Musical Monday: Road to Rio (1947)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
Road to Rio (1947) – Musical #813

Studio:
Paramount Pictures

Director:
Norman Z. McLeod

Starring:
Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, Gale Sondergaard, Frank Faylen, George Meeker,
Frank Puglia, Robert Barrat, Nestor Paiva, Stanley Andrews, Harry Woods
Themselves: The Andrews Sisters, The Wiere Brothers, Jerry Colonna

Plot:
Vaudeville performers Scat Sweeney (Crosby) and Hot Lips Barton (Hope) travel the United States, and are frequently chased out of states after Scat woos women in each area. In one area, the duo’s act burns down an entire carnival. Fleeing the scene of their crime, Scat and Hot Lips stowaway on a ship to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where they meet wealthy Lucia Maria de Andrade (Lamour). Lucia’s finances and future nuptials are being controlled by her nefarious guardian, Catherine Vail (Sondergaard).

Trivia:
• Musician Louis Oliveira, who also was the former leader and arranger for Carmen Miranda’s band, worked as technical advisor on this film. He also taught Bing Crosby the Portuguese language and song style, according to Turner Classic Movies.
• Produced by Bing Crosby and Bob Hope
• Dorothy Lamour’s favorite of the “Road” films.

Highlights:
• Bing Crosby and the Andrew Sisters performing “You Don’t Have to Know the Language” together
• The Wiere Brothers dancing

Notable Songs:
• “You Don’t Have to Know the Language” performed by Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters
• “Experience” performed by Dorothy Lamour

My review:
You may be thinking, “What a minute. ROAD TO UTOPIA is next in the series.” That’s true, but I unfortunately already reviewed UTOPIA in 2021 (which you can read here); messing up the flow of this summer “Road” series.

Following UTOPIA is another post-war “Road” film, ROAD TO RIO (1947), which I realized I had never seen before. I thought I had watched all of the “Road” films previously, but I guess not!

In the film, Hope and Crosby return this time as Scat and Hot Lips but are still playing down-on-their-luck vaudevillian performers. This time, the film starts with their footprints traveling across the United States and then getting chased out of each area after Scat woos the local women. At one stop, the pair burn down the entire carnival with their performance. Fleeing the scene of the fire, they stowaway on a ship bound for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where they meet wealthy Lucia Maria de Andrade (Lamour). Lucia’s finances and future nuptials are being controlled by her nefarious guardian, Catherine Vail (Sondergaard), and her henchmen (Faylen). The pair try to help her out, while also performing in a band.

The start of this film felt like a copycat of ROAD TO ZANZIBAR, complete with burning down a carnival and fleeing the scene for another country. The rest of the film didn’t feel like a “Road” film at all, particularly because of the group of hoods surrounding Dorothy Lamour’s character.

To me, the film felt like it had fewer laughs (especially watching this after ROAD TO MOROCCO) and fewer songs. However, though there aren’t as many songs, the film is filled with Brazilian-styled music, which I enjoyed.

One of the main highlights of the film was “You Don’t Have to Know the Language” performed by Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters. The film could have used more of the Andrews Sisters! Dorothy Lamour also said that her song “Experience” was her favorite number she performed in a Paramount Film. It felt like a missed opportunity to not have Carmen Miranda appear somewhere in this film.

For being less funny, there’s a gag with the Wiere brothers where the brothers, Crosby and Hope switch hats for what feels like an eternity.

There are a few funny parts, like when they say “If she looks like Lamour, she can sing like Lamour” about Dorothy Lamour’s character. They also finally do their signature Patty Cake punch, not until the last 10 minutes of the film. I was losing hope that it wouldn’t arrive. It was funny, because it was followed with Hope saying, “That’s what they get for not seeing our pictures.”

Despite my lukewarm feelings towards the film, this was Dorothy Lamour’s favorite of the “Road” films, according to an interview with Ron Miller and James Bawden. It was her favorite because it was the last of the original series, and noted they made one more film with the original trio, which she said “was lousy.”

“Those Wiere Bothers. They made me laugh out loud, ruining many takes,” Lamour said. “Gale Sondergaard told me she never had as much fun. We didn’t know it at the time, but Paramount’s golden age was running out of steam.”

To Lamour’s point, I think it’s noticeable that the Paramount Pictures magic was starting to fade. While I think the earlier “Road” films are better (with MOROCCO and UTOPIA as my favorites), this is still fun. There’s nothing wrong with it, it just feels more forced. I do love to hear that Sondergaard had a great time making the film.

The music and Rio setting are fun. Even if this “Road” picture doesn’t feel as up-to-par to me, it’s still great humor with Crosby, Hope and Lamour.

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