On the Road Again

American actor and singer Bing Crosby and American actor and comedian Bob Hope made a series of “The Road to..." movies, a total of seven, and took their audience around the world with lots of laughter. They were great entertainment.

Director Victor Schertzinger directed the 1940 American musical comedy “Road to Singapore." The very first film starred Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour. It was based on a story by Harry Hervey.

The storyline revolves around Josh Mallon V (Bing Crosby) and Ace Lannigan (Bob Hope), two playboys trying to avoid romances on the fictional island of Kaigoon. They rescue Mima (Dorothy Lamour), a local woman, from her abusive dance partner, Caesar (Anthony Quinn) and she moves into their hut.

Director Victor Schertzinger directed the 1941 American musical comedy “Road to Zanzibar." The second film. It starred Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, and others.

The storyline revolves around con artist Chuck Reardon (Bing Crosby) singing “You Lucky People, You” as a side-show caller at an African circus advertising an act featuring his friend Hubert "Fearless" Frazier (Bob Hope). “Fearless” poses as a human cannonball, but quickly substitutes a dummy at the last minute, hiding in a secret compartment. The dummy sets the big tent on fire and the two flee through Africa.

Director David Butler directed the 1942 American comedy “Road to Morocco." It was the third film in the series. It starred Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour and featured Anthony Quinn and Dona Drake.

The storyline revolves around Jeff Peters (Bing Crosby) and Orville "Turkey" Jackson (Bob Hope), two fast-talkin guys cast away on a desert shore and sold into slavery to Princess Shalmar (Dorothy Lamour).

Director Hal Walker directed the 1946 American musical comedy “Road to Utopia." This was the fourth in the series. The film starred Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, and others.

The storyline revolves around Duke Johnson/Junior Hooton (Bing Crosby) and  Chester Hooton (Bob Hope), two vaudeville performers at the turn of the 20th century who go to Alaska to make a fortune. Along the way, they find a map to a secret gold mine.

Director Norman Z. McLeod directed the 1947 American musical comedy “Road to Rio”. This is the fifth film in the series. It starred Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, and others.

The storyline revolves around Scat Sweeney (Bing Crosby) and Hot Lips Barton (Bob Hope), two inept vaudevillians who stow away on a Brazilian-bound ocean liner. In Brazil they foil a plot by a sinister hypnotist to marry off her niece Lucia Maria de Andrade (Dorothy Lamour) to a greedy fortune hunter.

Director Hal Walker directed the 1952 American comedy “Road to Bali." This is the sixth film in the series. It starred Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, and others. This was the only entry in the series filmed in Technicolor and was the first to feature surprise cameo appearances from other well-known stars of the day such as Humphrey Bogart.

The storyline revolves around George Cochran (Bing Crosby) and Harold Gridley (Bob Hope) as American song-and-dance men performing in Melbourne, Australia, and leaving in a hurry to avoid marriage proposals winding up in Darwin, where they take jobs as deep-sea divers for a prince. They are taken by a boat to an idyllic island on the way to Bali, Indonesia.

Director Norman Panama directed the 1962 British semi-musical comedy “The Road to Hong Kong. "It starred Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Joan Collins, Robert Morley, Peter Sellers, and others. There was an extended cameo that featured Dorothy Lamour. This was the seventh and final film in the series. (pictured above)

The story is told in flashback with Diane (3rd Echelon agent) (Joan Collins) explaining to American intelligence how transmissions from passengers picked up from a missile to the moon are American rather than Russian. Harry Turner (Bing Crosby) and Chester Babcock (Bob Hope) are defrauding people in Calcutta, selling a "Do-it-yourself interplanetary flight kit" that ends up injuring Chester and giving him amnesia.