Road to Bali (1953)

Really Surprised!

People are voting emotionally.

Great visuals, story delivers no surprises

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

George and Harold, down at heel song and dance men, forced to flee Australia, get involved in South Sea shenanigans in pursuit of the beautiful Princess Lala.Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour, in the 7th (of 8) and only colour Road adventure, deliver the mix of tomfoolery, wisecracks, song and dance routines which audiences had come to expect. If I mention that the goings on include singing sheep, a giant squid, treasure, a romantic gorilla and a volcano, then you may get some idea of the colourful nonsense you can expect.It's showing its age, but it's still good fun.

Well, they can't all be gems. This was probably the weakest of the Road pictures to date, although it does have beautiful Technicolor, elaborate sets, Dorothy Lamour, hilarious banter between Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, and quite a few laughs...not to mention cameos by Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis, Bing's brother Bob, and Jane Russell.Sadly, the one thing lacking is coherent script. What passes for a script would have been more at home in a 1950s Bob Hope television show. This script...and road...needed a map. Instead, it wanders from gag to gag, laugh to laugh, skit to skit. But there's no continuity. And please, do we really need to stoop to amorous gorillas????? I've always enjoyed Hope and admired Crosby...not to mention some darned good road pictures. And, I'm still glad to have this one. But, despite rather lavish color, this is like driving down a dirt road. I'm only giving this one a weak "7".Of note, the Kino-Lorber redo on Blu Ray is high quality. Great color, slightly grainy from time to time, but I doubt you'll ever see a better restoration for this pic.

When more than one writer is credited with a script, chances are the movie stinks. As if he knew this, the director had Bob and Bing breaking the fourth wall, and throwing in stuff that did nothing except bog the "story" down. It was the cinematic equivalent of watching a doctor desperately trying to revive a patient who is D.O.A.It was creepy that women young enough to be their daughters throw themselves at the boys. Indeed, the sexism and racism here is despicable! Were Bob's and Bing's egos' that fragile or that inflated? I couldn't decide which.How was it that the natives spoke perfect, unaccented English? Where did they get their fine clothes and jewels? How did they build that mansion? Bob, Bing, and Dorothy land on a supposedly deserted island, but spend the night in the swankiest hut ever built, and Dorothy romps in a man-made lagoon the next morning! Why did they throw in the tiger and the gorilla? How did Dorothy's evil cousin wind up where she wound up? Then, because the film makers ran out of ideas (not that they had any to begin with), they pull an Irwin Allen, and have a volcano erupt! Ninety minutes of torture, and our trio never do get to Bali (why they had to get to Bali is never explained). Instead, Bing, Dorothy, and Jane Russell (don't ask) walk toward a yacht anchored in the harbor (don't ask) as Bob frantically tries to stop the "movie" from ending (don't ask).Avoid this like the plague. Your brain cells will thank you.

I thought Mr. Crosby had a great voice. He should have had more singing time in the film. Mr. Hope seemed a bit hapless - perhaps he and Crosby were not ready for the film. They seemed very unrehearsed, especially during the "song and dance" bit.The movie is very dated. My grandmother says this "comedy" wasn't even funny, to her, back then. I believe these "native/road" movies sent a coded message that there would be a lot of "skin" time shown... well, this doesn't work, today. The players don't show all that much skin; perhaps, at that time, it was enough? The "clever" jokes (Sadie Thompson was the hooker in "Rain") seem not to move the characters along. Many of the scenes look disjointed, and cheap. The ending is a mild pick-up. Despite the obvious "come ons", the film is sexless. *** Road to Bali (11/19/52) Hal Walker ~ Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, Murvyn Vye