IT CAME FROM THE BOTTOM SHELF!

On March 26th, Kino Lorber Studio Classics will release the first four films in the popular Bing Crosby and Bob Hope Road picture series individually on Blu-ray. As a classic comedy fanboy since grade school, the new releases provide a good excuse for me to revisit the series chronologically.  I previously reviewed Road to Singapore (1940) and Road to Zanzibar (1941), so now let’s join Bing, Bob, and Dorothy Lamour as they hit the third, and most popular, road.

With the back-to-back hits of Road to Singapore and Road to Zanzibar, it was inevitable that Paramount would team Crosby, Hope, and Lamour for another Road picture.  In Road to Morocco, Bing and Bob star as Jeff Peters (Crosby) and Orville “Turkey” Jackson (Hope), a couple of penniless American stowaways, who find themselves washed up on a Moroccan beach after accidentally blowing up an ocean freighter.  After hitching a camel to town, Jeff sells his partner to one of the locals in order to pay a restaurant owner for their meal.  When he sets out to rescue his pal, Jeff is surprised to find that Orville is living in luxury, engaged to wed Princess Shalmar (Lamour).  Of course, sheik Mullay Kasim (Anthony Quinn), who wants the Princess for himself, won’t give her up without a fight.

Road to Morocco signaled the first time that Paramount intentionally made a Hope & Crosby comedy, rather than plugging their contract players into stories that they already owned.  Frank Butler and Don Hartman, who had adapted the previous stories were hired to write the original screenplay (peppered throughout by supposed ad-libs from Hope and Crosby, which were actually provided by the gag writers from their weekly radio shows).  As a result, the film feels of a piece with the previous Road films, but it also feels more in tune with the strengths of its stars.  The film is faster, funnier, and wackier than the previous Road outings.

It is with Road to Morocco that the “anything goes” hellzapoppin’ style of the series came into full flower.   There are “fourth wall”-breaking gags about the audience, the censor, and the Academy Awards, as well as cartoon-like jokes involving talking animals, ghosts, and magical wishes.  Of course, there is also the requisite “patty cake” gag.  The laughs-per-minute ratio is certainly higher than in the previous two Roads.

Many classic comedy fans consider Road to Morocco to be the best of the series.  Of course, with a series as long as the Road pictures, selecting a “best of” or funniest film is bound to spark arguments.  However, I think I’m pretty safe in saying that Road to Morocco has the finest musical score of the entire series.  Certainly, the title tune is a classic.  When most audiences think of the Road pictures, they immediately get a mental impression of Bing and Bob singing “Road to Morocco” on camelback.  There’s good reason that this song sequence has been so enduring.  The Jimmy Van Heusen melody is catchy, and the Johnny Burke lyric “Like Webster’s Dictionary, we’re Morocco bound” is genius.  The joy that Hope and Crosby display during the number makes it apparent that the pair recognized just how special the song was as they performed it.

In addition to the title tune, the Crosby solo song “Ain’t Got a Dime to My Name (Ho Hum)” is the best kind of ear worm.  I’ve been mentally singing it for days.  Finally, “Moonlight Becomes You” is the best love song used in any of the Roads.  It was a Billboard topping hit, lasting 17 weeks on the charts; and it quickly became one of Bing’s signature tunes.  Only the Lamour solo “Constantly” is less than memorable.

A warning — Upon rewatching the Road series, I’ve found that each of the films includes some material that is problematic when viewed with Twenty-First Century eyes.  While the Arabs in the film are somewhat stereotypical, the racial depictions in Road to Morocco are not as troublesome as in the previous series entries.  However, there is a rather unfortunate scene in which Bob Hope pretends to be mentally challenged in order to trick the Moroccan venders into giving him free food.  The scene is the sole sour note in the most enjoyable Road so far.

With more laughs, better songs, and higher production values than the previous films, the third Road provided everything an audience could ask for (with the possible exception of a soft shoe number from Hope).  Audiences made Road to Morocco the biggest hit of the series, hitting #4 at the box office for 1942.  Unsurprisingly, Paramount would bring the band back together, but it would take three years before the increasingly demanding stars would approve a script and hit the Road once again.

USA/B&W-82m./Dir: David Butler/Wr: Frank Butler and Don Hartman/Cast: Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, Anthony Quinn, Dona Drake, Vladimir Sokoloff, Mikhail Rasumny, George Givot, Leon Belasco

For Fans of: If you love classic comedy teams (Abbott & Costello, Laurel & Hardy, The Marx Brothers, Martin & Lewis, etc.) but you haven’t seen the Road pictures, you should give Bing & Bob a try.

Video: Kino Lorber’s Blu-ray release of Road to Morocco is a loving representation of the film. Apart from a few minor scratches that you have to squint to see, the Black & White image is near flawless. The picture is sharp, has great contrast, and the grain structure of the 35mm film is intact.  The original mono audio is clear, and the musical sequences sound terrific.  In addition, the special features from prior DVD releases have been ported over onto the Blu-ray.

Special Features:

• Audio Commentary by film historian Jack Theakston
• Bob Hope and the Road to Success: A 14-minute vintage featurette covering how the Road picture series originated.  This feature is included on Kino Lorber’s Blu-ray releases of all of the first four Road pictures.
• Command Performance 1945: This five-minute excerpt from Army-Navy Screen Magazine presents filmed segments from a 1945 live recording of the Command Performance radio show.  Bob Hope hosts the show, which includes an appearance by comedian Jerry Colonna.
• Theatrical Trailers for the first four Road pictures
• Optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature

Streaming: The Road to Morocco can be rented or purchased in digital streaming format on Amazon, but it isn’t currently streaming on any of the major subscription services, such as NetFlix or Hulu.

More to Explore: By the end of this month, all the Road pictures will be out on Blu-ray— Road to Singapore, Road to Zanzibar, Road to Morocco, Road to Utopia, Road to Rio, and Road to Bali from Kino Lorber Studio Classics and Road to Hong Kong from Olive Films. They are all worth a watch. However, the middle three are generally considered the best.

Trivia: In the film, when Orville “Turkey” Jackson is asked for the date of his birth, he states “September 13th, 1913… on a Friday.”  In reality, Bob Hope was born on May 29th, 1903.  Apparently, the 39 year-old comedian was trying to knock ten years off his age.

For More Info: There have been many film references and individual biographies written about Bing, Bob, and Dottie, but for coverage of the Road series specifically, let me suggest the book Road to Box Office: The Seven Film Comedies of Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour, 1940-1962 by Randall G. Mielke.