Top 5 Bob Hope and Bing Crosby 'Road to ...' Movies

The first "Road to ..." movie, "Road to Singapore," was originally written for George Burns and Gracie Allen. When they turned the parts down, it was suggested Bob Hope and Bing Crosby - who had great chemistry - be paired and Dorothy Lamour was signed on and one of the most famous franchises began.

The "Road to ..." movies contained musical numbers, gags, and ad-libbed banter. Hope frequently addressed the audience in these films with comments such as, "[Crosby]'s gonna sing folks. Now's the time to go out and get the popcorn." This is known as breaking the fourth wall, an imaginary boundary between the movie and audience.

They were conmen who vowed they wouldn't let women interfere - though their vows would become null and void when a woman (aka Dorothy Lamour who co-starred in this series of movies) caught their eyes. Naturally, Crosby almost always ended up with the girl except in "Road to Utopia" and "Road to Rio."

"Road to Singapore" (1940):

Joshua Mallon V (Crosby) was the son of a shipping tycoon, heir to the family business, and engaged to be married. His pal, Ace Lannigan (Hope) is having his own troubles.

The pair run off to Singapore where they rescue the beautiful Mima (Lamour), a dancer. Mallon wastes no time romancing the woman. Meanwhile, Lannigan peddles cleaning products to the natives and tries to woo Mima as well. The three soon find themselves on the run.

The "patty-cake" routine was introduced in this movie and was employed when the guys found themselves in a predicament throughout this series of movies.

"Road to Morocco" (1942):

"Road to Morocco" was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Screenplay and Best Sound Recording. The song, "(We're off on the) Road to Morocco" made AFI's 100 years ... 100 Songs list in 2004.

In this movie, Orville "Turkey" Jackson (Hope) and Jeff Peters (Crosby) are stowaways on a freighter that explodes thanks to Orville's smoking in the powder room. They wash to shore and hitch a ride on a camel. Peters ends up selling his friend into slavery in order to satisfy his bill at the restaurant.

Feeling guilty, Peters tries to rescue his friend, but Turkey doesn't want rescuing. Why would he? He's engaged to marry Princess Shalmar of Karameesh (Lamour). When Peters lays eyes on the princess, though, he has a change of plans. The men are unaware of a prophecy that says the princess' first husband will die violently.

Actor Anthony Quinn appears in the film as the evil Mullay Kassim who wants the princess for himself.

An example of Bob Hope breaking through the fourth wall (or talking to the audience) comes at the beginning of the picture when he notes Dorothy Lamour would have to be in the film since it's another "Road to ..." film. Later, the camel comments, "This is the screwiest picture I was ever in."

"Road to Bali" (1952):

Harold Gridley (Hope) and George Cochran (Crosby) are a couple of entertainers who are performing in Melbourne, Australia. They find themselves engaged to various local women and flee the country. They end up at Port Darwin where they go to work diving for sunken treasure for Prince Ken Arok, not knowing it's being protected by a sea monster, Boga Ten.

They set sail for the South Sea island Vatu were they meet the beautiful Princess Lalah, the prince's cousin. Despite having vowed to avoid women, they find themselves infatuated with the princess.

The trio are later captured by natives and taken to their village where the natives plan to kill them and shrink their heads. The medicine realizes the princess is the daughter of his friend and instead, agrees to perform a wedding. Harold and George each believe he will be marrying Lalah but end up married to each other. Lalah learns she is to marry King Ramayana who is in cahoots with the prince.

The volcano erupts unexpectedly and in the ensuing panic and chaos, George, Harold, and Lalah escape to the beach where Harold and George demand that Lalah choose between them. She chooses George. A rejected Harold gets Lalah's flute and plays it. Jane Russell emerges, but preferring George over Harold, walks away with George and Lalah.

Breaking the fourth wall, Hope demands the movie not end and tells the audience to stick around to see what will happen next.

"Road to Zanzibar" (1941):

Circus performer Hubert "Fearless" Frazier (Hope) and his manager Chuck Reardon (Crosby) hot foot it out of an African town after their human cannonball act accidentally burns down the circus.

The men work their way across Africa to earn money to go home on. Reardon, however, spends the money on a worthless diamond mine. When the guys learn the mine is worthless, Fearless sells it to Lebec, a shady character. When Lebec tries to find them for directions to the mine, Fearless and Reardon do what they do best - they get out of dodge.

They meet two con women. One of them, Donna Latour (Lamour) is supposedly a slave and the men are persuaded to buy her back. When they do, her partner Julia Quimby splits the money with the slaver. Latour tells the fella's her father is sick in the jungle. The women convince the pair to escort them through the jungle so that Latour can meet up with her rich fiancé.

Fearless becomes suspicious of the women but Reardon agrees to foot the bill for the safari. Of course, the guys eventually figure out they've been duped and leave the women in the jungle. In doing so, they leave the guides behind and get lost.

"Road to Rio" (1947):

"Hot Lips" Barton (Hope) and Scat Sweeney (Crosby) are unemployed musicians traveling the U.S. in search of work. They end up in Louisiana where they set a carnival on fire. On the run, they stowaway on a ship headed to Rio.

They meet Lucia Maria de Andrade who has been hypnotized by her aunt in order to force her to marry. Of course, both of them fall in love with her.

The men discover Lucia has been hypnotized when they are hypnotized and almost kill each other in a duel.

The men are told the whereabouts of Lucia's estate papers. They steal the papers but are caught. They end up hypnotizing Lucia's aunt's henchman in order to make their escape.

Hot Lips and Scat stop the wedding and expose the aunt and Sherman's ploy.

Back in the States, Scat visits Hot Lips and Lucia. Lucia tells him she's in love with Hot Lips. When Scat leaves, he looks through the keyhole and discovers Hot Lips has hypnotized Lucia. That's right. Bob Hope got the girl, even if he cheated just a little bit.

Bob Hope broke the fourth wall while hanging from a high wire. He's yelling, "Help! Help!" then looking to the camera, says, "You know, this picture could end right here."

Sources:

On the Road With Bob Hope and Bing Crosby Collection (Road to Singapore/Road to Zanzibar/Road to Morocco/Road to Utopia) - Personal DVD Collection
Road to Bali (1952) - Plot Summary - IMDb
Road to Rio (1947) - Plot Summary - IMDb