I cercatori d'oro

Duke Johnson (Bing Crosby) and Chester Hooton (Bob Hope) are struggling entertainers down on their luck who travel to Alaska. Killers Sperry and McGurk steal a vital map showing the location of a gold mine. Our two heroes manage to obtain the map and decide to impersonate Sperry and McGurk which leads them into more trouble than they could ever have imagined. Along the way they meet saloon singer Sal Van Hoyden (Dorothy Lamour) and as usual both men compete for her charms. With Sperry and McGurk hot on their trail plus other assorted villains after them Hope and Crosby get into many tight corners but they still find time for some catchy songs along the way including "Put It There Pal" which is a typical Hope/Crosby kind of number and Dorothy Lamour puts over "Personality" with her usual flair.

Of all seven of the "Road" pictures there are four which to me are outstanding and superior to any other comedy films from that same period. The "Road" films have certainly stood the test of time over the years and not become dated. My four favourites are the Roads to "Morocco", "Utopia", "Rio" and "Bali". Hope and Crosby worked well together as a team and in "Road to Utopia" reached new comedy heights. The film is very fast moving with gag following gag, talking animals, many hilarious comedy routines and situations, and even has Robert Benchley occasionally interrupting the proceedings to give an entertaining commentary on the film. The film is told in "flashback" and has a brilliant pay-off line at the end (one of the best in the entire "Road" series).

Some favourite lines from the film:

Bob Hope (to Bing Crosby): "I didn't think there was one more way to get the cops after us but you found it!".

Hope (to Crosby): "Next time I'll bring Sinatra!". (When Crosby loses a talent contest on board ship).

Hope (to Crosby): "It may be a mountain to you but it's bread and butter to me".

Hope (to Douglass Dumbrille): "I'll take a lemonade .... in a dirty glass!".

Hope (to audience): "We adopted him!".

The "Road" films never won any Oscars but brought an enormous amount of pleasure to a lot of people during the 40's. Hope and Crosby were a great team and made seven "Road" films in total. They both had very successful careers separately in movies, television, radio and on the stage and were probably two of the biggest stars to come out of Hollywood in the thirties and forties. 10/10. Clive Roberts.

Oh this one is funny...haven't seen it since High school, years and years ago, but I remember it well...the seen where an aged couple-including Hope, talk about their son-and then in comes Bing Crosby(!!)-where Hope sez to the camera-'We adopted him!'...oh what a riot. And then there is the great scene where they are sledding, and the Paramount stars pop up over a mtn in the background...the constant lines about how, even when they're in trouble, 'Paramount won't let anything happen to us because we're under contract for another 4 pictures' or words to that effect...very funny stuff, Benchley's narration a hoot too.

***, this one is funny and to my thinking the best of the lot.

If you need some laughs, this is a movie for you. I think this is the fourth of the "Road" pictures that Hope and Crosby made together. "The Road to Rio" was good, too, but the ones that followed demonstrated a flagging of inspiration.

Here, they are the crew are at their best. The plot is screwball, as usual, and not worth spelling out. What counts are the songs, the gags, and the interplay between the three principals -- Hope, Crosby, and Dorothy Lamour.

Most of the Road pictures had one or two songs which wound up on the pop charts. They were usually kind of pretty and unpretentious, "easy listening", to coin a phrase. (Oh, bring it back, sob!) "Moonlight Becomes You," "Personality," "Welcome to My World." And Bing did most of the singing in his smooth baritone. Nothing more than proficient and pleasant to listen to, although he belonged to, I think, a peppy vocal trio in the early 1930s whose arrangements were kind of original.

The gags were usually amusing, sometimes laugh-out-loud funny. There was, inevitably the occasional clunker but everything was so good natured that they are easily forgiven. The script was by Panama and Frank, but many of the jokes were improvised on the set by the actors. Hope also brought in some gags from his platoon of writers (he was a famous radio comedian at the time), giving some of them to Crosby and Lamour as well. There was a good deal of playing with the fourth wall and a lot of in jokes too. Some of these may be lost on modern viewers. Eg., Hope is driving Crosby along on a dog sled, and he raises his arms and says, "Look Ma, no hands." "Look Ma, no teeth," remarks Crosby. "Please," says Hope, "my sponsor." His radio sponsor was Pepsodent Toothpaste.

The three principal actors play off each other well. Dorothy Lamour was an unpretentious actress of modest talents who never pretended to be anything else, although she provided a very nice frame to hang a sarong on. What I like most about the relationship between Hope and Crosby is the measured equality of their stupidity and greed. Hope wasn't really subordinate to Crosby. Everything Hope said and did was within the realm of human reality. He didn't have the flapping run or squeaky voice of Jerry Lewis. He didn't get slapped around like Lou Costello. He wasn't intellectually challenged. And Crosby was much more of a participant in the goings on than a straight man would be. He's hardly less gullible than Hope, and equally cowardly. When they're about to be boiled by cannibals or hanged by vigilantes, they trade wisecracks with one another. Crosby is the promoter and Hope is the stooge, but neither is superior to the others.

This really is a relaxing ride. I spent a summer doing a sociological study of Scagway. The set gives a surprisingly good suggestion of what it still looks like. It's a dramatic place overlooked by a proud glacier the color of blue glass. And the kind of Wild West atmosphere the movie evokes isn't entirely fictional. People had names like "Soapy Smith".

'Road to Utopia' is a musical comedy starring two performers who are caught up in a conquest to find gold in Alaska. 'Road to Utopia' is a highly entertaining film, and it's easy to get caught up in the adventure.

Some of the comedy elements in the film are probably a little bit dated, but those that are not dated and still very funny and witty. (These include the narrator comments directed to films, the Paramount mountain, the talking animals, and the Santa figure emerging from the Alaskan landscape with gifts for Crosby and Hope). The music is also dated in terms of what traditional audiences enjoy today, but I still thought it was done very well and played an important part in the story.

'Road to Utopia' is enjoyable, and it is highly recommended. If you're tired of all the films made in the past 20-30 years, this is a gem.

Bob and Bing pal through this in their breezy manner, ably assisted by Dottie Lamour and especially the dry witty commentary of humorist Robert Benchley. Students of film and lovers of movies will appreciate the quality of the production, and rejoice in the knowledge that not everything funny was created after 1990.