The Private Navy of Sgt O’Farrell * (1968, Bob Hope, Gina Lollobrigida, Phyllis Diller, Jeffrey Hunter, Mylène Demongeot) – Classic Movie Review 11,755

Writer-director Frank Tashlin’s 1968 backward-looking, old-fashioned, disappointing comedy The Private Navy of Sgt O’Farrell stars a very promising line-up in Bob Hope, Gina Lollobrigida, Phyllis Diller, Jeffrey Hunter, Mylène Demongeot, Henry Wilcoxon, Mako, John Myhers and Dick Sargent. The tired film lacks energy, wit and sparkle, and the cast are just going through the motions.

Morale at a World War Two South Pacific US Army base reaches rock bottom when a beer shipment is sunk by torpedo, so Sgt Dan O’Farrell (a typically bungling Bob Hope) tries to ship in the pretty nurses, but in comes six males and daffy nurse Nellie Krause (Phyllis Diller) instead.

The two appealing, ideally paired stars had a hit with Eight on the Lam the previous year, but this time are let down by director Tashlin’s wishy-washy, outmoded screenplay, and the other players get that sinking feeling as well.

Gina Lollobrigida as Hope’s old flame Maria, Mylène Demongeot as her niece Gabby, and Jeffrey Hunter, as the lieutenant who understandably captures her heart, all sink after a short struggle with the material they have got. It is Tashlin’s last film as director.

Also in the cast are Christopher Dark, Michael Burns, William Wellman Jr, Robert Donner, Jack Grinnage and William Christopher.

Filming location: Puerto Rico.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,755

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