Road to Bali

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Road to Bali

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Hal Walker
Produced by Daniel Dare
Written by Frank Butler
Hal Kanter
Starring Bing Crosby
Bob Hope
Dorothy Lamour
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date(s) 19 November 1952 (USA)
Running time 91 min.
Language English
Preceded by Road to Rio
Followed by The Road to Hong Kong
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

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

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

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.

[edit] Songs

  • "Chicago Style"
Lyrics by Johnny Burke - Music by Jimmy Van Heusen
Performed by Bing Crosby and Bob Hope
  • "Moonflowers"
Lyrics by Johnny Burke - Music by Jimmy Van Heusen
Performed by Dorothy Lamour
  • "Hoot Mon"
Lyrics by Johnny Burke - Music by Jimmy Van Heusen
Performed by Bing Crosby and Bob Hope
  • "To See You Is To Love You"
Lyrics by Johnny Burke - Music by Jimmy Van Heusen
Performed by Bing Crosby
  • "The Merry-Go-Run-Around"
Lyrics by Johnny Burke - Music by Jimmy Van Heusen
Performed by Bing Crosby, Dorothy Lamour, and Bob Hope

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] External links

In other languages