Road to Rio (1947)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Norman Z. McLeod

Writers:

Edmund Beloin (original story and screenplay) and
Jack Rose (original story and screenplay)

Release Date:

25 December 1947 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Comedy | Musical | Romance

Tagline:

Si, Si ! It's the maddest, merriest "Road" picture of all! You'll See!

Plot:

Two inept vaudevillians stow away on a Brazilian-bound ocean liner and foil a plot by a sinister hypnotist to marry off her niece to a greedy fortune hunter.

Plot Keywords:

Ship | Hypnotist | Fortune Hunter | Ocean Liner | Sideshow

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Bing Crosby	...	Scat Sweeney
Bob Hope	...	Hot Lips Barton
Dorothy Lamour	...	Lucia Maria de Andrade
Gale Sondergaard	...	Catherine Vail
Frank Faylen	...	Trigger
Joseph Vitale	...	Tony
George Meeker	...	Sherman Mallory
Frank Puglia	...	Rodrigues
Nestor Paiva	...	Cardoso
Robert Barrat	...	Johnson
Stanley Andrews	...	Capt. Harmon
Harry Woods	...	Ship's Purser
Harry Wiere	...	Three Musicians (as The Wiere Brothers)
Herbert Wiere	...	Three Musicians (as The Wiere Brothers)
Sylvester Wiere	...	Three Musicians (as The Wiere Brothers)

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

UK:U | Finland:S | USA:Approved (PCA #12478)

Company:

Bing Crosby Productions

Trivia:

Hiding in the lifeboat, Bob Hope is polishing his trumpet and says "You happy little Grable fodder". Heartthrob Betty Grable married trumpeter Harry James in 1943.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Hot Lips and Scat try to make a passenger seasick, the passenger puts his fork down twice.

Quotes:

Hot Lips Barton: [Knocking the bad guys unconscious with the pattycake routine] That's what they get for not seeing our pictures!

Movie Connections:

Featured in 100 Years of Comedy (1997) (V)

Soundtrack:

CAVAQUINHO

Bob and Bing and Dottie: Part V

The fifth in the Hope-Crosby-Lamour Road To series isn't the best of the bunch but it probably comes in a close second or third. The routine was well-established by the time they made this one. Hope and Crosby compete with each other for the attentions of Dorothy Lamour, the potential victim of an arranged marriage, whom they meet while stowing away on an ocean liner en-route to Rio.

As usual, Hope volunteers Crosby for crazy stunts and pockets the payment received for such devilishness, while Crosby hones his self-serving coward routine when he offers to help the suicidal Lamour throw herself overboard rather than be discovered as a stowaway. Of course Lamour survives to play the boys off against one another. Although the dynamics may be familiar, the comedy is still surprisingly fresh. Crosby and Hope were one of the few comedy duos from Hollywood's golden age who relied more on verbal quips and cleverness than slapstick and props to get their laughs – although the scene in which they are the unwitting targets of a hit-man's rifle proves the exception to the rule. Gale Sondergaard appears in this one as Lamour's wicked 'aunt' and it's the kind of role her vaguely oriental looks were made for.

Rio is also enhanced by the appearance of the Wiere Brothers as a trio of Brazilian musicians recruited by Crosby to play the parts of musicians in his non-existent band. Armed with only three English expressions – 'You're telling me," "You're in the groove, Jackson," and "This is murder," – to fool the owner of the club in which they are playing into believing they are American, the trio embark on a clever routine that leaves Hope and Crosby standing on the sidelines.