Road to Singapore

Avoiding arranged marriages, shipping heir Bing Crosby (as Joshua "Josh" Mallon) and carefree pal Bob Hope (as "Ace" Lannigan) run away to Singapore. They swear off work and women, and then find both in pretty native Dorothy Lamour (as Mima). Eventually, the men begin falling in love with Ms. Lamour, and she likes them both. They work out attractions while getting into local trouble. This was the first in an initially unplanned series of "Road to…" pictures starring Mr. Hope and Mr. Crosby, with Lamour adding the necessary sex appeal. Proving himself handy with a bull whip is handsome young Anthony Quinn (as Caesar). The pleasant soundtrack hit is Crosby's "I'm Too Romantic". An obvious screen chemistry multiplied the co-stars' individual appeal.

***** Road to Singapore (3/14/40) Victor Schertzinger ~ Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, Anthony Quinn

I recently watched the first 4 Road to...movies and I found this one to be the least engaging. Don't get me wrong; Hope and Crosby are having a blast. The gags mostly land. The songs are humble. The film moves at a good pace. I can understand it launching the series. But the writing isn't as sharp or as meta as the series would come alone. Overall this was more of a lark than anything.

I was surprised by the fairly homosocial (if not homoerotic) subtext and it was funny squinting the story into a couple of old queens fleeing normalcy. I wish the film played up that angle a little more but you know it was 1940.

Delightful nonsense that kicked off the whole Road series. The songs and their staging are especially charming and fit right into the nonsense— where else, for example, can you catch such non- perennials as 'Captain Custard' and 'Sweet Potato Piper'. Plus that jungle chant along with the bevy of half-clad native girls is about the sexiest thing on film. Of course, Bing and Bob keep the chuckles coming without half trying. Their chemistry is just superb.

Seems Bing's the son of a wealthy hard-driving businessman (Coburn) who wants Bing to eventually take over. Trouble is Bing and his buddy Bob just want to be regular guys (read typical 1930's concern for the 'common man'.) So, with Dorothy, they escape to Singapore. But Dad's hot on their trail. Meanwhile, the guys get to sample native life, while Dorothy's on the spot trying to choose between them. Quinn's role as an Apache dancer with a whip is colorful but incidental. My only gripe is with "comedian" Colonna. His ear-piercing screeches are anything but amusing. In fact, I don't know what they're supposed to be.

Anyway, the boys put a whole new slant on the kid's rhyme 'Patty Cake, Patty Cake'. So if you hear it, duck! All in all, Paramount came up with a great slice of amusing nonsense, with a trio that still delights.

Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour may never have been the Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald of the 1930s and 1940s Hollywood musicals, but anything they ever recorded during this period was better than any of the painful operetta stuff of the latter screen duo. Brilliant songs are featured once again, including `Too Romantic' and `The Willow and the Moon'.

ROAD TO SINGAPORE essentially is a romantic comedy with mass complications of playboys with serial patty-pan punching techniques, cheating people with soapsuds cleaner and both falling for Dottie. The slapstick gags featured are not as hilarious as the definitive film of the series, ROAD TO MOROCCO, but due to the enormous success of SINGAPORE, the trio's comedy skills allowed for a continuing series in which the progressing films became zanier.

Generally good direction, an agreeably funny script and a supporting cast headed by Charles Coburn only amounts to part of the fun.

However, once again Paramount, and in a more generalised context, Hollywood itself, displays its lack of understanding for foreign culture. Singapore, or the island in question, which isn't actually Singapore, looks like an extremely undeveloped Malaysia. The natives don't actually convince one of being native, nor do any of the ceremonial activities trick for one second.

Dorothy Lamour, although an exquisitely beautiful actress, does not resemble an islander native, although it isn't exactly her fault.

In the same manner, some people may find this film offensive, or any of the ROAD films because they are not a true representation for any culture. But most movies made during this period simply didn't have much regard to exact details of foreign lands. And in such a brilliant comedy, it doesn't really matter.

Rating: 10/10

I love the "Road" series (I've seen all except "Zanzibar"), and I'm glad that someone saw the potential to become a great series that "Road to Singapore" had. I might not have seen this potential from the first film; the jokes were weaker and sparser than some of their later work. But many of the jokes were funny, and they even worked some drama in there, something missing from their later films; you can decide for yourself if this is a good thing or a bad thing. It's worth checking out, but see "Morocco" and "Utopia" first (and maybe "Zanzibar").