, cutting most of Porter’s original songs to refocus the film as a rapid-fire comedy vehicle for Hope and Hutton
• The pairing of Bob Hope and Betty Hutton—often dubbed the “Blonde Bombshell”—created a highly kinetic on-screen dynamic, matching his verbal quips with her explosive physical comedy
• The film’s absurd climax featuring a German U-boat was a common trope in Hollywood wartime comedies, used to mock the Axis powers and provide a bumbling but victorious moment for the heroes