Availability: THIS TITLE IS CURRENTLY NOT AVAILABLE. If you would like to purchase this title, we recommend that you occasionally check this page to see if it has become available.
List Price: $14.98 Our Price: $13.48YOU SAVE $1.5!
Buy it
DVD Road to Zanzibar
The second Road movie from Paramount Pictures finds barnstorming con artists Chuck Reardon (Bing Crosby) and Hubert "Fearless" Frazier (Bob Hope) at liberty after their act goes haywire. (In these movies, Crosby generally lures the suckers into the tent, while Hope is always stuck getting shot out of the cannon.) A phony map to a diamond mine brings our boys into the middle of Africa, which means there's a good chance they'll end up sitting in a cauldron while natives perform a cannibal dance around them. These stereotypes would be offensive if the movie wasn't actively parodying the kind of jungle movie popular in 1941 (just as Road to Morocco would satirize the Arabian nights picture). Dorothy Lamour is along for the ride, of course, and her scene in a tight clinch with Hope established a tradition of steamy comic exchanges through the series (as she croons a love song to him, he checks to see if his wallet is still in his pocket). This is the first Road movie to actively wink at the audience; in one scene, Lamour mocks the way movies always have characters break out into song in the middle of nowhere with a full orchestra backing--which is exactly what happens next. The chatter between Crosby and Hope already feels improvised, and it should be noted that the secret of their chemistry is not a sentimental friendship but a cheerfully hostile rivalry between the two characters, a cheeky approach that must've delighted audiences used to the Andy Hardy niceness of most Hollywood movies of that era. Oh, and they do their patty-cake routine, too. --Robert Horton
No one dose it better then Bob Hope and Bing Crosby! I love this movie.If you like classic hollywood you will love this one.
WONDERFUL MOVIE, AWFUL BOX
ROAD TO ZANZIBAR has always been one of my two or three favorite Road movies, in part because it's more of a comedy and less of a musical than many entries as well as having the bonus of having that great comedienne Una Merkel along for the ride. And the great Dorothy Lamour is incredibly sexy here (wasn't she always!!)
Now for the "awful packaging" why on earth has MCA Universal Video failed to picture Ms. Lamour on the box as well as the boxes of nearly ALL of the other Road movies. She was an EQUAL star to Hope and Crosby - one of the biggest women stars of the era. She has a lot of fans even today who are probably passing on the prerecorded tapes to this series because of this slight. Wake up Universal and reissue this series picturing the third STAR of these movies on the boxes! (Ms. Lamour is pictured on the DVD box to this ROAD movie but not on several of the other films.)
Not quite a classic, but darn fun
This is not the best of the "Road" pictures, but it's still a lot of fun to watch the chemistry between Hope and Crosby. The plot is a bit preposterous, and just how dumb can Hope's character be to be anything but Fearless? However, the hijinks are first rate scams, and there are nice turns by Dorothy Lamour and Una Merkel. The tunes are not the best of the "Road" series, although Bing's voice always seems stronger in films than in comparably dated records. Get this one not because it's a classic (not quite), but just because it's fun.
Here's the first trip in what would become one of Paramount Pictures' most profitable film series of the '40s. When this comedy was released in 1940, Bing Crosby and Bob Hope had separately achieved stardom, though Crosby was an established power and Hope still a hot comedian new to movies. In fact, Hope is billed third in Road to Singapore, below Der Bingle and Dorothy Lamour. The script establishes what would be a constant in the Road series: a ramshackle plot, a handful of songs, and plenty of irreverent banter between the two boys. Crosby plays Josh Mallon, scion of a wealthy family, who prefers the vagabond life to his stuffy family; his pal Ace Lannigan (Hope) is only too happy to escape. They end up sharing a waterfront shack in Singapore and vying for the affections... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Bing Crosby - Dorothy Lamour - Bob Hope Director(s): Victor Schertzinger DVD Release Date: Released the 05 March 2002 This item is currently not available.
List Price: $14.98 Your Price: YOU SAVE $14.98!
Buy it
I feel sorry for people who can't appreciate Hope and Crosby "road" pictures. This is the fourth in the series, and has the boys masquerading as the killers Sperry and McGurk, from whom they've stolen the map to a gold mine, but which really belongs to Dorothy Lamour, but which... and you know it really doesn't matter anyway. The point is they've got this thin plot on which to hang a series of hit-and-miss jokes, coming fast enough to make it just all right and a certain amount of time to see who gets Dorothy Lamour, while maintaining their fierce and friendly and wisecracking rivalry. They're in the Klondike this time around, which doesn't stop the film from working in a glimpse of Dorothy in her sarong. Along the way, animals talk, including the humorist Robert Benchley, whose... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Bing Crosby - Bob Hope - Dorothy Lamour Director(s): Hal Walker DVD Release Date: Released the 01 April 2003 THIS TITLE IS CURRENTLY NOT AVAILABLE. If you would like to purchase this title, we recommend that you occasionally check this page to see if it has become available.
List Price: $14.98 Your Price: $13.48YOU SAVE $1.5!
Buy it
Every great film has a repeating line, and Road to Rio has that one. It's always been one of my favorites - if not THE favorite - of the road pictures, but maybe the lustre has worn off. Still, "I hate you. I loathe you. I despise you" is a long-time family joke, and this film, if it grabs you at the right moment, is a gem. The musical numbers, as usual, are terrific, and there are so many throw-away lines and sight gags that this "road" is one that should be traveled. More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Bing Crosby - Bob Hope - Dorothy Lamour Director(s): Norman Z. McLeod DVD Release Date: Released the 21 November 2000 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $9.99 Your Price: $9.99YOU SAVE $0!
Buy it
Road to Morocco, number three in the series of breezy comedies teaming Bing Crosby and Bob Hope, may be the funniest of the bunch. Bing and Bob find themselves Morocco-bound ("like Webster's dictionary"), caught in an elaborately faked-up world of harems, palm trees, and other Arabian Nights bric-a-brac. Naturally, Dorothy Lamour is also there, as she was the customary target of male rivalry in the Road scenarios. There is something so loose and ingratiating about the patter between Hope and Crosby that it doesn't ultimately matter if half the jokes don't land; these guys had their own comfortable rhythm, fueled by cheerful one-upmanship. Their sense of spontaneity broke the fourth wall between movie and audience in a way only the Marx Brothers had really accomplished before, and... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Bing Crosby - Bob Hope - Dorothy Lamour Director(s): David Butler DVD Release Date: Released the 01 April 2003 THIS TITLE IS CURRENTLY NOT AVAILABLE. If you would like to purchase this title, we recommend that you occasionally check this page to see if it has become available.
List Price: $14.98 Your Price: $13.48YOU SAVE $1.5!
Buy it
The Bob Hope/Bing Crosby/Dorothy Lamour "Road" pictures were the most successful film series until someone named James Bond came along. The Road To Hong Kong was a belated final entry - a nice idea but one executed on a miserly budget when the stars were somewhat past their peak. The script roughly follows the dependable formula of the earlier films and, while not as funny or as charming as the classic Road To Morocco, still provides a fair amount of amusement. It is certainly not the overcooked turkey that some people claim.
Cheaply filmed in England in black and white on cardboard sets and with special effects of rocket ships that would have made Ed Wood proud, the film relies a lot on the audience's affection for Hope and Crosby. The interplay and patter of their double... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Bing Crosby - Bob Hope Director(s): Norman Panama DVD Release Date: Released the 03 December 2002 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $14.95 Your Price: $13.46YOU SAVE $1.49!
Buy it
