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Road to Utopia
USA 1946
produced by Paul Jones for Paramount
directed by Hal Walker
starring Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Dorothy Lamour, Hillary Brooke, Douglass Dumbrille, Jack LaRue, Robert Barrat, Nestor Paiva, Robert Benchley, Will Wright
written by Norman Panama, Melvin Frank, music by Leigh Harline
Road to ..-series, Hope & Crosby
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Bing Crosby tricks Bob Hope into going to Alaska just in time for the
gold rush, & on the boat there they even find a map to a gold mine.
Thing is, the map was in the possession of Sperry (Robert Barrat) &
MacGurk (Nestor Paiva) who have stolen it from Dorothy Lamour's father,
whom they have murdered - & these 2 cutthroats aren't likely to let
go off the map that easily. Lamour meanwhile has hooked up with Ace
Larsen (Douglass Dumbrille) though, who promises her to get the map back
- what he fails to mention of course is, that he is planning to keep the
mine. However, our boys manage to overthrow Sperry & MacGurk &
even take on their identities ... & thus they become the most feared
duo in the Alaskan town. But Dorothy Lamour uses her seductive charms on
both Hope & Crosby to get the map ... but, after Larsen has already
taken off in a dogsled, she learns she only got half the map. Soon
everyone's on their way up North on dogsleds, Larsen & gang, &
Hope & Crosby, searching for the mine (but each party with only half
the map), Dorothy Lamour searching for the other half of the map, &
Sperry & MakGurk, trying to get back at Hope & Corsby, & as
such situations tend to work out in the Road-movies, soon Hope
& Crosby end up in a hut with Dorothy Lamour, who wants to trick
them but then falls for Bing Crosby, & Larsen's moll Kate (Hillary
Brooke), also out for the second half of the map. Of course, the women
succeed & our boys are left running from Sperry & MacGurk the
next day without any half of the map. But Dorothy Lamour doesn't fare
that much better, as she soon ends up locked up by Larsen, who doesn't
need her anymore, & it's up to our boys to save not only themselves
from a hanging commitee but also her from the evil clutches of Larsen.
The do so by blowing up Larsen's place with Sperry & MacGurk inside
& escaping with Lamour from the hanging commitee & Larsen's men.
In the end though, they get seperated & Bob Hope (for a change) ends
up with the girl while Bing Crosby promises to protect their rear. Here
the narration stops inexplicably (but not unintended) to be picked up 35
years later when Crosby meets up again with Bob Hope & Dorothy
Lamour (who have since married & have a son (Bing Crosby again, who,
as Bob Hope points out "was adopted").
Robert Benchley does a pretty funny job as on-screen narrator, with
comments such as "This scene was cut in after I've seen the picture
so I don'T really know what's going on."
Fourth in the Hope-Crosby-&-Lamour Road-series, which are
all consistently good (though none of them is a genuine masterpiece),
& which work not so much because of their gags (let alone story or
songs) but the great almost antagonistic chemistry between their leads,
which does permeate the whole series.
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review © by Mike Haberfelner
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Robots and rats,
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love and death and everything in between,
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