If you've never seen one of the Bing Crosby and Bob Hope "Road" pictures, then you shouldn't miss this one. Of course, if you've managed to miss all the others, it means either that you don't like movies or that you're young -- very young.
There's nothing wrong with being young, aside from the fact that you're dominated by the sea of hormones your internal organs swim in, you're beset by curious and unbidden throbs, and that you go around uttering hoarse, goaty cries. It's just that, in watching this funny comedy, you're likely to miss some of the topical jokes.
And, let's face facts, 1952, when this movie was released, is not 1941, when the first "Road" picture appeared, "The Road to Singapore," which served as a kind of plot-heavy notochord that provided the spine for the string of highly amusing sequels that appeared over the next five or six years -- roads to Zanzibar, Morroco, Rio and Utopia.
By 1952, the formula had about played itself out. The two leads are as full of zest and spontaneity as always, they don't look much older, Dorothy Lamour is as pleasant a presence as ever, and the musical numbers are as catchy as usual, written by the same team, but the gags are repetitive and less fresh.
It's worth catching, especially, as I say, if you're new to the genre. You may skip the geriatric antics of "The Road to Hong Kong."
There's nothing wrong with being young, aside from the fact that you're dominated by the sea of hormones your internal organs swim in, you're beset by curious and unbidden throbs, and that you go around uttering hoarse, goaty cries. It's just that, in watching this funny comedy, you're likely to miss some of the topical jokes.
And, let's face facts, 1952, when this movie was released, is not 1941, when the first "Road" picture appeared, "The Road to Singapore," which served as a kind of plot-heavy notochord that provided the spine for the string of highly amusing sequels that appeared over the next five or six years -- roads to Zanzibar, Morroco, Rio and Utopia.
By 1952, the formula had about played itself out. The two leads are as full of zest and spontaneity as always, they don't look much older, Dorothy Lamour is as pleasant a presence as ever, and the musical numbers are as catchy as usual, written by the same team, but the gags are repetitive and less fresh.
It's worth catching, especially, as I say, if you're new to the genre. You may skip the geriatric antics of "The Road to Hong Kong."