Road to Bali (1952)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Hal Walker

Writers:

Frank Butler (writer)
Hal Kanter (writer)

Release Date:

8 April 1953 (France)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical

Tagline:

TOGETHER AGAIN!...in the BEST and FUNNIEST "Road" Picture Yet!

Plot:

Having to leave Melbourne in a hurry to avoid various marriage proposals, two song-and-dance men sign on for work as divers...

Plot Keywords:

Shipwreck | Tiger | Reference To Errol Flynn | Poison Dart | Regression

Cast

Bing Crosby	...	George Cochran
Bob Hope	...	Harold Gridley
Dorothy Lamour	...	Princess Lala
Murvyn Vye	...	Ken Arok
Peter Coe	...	Gung
Ralph Moody	...	Bhoma Da
Leon Askin	...	King Ramayana

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 (1953) | Finland:K-8 (1965) | Australia:G | Sweden:15 | UK:U

Filming Locations:

Iverson Ranch, Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Bing Crosby Productions

Trivia:

This was the only "Road" picture of the seven to be photographed in Technicolor. Ten years later, the British-made "Hong Kong" finale would revert to black and white.

Goofs:

Continuity: During the opening song and dance number, Hope goes offstage to the left ("stage left"), talks with some people and goes back on stage from the left. But his behind stage shot is clearly on the "stage right" side.

Quotes:

Harold Gridley: [whistles, indicating Lala's headdress with a golden spire] This kid's got her own antenna.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in 'White Christmas': A Look Back with Rosemary Clooney (2000) (V)

Soundtrack:

The Whiffenpoof Song

The Dumb and Dumber of the early 50s

Road to Bali is one of the two or three best in the Hope-Crosby series, and sees the pair hot-tailing it out of Australia and across to Indonesia, where they are employed as divers by a mysterious islander princess (mind you, the Hollywood representation of Balinese culture tends to look more like Hawaii, but it's of little consequence, the whole thing is merely a stage for the Hope and Crosby routine.) When diving on a wreck the pair are warned about a mysterious sea-god called 'Boga-ten', so Crosby sends down Hope as something of a sacrificial lamb - he then encounters an unconvincing giant squid. They escape and end up in the clutches of an even more unconvincing tribe, in the hands of none other than General Burkhalter from 'Hogan's Heroes', who decides that sacrifice to a volcano is the best option...

The comedy is classic 'Road' - the pair stroll from situation to situation, taking humourous potshots at each other, making in-jokes about the entertainment industry, and occasionally bursting into song. Dorothy Lamour provides the female presence, love interest and 'straight person' to the duo's persistent childishness and oneupmanship. Crosby invariably comes out the winner, such as in the competition for Lamour's romantic interest (it seems she only likes Hope because he resembles a pet chimpanzee she had as a child.) It's all good fun, if slightly politically incorrect these days, but still holds up pretty well.