Road to Morocco (1942)

hyped garbage

Great Film overall

An Exercise In Nonsense

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Knock off one point for no color. Other than that, I thought that this was a very hilarious film.I didn't want to watch any Road pictures. I thought that they would be stupid and boring.This was interesting. Hope and Crosby had lots of humor, some deadpan and wry. The singing with Lamour and mixing the voices was hilarious.Anthony Quinn was young and hunky here. His costuming was excellent.The talking camels were extremely funny. I laughed out loud.Hope said that the desert had all of the contents of hourglasses that were broken, or something like that. That was funny.Lamour's sidekick was very pretty.

Outrageous farce scripted in the exotic settings of exploding ships, journeys by foot and camel over endless sand dunes, and exotic bazaars and palaces, palace girls and sheiks. Most appropriate for kids and those who laugh easily, but I found much of the humor funny. Many consider this the best of the series. However, I find it difficult to single out one as better than the rest.There were a number of moderately good songs, mainly in the first half, perhaps to entice the viewers to expect more in the second half. Bing got 2 solos: "Ain't Got a Dime to my Name", and "Moonlight Becomes You", the latter the most popular song in the film. It was reprised in the second half, with stars Crosby, Bob Hope , and Dorothy Lamour, taking turns singing parts of it. Bing and Hope had an early duet while on camels : "We're off on the Road to Morocco". Dorothy got one solo in "Constantly". The tunes were composed by Jimmy Van Heusen, with lyrics by Johnny Burke. Mostly Dorothy just lay around in opulent palace surroundings, promised to wed Sheik MulBay Kasim(Anthony Quinn), until she met these 2 former stowaways. Evidently, she strongly preferred an American husband, as did the palace girl Mihirmah(Dona Drake). Initially attracted to Hope, Dorothy soon changed her mind when she overheard Bing serenading her with "Moonlight Becomes You". This opened the door for Mihirmah throwing herself at Hope.Actually , Dorothy's young ambition was to be a band and radio singer, rather than actress, which she accomplished. Her best received early films were those in she played an exotic woman, such as "jungle girl", even though she doesn't look exotic to me. In contrast, Dona Drake, who played Mihirmah looked ethnic, perhaps Polynesian. She also was mainly a band singer in her early career and was friends with Dorothy, who pressured Paramount to sign her. However, she soon decided she was better off free lancing.I don't understand why Hope went in the "powder room" to smoke, hence causing the ships in the beginning and ending to blow up? Why wasn't he killed or at least maimed in the explosions??Incidentally, the 2-humped Bactrian camels shown wouldn't likely be in Morocco. They are best adapted to north central and east Asia, with fierce winters.

Hope and Crosby are two childhood fighting pals, first on a raft at sea, then reaching a desert shore. A camel finds them and they ride to Morocco. With no money, Crosby sells Hope into slavery (without the latter's knowledge), only to find him with the local princess, who he now wants for herself. Rivalry and treachery ensue.Yes, the movie is old, silly escapist entertainment for a worried wartime audience, but still works today thanks to broad if crazy humor and great performances by the leads, who also take jibes at their employers and government censors without overdoing it. Classic songs also make the experience enjoyable.

The third "Road" film has Hope and Crosby lost at sea and winding up in Morocco as prospective grooms for princess Lamour, unaware that she's to be widowed a week after the wedding. Although the script lacks a narrative flow that would sustain the comedy, the gags come at a rapid pace, including asides to the audience. There's even a talking camel worried about his film career, commenting "this is the screwiest picture I was ever in." Of course there are musical interludes, including the funny title song. Hope and Crosby seem to be having a lot of fun, with the former doing double duty as the late Aunt Lucy, who speaks to the boys from the beyond.