The Hope and Crosby Road pictures were very popular in the 1940s and "The Road to Morocco," the third in the series, shows them at about their best. Well, maybe "Zanzibar" was at the top, with "Utopia" not far behind. The climax in this one depends a little too much on minor gimmicks like dribbling glasses, exploding cigarettes, and whoopee cushions. A weakness easily overlooked.
The plot takes them to a fairy tale Morocco, more Arabian Nights and Hollywood than French colony. The men wear white suits and fez caps or turbans. The women wear diaphanous veils and tiaras. Dorothy Lamour turns up as a princess who, her fortune tellers say, must marry a man she cares nothing about because he is fated to die a violent death within the week, freeing Lamour to marry the powerful sheik Anthony Quinn. That man she cares nothing about and chooses to marry is Bob Hope. Crosby muscles in on Hope, not knowing what the sooth sayers sayeth.
It's all nonsensical and none of it is taken seriously by the actors, the writers, or the viewers. Even when Crosby is serenading Lamour with a pretty little ballad, "Moonlight Becomes You," he tries to pick a rose to bring her and pricks his finger instead. Some of the sight gags are pretty amusing -- Crosby and Hope imitating mechanical men, when a fly lands on Hope's nose. It's not the only joke involving Hope's notorious nose, and there's a reference to the size of Crosby's ears as well. I don't want to reveal too many of the amusing incidents, but I always laugh when a girl tries to wake up Hope. He shrugs her off, rolls over in bed, and mumbles, "Okay, Ma, I'll get a job tomorrow." And Crosby's line: "Junior, how can you do this to me? Why we went to school together. We were in the same class for years -- until I got promoted."
The script has no hesitation in breaking the fourth wall or slinging anachronisms, self references, or in-jokes around. When Hope asks how they got out of the tight spot we last saw them in, Crosby looks at the camera suspiciously, then leans over and whispers his reply into Hope's ear in order to keep it a secret from us. Some of the gags may be lost on younger, less sophisticated viewers. "Aunt Lucy" shows up as a ghost, giving advice and scolding the two men from time to time. Crosby makes some comment about Aunt Lucy's being dead but you can't keep her down. "Not Aunt Lucy," Hope agrees, "She's a Republican." (Kids: This movie was made midway through the unprecedented, and now illegal, third term of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a Democrat.) I've always enjoyed the relationship between Hope and Crosby in these movies. Both are greedy, libidinous cowards, ready to double cross one another at the first glimpse of a dollar bill or a woman's ankle. (In this one, Crosby sells Hope into slavery to pay for a restaurant meal.) But neither is superior to the other in any way, unlike other popular comedy teams such as Abbott and Costello or Martin and Lewis. These guys are both equally stupid and despicable.
Lots of fun.
The plot takes them to a fairy tale Morocco, more Arabian Nights and Hollywood than French colony. The men wear white suits and fez caps or turbans. The women wear diaphanous veils and tiaras. Dorothy Lamour turns up as a princess who, her fortune tellers say, must marry a man she cares nothing about because he is fated to die a violent death within the week, freeing Lamour to marry the powerful sheik Anthony Quinn. That man she cares nothing about and chooses to marry is Bob Hope. Crosby muscles in on Hope, not knowing what the sooth sayers sayeth.
It's all nonsensical and none of it is taken seriously by the actors, the writers, or the viewers. Even when Crosby is serenading Lamour with a pretty little ballad, "Moonlight Becomes You," he tries to pick a rose to bring her and pricks his finger instead. Some of the sight gags are pretty amusing -- Crosby and Hope imitating mechanical men, when a fly lands on Hope's nose. It's not the only joke involving Hope's notorious nose, and there's a reference to the size of Crosby's ears as well. I don't want to reveal too many of the amusing incidents, but I always laugh when a girl tries to wake up Hope. He shrugs her off, rolls over in bed, and mumbles, "Okay, Ma, I'll get a job tomorrow." And Crosby's line: "Junior, how can you do this to me? Why we went to school together. We were in the same class for years -- until I got promoted."
The script has no hesitation in breaking the fourth wall or slinging anachronisms, self references, or in-jokes around. When Hope asks how they got out of the tight spot we last saw them in, Crosby looks at the camera suspiciously, then leans over and whispers his reply into Hope's ear in order to keep it a secret from us. Some of the gags may be lost on younger, less sophisticated viewers. "Aunt Lucy" shows up as a ghost, giving advice and scolding the two men from time to time. Crosby makes some comment about Aunt Lucy's being dead but you can't keep her down. "Not Aunt Lucy," Hope agrees, "She's a Republican." (Kids: This movie was made midway through the unprecedented, and now illegal, third term of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a Democrat.) I've always enjoyed the relationship between Hope and Crosby in these movies. Both are greedy, libidinous cowards, ready to double cross one another at the first glimpse of a dollar bill or a woman's ankle. (In this one, Crosby sells Hope into slavery to pay for a restaurant meal.) But neither is superior to the other in any way, unlike other popular comedy teams such as Abbott and Costello or Martin and Lewis. These guys are both equally stupid and despicable.
Lots of fun.