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Some double acts have made such an impact that they'll never be forgotten. Laurel and Hardy, Lemon and Matthau, and Key and Peele have etched their names in the history books, some of the best pairings of Hollywood's Golden Age. Then, there are those lesser-known Golden Age Hollywood actors who have created some fantastic moments together but can live in a hazy memory that gets revisited from time to time. Bing Crosby and Bob Hope were enormous stars in their own right, and are probably most remembered for their solo achievements. Crosby's White Christmas gets replayed every year around the holidays, and Hope is still considered one of the best Academy Awards hosts in history.

When they joined forces in the Road To... series of films, they created the kind of movie magic that Old Hollywood comedy movies can produce. With laughs aplenty, and the glamorous addition of Dorothy Lamour,...

The Road to Singapore, Zanzibar,

Morocco and Utopia

Blu ray

Kino Lorber

1940, 41, 42, 43, 46 / 1:33:1 / 85, 91, 82, 90 Min. / Street Date – March 26, 2019

Starring Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Dorothy Lamour

Written by Frank Butler, Don Hartman, Melvin Frank

Cinematography by William C. Mellor, Ted Tetzlaff

Directed by Victor Schertzinger, David Butler, Hal Walker

Between 1940 and 1962, Bob Hope and Bing Crosby starred in seven “Road” pictures directed by such distinct talents as David Butler, Norman McLeod and Hope’s own gag-writer Norman Panama who would lead the comedian kicking and screaming into the sixties with How to Commit Marriage, a poison pen letter to the counterculture released in 1969.

Though produced during a World War, the first four Road films avoided the cynicism of that late 60’s farce – instead they were the essence of disposable fun – populist entertainments peppered with topical wisecracks, potshots at company brass and the occasional talking fish. Beginning with Road to Singapore, a...

11:45:  Steven Spielberg classes up the joint when giving out the Best Picture award.  He reminds the "losers" they'll join The Grapes of Wrath, Citizen Kane, Raging Bull and a few other masterpieces that didn't win.

Then he announced The King's Speech as the Best Picture winner.

The King's Speech is a very, very good movie.  But not the Best Picture.  The Social Network, Black Swan, Inception and True Grit are all, in my opinion, far superior.  I even prefer The Kids Are All Right.  127 Hours and Toy Story 3 are around the same level as The King's Speech.  (Winter's Bone, I felt, was interesting, but not all that great.)

I suppose this is why awards shows annoy me.  How do you compare art?  You can't.  But Oscar Night can still be fun.  It affords me an opportunity to think back about all the great movies of the past year.