The Road To Laughter

Remember when AMC, American Movies Classics was the best channel around for old movies. They promoted film preservation & refused to run commercials. Now they edit large chunks out of their films & have a disgusting number of commercials. On the other hand, Turner Classic Movies is one of the best channels on TV. Lots of theme days & months. All the films are shown without commercial interuption, unedited & in Letterbox if they were filmed in wide screen format. I have particularly enjoyed their "Thin Man" Marathons, featuring William Powell & Myrna Loy as the loveable & charming alcoholic sleuths Nick & Nora Charles. However, today, 8/4/04 is tribute day to Bob Hope. This evening is a marathon of six of the seven "Road" pictures he made with Bing Crosby & Dorthy Lamour. Only "Road To Rio" is left out. I haven't seen these in a while & I had almost forgotten how funny Hope & Crosby were together. Hard to imagine since, Laurel & Hardy aside, they essentially invented the "Buddy" picture. What follows is my ranking of these comedy classics. (Rating: 0 to 4 Stars) #1- "ROAD TO BALI" 1952 (Paramount, director Hal Walker, 91 minutes, COLOR) Bob & Bing go diving for treasure. The 6th & only color "Road" epic has the most great songs, including: "Chicago Style", "The Merry-Go-Runaround" & "Hoot Mon". (****) #2- "ROAD TO MOROCCO" 1942 (Paramount, director David Butler, 83 minutes, b&w) Nominated for 2 Ocsars (Screenplay & Sound recording) The snappy title theme song & "Moonlight Becomes You" are wonderful. Especially the version of "Moonlight" where Hope, Crosby & Lamour sing in each others voices. (***1/2) #3- "ROAD TO UTOPIA" 1946 (Paramount, director Hal Walker, 90 minutes, b&w) Bing & Bob warble the classic "Put It There Pal" as they head to Alaska in search of gold. (***1/2) #4- "ROAD TO RIO" 1947 (Paramount, director Norman McLeod, 100 minutes, b&w)Bob & Bing teach The Weire Brothers, 3 non-English speaking street musicians, 3 american phrases: "Your telling me", "Your in the Groove Jackson" & "This is murder". They use only those phrases anytime they have to speak in english. Still funny every time I watch it. The Andrews Sisters & Jerry Colonna are along for the romp as well. (***1/2) #5- "ROAD TO ZANZIBAR" 1941 (Paramount, director Victor Schertzinger, 89 minutes, b&w) The music in this one is fairly forgetable but the film is funnier than "Singapore" as they began to find their formula. (**1/2) #6- "ROAD TO SINGAPORE" 1940 (Paramount, director Victor Schertzinger, 84 minutes, b&w) First in the series. Good effort but the formula hadn't been found yet in this script originally written for Burns & Allen. (**) #7- "THE ROAD TO HONG KONG" 1962 (United Artists, director Norman Panama, 91 minutes, b&w) Weakest entry of the group as age is beginning to show on the boys. Especially when they are pursuing a young Joan Collins, replacing Dorthy Lamour who was reduced to a token appearance. Lots of cameos, including Peter Sellers, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, David Niven & Jerry Colonna. (*1/2)