Road to Singapore (1940)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Victor Schertzinger

Writers:

Frank Butler (screenplay)
Don Hartman (screenplay)

Release Date:

22 March 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical | Romance

Tagline:

Ready For Fun . . Fight . . or a South Seas Romance . . . ! They find them all on the . . .

Plot:

Bing Crosby an Bob Hope star in the first of the 'Road to' movies as two playboys trying to forget previous romances in Singapore...

Plot Keywords:

Playboy | Family Business | South Sea Islands | Whip | Socialite

Cast

Bing Crosby	...	Joshua 'Josh' Mallon V
Dorothy Lamour	...	Mima
Bob Hope	...	Ace Lannigan
Charles Coburn	...	Joshua Mallon IV
Judith Barrett	...	Gloria Wycott
Anthony Quinn	...	Caesar
Jerry Colonna	...	Achilles Bombanassa

Also Known As:

Beach of Dreams (USA) (working title)
Road to Mandalay (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

France:U | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | UK:U | USA:Approved (PCA #5839)

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden - 301 N. Baldwin Avenue, Arcadia, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

One of over 700 Paramount Productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: Mima's guitar can be heard throughout "Sweet Potato Piper", even when she's not playing it.

Quotes:

Ace Lannigan: I just want you to stand there and admire me for a while. I just got an idea that's gonna make us a fortune. I don't know how I do it.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Road to Rio (1947)

Soundtrack:

Captain Custard

The beginning of a great series

Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour may never have been the Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald of the 1930s and 1940s Hollywood musicals, but anything they ever recorded during this period was better than any of the painful operetta stuff of the latter screen duo. Brilliant songs are featured once again, including `Too Romantic' and `The Willow and the Moon'.

ROAD TO SINGAPORE essentially is a romantic comedy with mass complications of playboys with serial patty-pan punching techniques, cheating people with soapsuds cleaner and both falling for Dottie. The slapstick gags featured are not as hilarious as the definitive film of the series, ROAD TO MOROCCO, but due to the enormous success of SINGAPORE, the trio's comedy skills allowed for a continuing series in which the progressing films became zanier.

Generally good direction, an agreeably funny script and a supporting cast headed by Charles Coburn only amounts to part of the fun.

However, once again Paramount, and in a more generalised context, Hollywood itself, displays its lack of understanding for foreign culture. Singapore, or the island in question, which isn't actually Singapore, looks like an extremely undeveloped Malaysia. The natives don't actually convince one of being native, nor do any of the ceremonial activities trick for one second.

Dorothy Lamour, although an exquisitely beautiful actress, does not resemble an islander native, although it isn't exactly her fault.

In the same manner, some people may find this film offensive, or any of the ROAD films because they are not a true representation for any culture. But most movies made during this period simply didn't have much regard to exact details of foreign lands. And in such a brilliant comedy, it doesn't really matter.

Rating: 10/10