Tag Archives: Bing Crosby and Bob Hope

Musical Monday: Road to Bali (1952)

Posted on by
Reply

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 Bali (1952) – Musical #157

Studio:
Paramount Pictures

Director:
Hal Walker

Starring:
Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, Murvyn Vye, Peter Coe, Ralph Moody, Leon Askin, Patricia Dane (uncredited), Michael Jeffers (uncredited), Carolyn Jones (uncredited), Bhogwan Singh (uncredited), Chanan Singh Sohi (uncredited), 
Cameo: Humphrey Bogart (from archival footage), Bob Crosby, Jane Russell, Jerry Lewis, Dean Martin

Plot:
Two vaudeville performers, George Cochran (Crosby) and Harold Gridley (Hope), are in Australia. They (yet again) have to duck out of town when the fathers of two women are looking for the performers after they proposed marriage to their daughters. To get out of town, they accept jobs from Ken Arok (Vye) to dive for treasure in Bali, Indonesia. Little do they know that their boss doesn’t plan on staying alive to accept their pay. Ken Arok is related to Princess Lala (Lamour), who knows of his nefarious ways and tries to keep Harold and George alive. Though she succeeds, the trio has to flee to stay out of reach of Ken Arok.

Continue reading →

Musical Monday: Road to Rio (1947)

Posted on by
Reply

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).

Continue reading →

Musical Monday: Road to Morocco (1942)

Posted on by
Reply

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 Morocco – Musical #147

Studio:
Paramount Pictures

Director:
David Butler

Starring:
Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, Anthony Quinn, Dona Drake, Vladimir Sokoloff, Mikhail Rasumny, Yvonne De Carlo (uncredited), Vivian Dandridge (uncredited), Richard Loo (uncredited)

Plot:
Jeff Peters (Crosby) and Orville “Turkey” Jackson (Hope) are adrift on a raft after their boat blows up (thanks to Turkey). When they find land, they find themselves in a desert and ride a camel towards town. They find themselves in an “Arabian Nights”-like setting. In need of money, Jeff sells Turkey. When Turkey sends Jeff a note saying he’s being tortured but to flee, Jeff sets out to save him. The note is a ruse, as Turkey is in the lap of luxury and cuddled up to Princess Shalmar (Lamour), who believes the stars have dictated that they should be married. Problems arise when Princess Shalmar falls in love with Jeff, and also is betrothed to Mullay Kasim (Anthony Quinn).

Continue reading →

Musical Monday: Road to Zanzibar (1941)

Posted on by
Reply

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 Zanzibar (1941) – Musical No. 416

Studio:
Paramount Pictures

Director:
Victor Schertzinger

Starring:
Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, Una Merkel, Eric Blore, Douglass Dumbrille, Iris Adrian, Lionel Royce, Buck Woods, Leigh Whipper, Ernest Whitman, Noble Johnson, Joan Marsh, Luis Alberni, Ruby Dandridge (uncredited)

Plot:
Chuck (Crosby) and Fearless (Hope) are carnival performers traveling through Africa. Chuck always has a gimmick that is at the expense of Fearless’s health and safety, from being shot out of a cannon to wrestling an octopus. One of their antics causes them to go on the lamb when they burn down the carnival and the police are looking for them. They continue to get into more trouble when they meet Charles Kimble (Blore), who sells them a diamond mine. After paying Kimble all of their money, they learn Kimble is eccentric and the mine is a fake. They then run into two women in distress – Donna Latour (Lamour) and Julia Quimby (Merkel) – who may not need as much help as they think. The four then travel through the jungle in search of Donna’s sick father, or so they say.

Continue reading →