Main Cast: Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Dorothy Lamour, Murvyn Vye, Peter Coe
Release Year: 1953
Country: US
Run Time: 90 minutes
Plot
This sixth entry in the Crosby-Hope-Lamour "Road" series was the first (and last) in Technicolor. This time, Bing Crosby and Bob Hope play George Cochran and Harold Gridley, American vaudevillians stranded in Australia. To avoid a dual shotgun wedding, George and Harold sign on as deep-sea divers for sinister South-Sea-island prince Ken Arok (Murvyn Vye). After a contretemps with an octopus (courtesy of stock footage from Reap the Wild Wind), our heroes sail to the prince's Balinese homeland, where they meet and fall in love with gorgeous Princess Lalah (Dorothy Lamour). Though Lalah favors George, she feels obligated to Harold, because he resembles her childhood best friend -- a chimpanzee (this must be seen to be believed). When Ken Arok attempts to usurp Lalah's throne, she and the boys escape to a tropical island, where they meet the inevitable slapstick-comedy gorilla. More adventures await the intrepid trio on another island, this one dominated by an active volcano. Who gets the girl in this one? A hint: the loser tries to physically prevent the "The End" title from flashing on the screen during the final fadeout. Though not as fresh and spontaneous as earlier "Road" endeavors, Road to Bali has its fair share of non sequitur gags, inside jokes and unbilled guest appearances (including Martin and Lewis, Bing's brother Bob Crosby, Humphrey Bogart and Jane Russell). Best bit: when Crosby feels a song coming on, Hope turns to the camera and hisses "He's gonna sing, folks. Now's the time to go and get your popcorn." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
The plot for Road to Bali is pretty thin stuff, even for one of the "Road" pictures. This does, however, place more of a burden on our trio of stars and on the quality of the jokes and songs; while there's nothing really wrong with any of these elements, things still don't really come together to make Bali the boffo fun that it wants to be. Even moreso than in previous entries in the series, there's an abundance of self-referential humor and light genre parodies -- and comic cameo appearances are taken to a bit of a ridiculous extreme. But even so, Bali is amiable and undemanding fun, and if Bob Hope and Bing Crosby don't have the inspired lunacy that they had in Road to Morocco, they still work like a well-oiled machine (with Dorothy Lamour as the lever that often gets them started). Bali also benefits from being shot in Technicolor. There aren't any real location shots, just studio sets, but they positively drip with rich, savory color. Lamour gets the best song, "Moonflowers," and Crosby does quite nicely with the mediocre "To See You." Not the best "Road" show, Bali nonetheless is enjoyable and occasionally very funny. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Leon Askin - Ramayana; Ralph Moody - Bhoma Da; Michael Ansara - Guard; Humphrey Bogart - Himself (spoof of The African Queen); Sue Casey - Handmaiden; Larry Chance - Attendant; Jack Claus - Specialty dancer; Jean Corbett - Handmaiden; Harry Cording - Verna's father; Bob Crosby - Himself; Patricia Dane; Roy Gordon - Eunice's father; Bernie Gozier - Bo Kassar; Katharine Hepburn; Carolyn Jones - Eunice; Jan Kayne - Verna; Richard Keene - Conductor; Al Kikume - Warrior; Judy Landon; Donald Lawton - Employment Agency Clerk; Allan Nixon - Eunice's brother; Betty Onge - Handmaiden; Jane Russell - Guest Star; Raymond Lee; Jerry Lewis - Himself; Dean Martin - Himself; Herman Cantor - Priest; Jerry Groves - Lesser Priest; Charles Mauu - Warrior; Patti McKaye; Satini Puailoa - Warrior; Bhogwan Singh; Kuka Tuitama
Credit
Hal Pereira - Art Director, J. McMillan Johnson - Art Director, Charles O'Curran - Choreography, Edith Head - Costume Designer, Hal Walker - Director, Archie Marshek - Editor, Joseph Lilley - Composer (Music Score), Joseph Lilley - Musical Direction/Supervision, Wally Westmore - Makeup, George Barnes - Cinematographer, Daniel Dare - Producer, Harry Tugend - Producer, Sam Comer - Set Designer, Ross Dowd - Set Designer, Gene Merritt - Sound/Sound Designer, John Cope - Sound/Sound Designer, Frank R. Butler - Screen Story, Frank R. Butler - Screenwriter, Hal Kanter - Screenwriter, William Morrow - Screenwriter
Having to leave Melbourne, Australia in a hurry to avoid various marriage proposals, two song-and-dance men sign-on to work as divers. This takes them to an idyllic island on the way to Bali where they vie with each other for the favours of Princess Lala. The hazardous dive produces a chest of priceless jewels which arouses the less romantic interest of some shady locals.
Production
Road to Bali was the first "Road to..." picture since 1947's Road to Rio, and was known during production as The Road to Hollywood. It was the sixth film in the series, and the next to last to be made, as well as the last "Road" film to star Dorothy Lamour. The film was a co-production of Bing Crosby Enterprises, Hope Enterprises and Paramount.[1]
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 and the erupting volcano climax was taken directly from the Paramount production Aloma of the South Seas (1941) also starring Lamour.
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, as her character from the 1952 film Son of Paleface. The cameo by Martin and Lewis were part of a 'comedy trade' where they made an appearance in this movie, while Hope and Crosby appeared in Martin and Lewis's Scared Stiff the following year. Martin and Lewis also made films for Paramount at the time.
Songs
"Chicago Style" - performed by Bing Crosby and Bob Hope
Due to irregularities with its copyright, Road to Bali has lapsed into the public domain. Columbia Pictures Television (in joint venture with LBS Communications through what was then Colex Enterprises) once had the television rights to this film in the 1980s, along with other Bob Hope movies from the 1940s and 1950s. This is evident in a home video release from the mid-1990s, where a CPT logo can be seen at the beginning and end of the film.
Because the film is in the public domain, there have been at least a dozen DVD releases from a variety of companies over the years. However, both CPT successor Sony Pictures Television and what is now FremantleMedia hold ancillary rights to this film, and official video releases have been issued under license from FremantleMedia (and its predecessor companies All-American Television and Pearson Television), the most recent DVD and HD-DVD releases coming from BCI Eclipse.
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 Scottishbagpipes.
As with the other Road movies, Bob Hope breaks the "fourth wall" several times to make side comments to the audience. For example, as the music for a song sung by Bing Crosby begins, Hope looks to the camera and says, "He's gonna sing, folks. Now's the time to go out and get the popcorn."
Crosby breaks the fourth wall where, in one instance, after Hope "notices" the audience is paying attention as Hope is about to tell Crosby how he escaped from the giant squid, Hope and Crosby walk away from the camera, Hope then tells his story in exaggerated pantomime (out of earshot), and then Crosby walks back toward the audience and shrugs at the camera.
