Road to Singapore

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Road to Singapore
1940 movie poster
Directed by	Victor Schertzinger
Produced by	Harlan Thompson
Written by	Frank Butler & Don Hartman (screenplay) Harry Hervey (story)
Starring	Bing Crosby Dorothy Lamour Bob Hope Charles Coburn Judith Barrett Anthony Quinn Jerry Colonna
Music by	Victor Young
Cinematography	William Mellor
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	March 14, 1940
Running time	85 min
Country	USA
Language	English
Followed by	Road to Zanzibar
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Road to Singapore is a 1940 Paramount Pictures film starring Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and Dorothy Lamour which marked the debut of the long-running and popular "Road to..." series of pictures starring the trio.

According to Hope biographer Raymond Strait, the project which became Road to Singapore was first offered to Fred MacMurray and Jack Oakie, and after they declined, to George Burns and Gracie Allen, with a second male lead to be determined. They also declined. (Burns is quoted as saying that Gracie "thought the whole thing was silly.") At this point, Paramount decided to pair Hope and Crosby, and to take advantage of the screen popularity of Lamour, who had already made several lucrative pictures with a "South Seas" theme.

Although the Road to Singapore script was written by established filmwriters Frank Butler and Don Hartman and the film was directed by Victor Schertzinger, much of the action on the screen consists of material ad libbed by Hope and Crosby on the spur of the moment. The film also starred Charles Coburn and Jerry Colonna and marked a very early appearance in a major picture by Anthony Quinn, playing a "bad guy" role. The plot is very slight, and serves mainly as a vehicle to promote Crosby's musical numbers and Hope and Crosby's banter.

The film was an immediate box office success, helped in large measure by good reviews and by Hope's promotion of it on his weekly radio show. It was probably also aided by Hope's hosting, for the first of many times, of the annual Academy Awards show for 1939 pictures, considered by many film historians to have been the best single year in the history of the American cinema.

[edit] Songs

• "Captain Custard"

Lyrics by Johnny Burke - Music by Victor Schertzinger

Performed by Bing Crosby and Bob Hope

• "The Moon and the Willow Tree"

Lyrics by Johnny Burke - Music by Victor Schertzinger

Performed by Dorothy Lamour

• "Sweet Potato Piper"

Lyrics by Johnny Burke - Music by James V. Monaco

Performed by Bing Crosby, Dorothy Lamour and Bob Hope

• "Too Romantic"

Lyrics by Johnny Burke - Music by James V. Monaco

Performed by Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour

• "Kaigoon"

Lyrics by Johnny Burke - Music by James V. Monaco

Performed by chorus

[edit] References

Strait, Raymond, Bob Hope: A Tribute New York: Pinnacle Books ISBN 0-7860-0606-4, 2003

[edit] External links

• Road to Singapore at the Internet Movie Database
• Road to Singapore at All Movie Guide