George (Bing Crosby) and Harold (Bob Hope), American song-and-dance men performing in Melbourne, Australia, leave in a hurry to avoid various marriage
proposals. They end up in Darwin, where they
take jobs as pearl divers for a prince. They are taken by boat to an idyllic
island on the way to Bali, Indonesia. They vie for the favours
of exotic (and half-Scottish) Princess Lala (Dorothy Lamour), a cousin of
the Prince (Murvyn Vye). A hazardous dive produces a chest of priceless jewels,
which the Prince plans to claim as his own.
After escaping
from the Prince and his henchmen, the three are shipwrecked and washed up on
another island. Lala is now in love with both of the boys and can't decide
which to choose. However, once the natives find them, she learns that in their
society, a woman may take multiple husbands, and declares she will marry them
both. While the boys are prepared for the ceremony, both thinking the other man
lost, plans are changed. She's being unwillingly wed to the already
much-married King (Leon Askin), while the
boys end up married to each other.
Displeased with
the arrangement, a volcano god initiates a massive eruption. After fleeing, the
three end up on yet another beach where Lala chooses George over Harold. An
undaunted Harold conjures up Jane Russell from a basket
by playing a flute. Alas, she, too, rejects Harold, which means George walks
off with both Lala and Jane. A lonesome Harold is left on the beach, demanding
that the film shouldn't finish and asking the audience to stick around to see
what's going to happen next.
Among the
celebrities who made token "gag" appearances in this film are
bandleader Bob Crosby (Bing's
brother), Humphrey Bogart, by way of a
clip from The
African Queen, Jerry Lewis, Dean Martin, and Jane Russell, as her
character from the 1952 film Son of Paleface. The cameo by Martin and Lewis was part of a
'comedy trade' whereby they made an appearance in this movie while Hope and Crosby
appeared in Martin and Lewis's Scared
Stiff the following
year. Martin and Lewis also made films for Paramount at the time.
The movie is in
public domain due to it not being registered properly by Paramount, Bing Crosby
Enterprises, and Bob Hope Productions. The three companies co-financed the
film. As a result, there have been at least a dozen DVD releases from a variety
of companies over the years. However, both CPT successor Sony
Pictures Television and what is now Fremantle Media hold ancillary rights to
this film, and official video releases have been issued under license from
Fremantle Media (and its predecessor companies All-American Television and
Pearson Television), the most recent DVD and HD-DVD releases coming from BCI
Eclipse.
By the time
this Road movie was made, Bing and Bob were beginning to
look long in the tooth to play swinging bachelors. The storyline on the film
was flimsy at best, but it provided the backdrop for the singing of Bing
Crosby, the laughs of Bob Hope, and the beauty of Dorothy Lamour. Bing and Bob
sang a lot of duets in the film, but the best of their vocal pairings was the opening
number “Chicago Style”. Bing sings one love song “To See You Is to Love You”,
which is not the best song, but Crosby was in fine voice. It is great to see
the trio in technicolor, and despite the movies failings I have a soft spot for
this film. The Road to Bali was the
first of the Road movies I saw growing up. So if you want to have a fun trip,
by all means join Bing and Bob for this Road trip. You will not be
disappointed…
MY RATING: 7 OUT OF 10
That nostalgia channel sounds like a real treat. I'd probably never get any sleep!
ReplyDelete"Road to Bali" was last year's "Bing's Birthday Movie" on my site. Almost time for this year.
I think this was my first "Road to..." as well, and ended up being one of my favorites from the series! Bob Crosby's "shot" in the picture still makes me smile just thinking about it :) Great review!
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