Alias Jesse James (Hope Enterprises; United Artists), for moviegoers who have almost given up Hope, is a pleasant surprise: a Bob Hope farce that is actually funny, and sometimes downright hilarious. Comic Hope is cast as "the world's worst insurance agent," a 19th century nincompoop who caps his career by writing a $100,000 insurance policy for a man who avers that he is "well known in railroad and banking circles." Only later does Hope realize that he has insured the life of the nation's No. 1 public enemy: Jesse James (Wendell Corey).
"What do you hope to achieve with such colossal...