En route vers Bali

I like all of the Hope and Crosby road pictures even if they were kind of silly. I grew up with them; even saw Hope on stage at the Palace Theater in Cleveland, Ohio in the old vaudeville days (they also had a picture show). Anyhow, as simple as they were, they were funny in their own way, and I loved Crosby singing, and Dorothy Lamour's vocaling in amour! Saw The Road to Bali on the tube AMC for the umpteenth time, and still enjoyed it; as usual the music is great, and the boys really didn't know how to end it! 6/10

One of the actors making a cameo in Road to Bali is missing from the credit list--Humphrey Bogart! Bogie is seen pulling "The African Queen" through the marsh just as he did in the movie "The African Queen"! This film is full of site gags like the earlier Road pics, including Martin and Lewis in a dream and Bing's brother Bob shooting wild game! There have been various versions of this film released on video. TCM just showed a great copy in its original form with the Paramount logo. Earlier versions had cut the logo. This film must have fallen into public domain since it was produced by Bing (and Bob?) and only released by Paramount. The interesting thing about the new TCM version is that it has an early-'50s Columbia logo at the start! They must have gained access to it as the did Road to Rio years earlier.

I have to admit this was the first "road" movie I've seen, and I'd like to see some of the earlier ones to see if they are better, but I wasn't too blown away by this one. The humor was OK, basically the type you'd expect from a Broadway show in the 30s or 40s but not an especially good one -- you know, bad puns and sight gags mostly. I do think that Hope and Crosby have very good energy on screen together and they play off each other well. I also enjoyed the "tiki" atmosphere of the sets, which were top of the line for Paramount.

The plot barely exists. Basically Hope and Crosby are guys on the lam from marriage proposals who become involved with a beautiful "native" princess who employs them to dig for treasure. When they find the treasure all their lives are in danger and they must escape to another exotic island.

A fun film, suitable for children, but basically it made me chuckle but no belly laughs if you know what I mean.

This movie introduced me to the entire "Road to" series. This movie shows how movie chemistry never dies. In their sixth film together, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and Dorothy Lamour show the fun and happiness of making films could be. They were friends and the audience can surely see that. Being the only movie in color makes the elaborate scenery come to life. The jokes are similar to the earlier films, but they are still funny. Do yourself a favor and buy this movie, it's worth it.

And, it was the only one of the "Road to..." movies that he and Bing Crosby ever did in Technicolor. The ad-libbed asides to the audience were something I had never seen or heard of before! Even more of a delightful surprise was the cameo appearance by General Burkhalter as a South Sea island chief!! The songs weren't bad, either. * "The Merry-Go-Run-Around" is probably my second-favorite song of Bob's. "Silver Bells" and "Thanks for the Memories" naturally tie for first-place.* With Bob having died this past Sunday, nostalgia channels like AMC and TCM will no doubt include this, and all his other films, in some kind of marathon movie memorial. *Which they really should have done BACK ON HIS CENTENNIAL!* Oh, well. Thanks to you, Bob, for all my merry, mirth-filled memories.