ROAD TO BALI

'''Road to Bali''' is a 1952 comedy film starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour. It was released by Paramount Pictures and is the sixth of the seven ''Road to...'' movies. It was the only such movie filmed in color and was the first to feature surprise cameo appearances from other well-known stars of the day.

Contents

Plot

Songs

Trivia

DVD Release

External links

Plot

Hope and Crosby play two song-and-dance men - George Cochran and Harold Gridley - who have to leave Melbourne in order to avoid several marriage proposals. They sign on as divers and wind up on the way to the exotic island of Bali, where they romance the Princess Lala. The dive that they undertake uncovers a chest full of jewels, which arouses the interest of local hoodlums.

Songs

★ '"Chicago Style"', performed by Bing Crosby and Bob Hope

★ '"Moonflowers"', by Dorothy Lamour

★ '"Hoot Mon"', Bing Crosby and Bob Hope

★ '"To See You Is To Love You"', Bing Crosby

★ '"The Merry-Go-Run-Around"', Bing Crosby, Dorothy Lamour, and Bob Hope
All lyrics by Johnny Burke, and music by Jimmy Van Heusen.

Trivia

★ Among the celebrities who made token "gag" appearances in this film are bandleader Bob Crosby (Bing's brother), Humphrey Bogart (by way of a clip from ''The African Queen''), Jerry Lewis, Dean Martin, and Jane Russell. The cameo by Martin and Lewis were part of a 'comedy trade' where they made an appearance in this movie, while Hope & Crosby appeared in Martin & Lewis's ''Scared Stiff'' the following year.

★ In keeping with the film's Commonwealth setting, which takes Crosby and Hope from Melbourne, Australia, to the exotic island of Bali, many of the jokes contain references to Argyle socks, Australian opera singer Dame Nellie Melba, Tasmanian-born Errol Flynn, and a dance routine featuring Scottish bagpipes.

★ The giant squid that threatens Bob Hope in an underwater scene was previously seen attacking Ray Milland in the Paramount production ''Reap the Wild Wind'' directed by Cecil B. DeMille.

★ The erupting volcano climax was taken directly from the Paramount production ''Aloma of the South Seas'' (1941) also starring Lamour.

★ As with the other Road movies, Bob Hope breaks the "fourth wall" several times to make side comments to the audience, e.g. "He's (Crosby) gonna sing, folks. Now's the time to go out and get the popcorn."

★ 'Goof:' Crosby says "...we can get our speedometers turned back..." The odometer is the part on a used car that gets turned back to make it appear to be new.

★ Crosby's version of "To See You Is to Love You" is featured in Alfred Hitchcock's ''Rear Window'' (1954) without giving credit to Crosby or the songwriters.

DVD Release

★ Due to irregularities with copyright, ''Road to Bali'' is the only entry in the "Road" series to lapse into the public domain. As such, there have been at least a dozen DVD releases from a variety of companies over the years.

External links

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★ Free to download clips from the movie in Windows and Real Media formats