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''Road to Bali'' is a 1952 American comedy film directed by
Hal Walker Hal Walker (March 20, 1896 – July 3, 1972) was an American film director. He was known for doing some of the earliest Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis films such as ''At War with the Army'' and '' Sailor Beware'' and some with the team of Bing Cro ...
and starring
Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...
,
Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was a British-American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer and dancer. With a career that spanned nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in Bob Hope filmography, more than 70 short and ...
, and
Dorothy Lamour Dorothy Lamour (born Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton; December 10, 1914 – September 22, 1996) was an American actress and singer. She is best remembered for having appeared in the '' Road to...'' movies, a series of successful comedies starring Bing ...
. Released by Paramount Pictures on November 19, 1952, the film is the sixth of the seven ''
Road to … ''Road to ...'' is a series of seven comedy films starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour. They are also often referred to as the "''Road''" pictures or the "''Road''" series. The movies were a combination of adventure, comedy, ...
'' movies. It was the only entry in the series filmed in Technicolor and was the first to feature surprise cameo appearances from other well-known stars of the day.


Plot

George and Harold, American song-and-dance men performing in Melbourne, Australia, leave in a hurry to avoid various marriage proposals. They end up in Darwin, where they take jobs as deep sea divers for a prince. They are taken by boat to an idyllic island on the way to
Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and N ...
, Indonesia. They vie for the favors of exotic (and half-Scottish) Princess Lala, a cousin of the Prince. A hazardous dive produces a chest of priceless jewels, which the Prince plans to claim as his own. After escaping from the Prince and his henchmen, the three are shipwrecked and washed up on another island. Lala is now in love with both of the boys and can't decide which to choose. However, once the natives find them, she learns that in their society, a woman may take multiple husbands, and declares she will marry them both. While the boys are prepared for the ceremony, both thinking the other man lost, plans are changed. She's being unwillingly wed to the already much-married King, while the boys end up married to each other. Displeased with the arrangement, a volcano god initiates a massive eruption. After fleeing, the three end up on yet another beach where Lala chooses George over Harold. An undaunted Harold conjures up Jane Russell from a basket by playing a flute. Alas, she, too, rejects Harold, which means George walks off with both Lala and Jane. A lonesome Harold is left on the beach, demanding that the film shouldn't finish and asking the audience to stick around to see what's going to happen next.


Cast

*
Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...
as George Cochran *
Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was a British-American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer and dancer. With a career that spanned nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in Bob Hope filmography, more than 70 short and ...
as Harold Gridley *
Dorothy Lamour Dorothy Lamour (born Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton; December 10, 1914 – September 22, 1996) was an American actress and singer. She is best remembered for having appeared in the '' Road to...'' movies, a series of successful comedies starring Bing ...
as Princess Lala McTavish *
Murvyn Vye Marvin Wesley Vye Jr. (July 15, 1913 – August 17, 1976) was an American character actor. He is best known for portraying Prince Ken Arok in the comedy film ''Road to Bali''. Early years Vye was born in Quincy, Massachusetts, and educat ...
as Prince Ken Arok * Peter Coe as Gung *
Ralph Moody Ralph Moody (September 10, 1917 – June 9, 2004) was an American stock car racer. He eventually became a team co-owner of Holman Moody. Background He built his first Model T Ford race car in 1935, and ran it on nights and weekends. He served ...
as Bhoma Da * Leon Askin as King Ramayana *
Carolyn Jones Carolyn Sue Jones (April 28, 1930 – August 3, 1983) was an American actress of television and film. Jones began her film career in the early 1950s, and by the end of the decade had achieved recognition with a nomination for an Academy ...
as Eunice *
Michael Ansara Michael George Ansara (April 15, 1922 – July 31, 2013) was an American actor. He portrayed Cochise in the television series '' Broken Arrow'', Kane in the 1979–1981 series '' Buck Rogers in the 25th Century'', Commander Kang in '' Star Tr ...
as Guard * Harry Cording as Verna's father *
Steve Calvert Steve Calvert (born William Seeger; June 28, 1916, Peoria, Illinois – died March 5, 1991, Los Angeles County, California) was a prolific gorilla suit performer in many Hollywood films and television shows from the late 1940s through the 1950s. H ...
as Gorilla


Cameo appearances

Among the celebrities who made token "gag" appearances in this film are bandleader
Bob Crosby George Robert Crosby (August 23, 1913 – March 9, 1993) was an American jazz singer and bandleader, best known for his group the Bob-Cats, which formed around 1935. The Bob-Cats were a New Orleans Dixieland-style jazz octet. He was the younge ...
(Bing's brother),
Humphrey Bogart Humphrey DeForest Bogart (; December 25, 1899 – January 14, 1957), nicknamed Bogie, was an American film and stage actor. His performances in Classical Hollywood cinema films made him an American cultural icon. In 1999, the American Film Ins ...
, by way of a clip from '' The African Queen'', Jerry Lewis,
Dean Martin Dean Martin (born Dino Paul Crocetti; June 7, 1917 – December 25, 1995) was an American singer, actor and comedian. One of the most popular and enduring American entertainers of the mid-20th century, Martin was nicknamed "The King of Cool". M ...
, and Jane Russell, as her character from the film ''
Son of Paleface ''Son of Paleface'' is a 1952 American Comedy Western film directed by Frank Tashlin and starring Bob Hope, Jane Russell, and Roy Rogers. The film is a sequel to '' The Paleface'' (1948). Written by Tashlin, Joseph Quillan, and Robert L. We ...
'' (1952). The cameo by
Martin and Lewis Martin and Lewis were an American comedy duo, comprising singer Dean Martin and comedian Jerry Lewis. They met in 1945 and debuted at Atlantic City's 500 Club on July 25, 1946; the team lasted ten years to the day. Before they teamed up, Martin w ...
was part of a 'comedy trade' whereby they made an appearance in this movie while Hope and Crosby appeared in Martin and Lewis's '' Scared Stiff'' the following year. Martin and Lewis also made films for Paramount at the time.


Production


Development

''Road to Bali'' was the first ''Road to...'' picture since ''
Road to Rio ''Road to Rio'' is a 1947 American semimusical comedy film directed by Norman Z. McLeod and starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour. Written by Edmund Beloin and Jack Rose, the film is about two inept vaudevillians who stow away o ...
'' (1947), and was known during production as ''The Road to Hollywood''. It was the sixth film in the series, the next to last, as well as the final ''Road'' film in which Dorothy Lamour's role would be the female lead. (Nine years later, ''
The Road to Hong Kong ''The Road to Hong Kong'' is a 1962 British semi-musical comedy film directed by Norman Panama and starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope, as well as Joan Collins, with an extended cameo featuring Dorothy Lamour in the setting of Hong Kong under B ...
'' instead featured
Joan Collins Dame Joan Henrietta Collins (born 23 May 1933) is an English actress, author and columnist. Collins is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award, a People's Choice Award, two Soap Opera Digest Awards and a Primetime E ...
, with a cameo by Lamour.) Filming started on April 21, 1952, and continued until July of the same year. ''Road to Bali'' was a co-production of Bing Crosby Enterprises, Hope Enterprises and Paramount.TC
Notes
/ref>


Filming

The giant squid that threatens Bob Hope in an underwater scene was previously seen attacking Ray Milland in the Paramount production '' Reap the Wild Wind'' (1942), directed by
Cecil B. DeMille Cecil Blount DeMille (; August 12, 1881January 21, 1959) was an American film director, producer and actor. Between 1914 and 1958, he made 70 features, both silent and sound films. He is acknowledged as a founding father of the American cinem ...
. The erupting volcano climax was taken directly from the Paramount production '' Aloma of the South Seas'' (1941), also starring Lamour.


Writing

In keeping with the film's initial setting of Melbourne, Australia, many of the jokes contain references to Argyle socks, Australian opera singer
Dame Nellie Melba Dame Nellie Melba (born Helen Porter Mitchell; 19 May 186123 February 1931) was an Australian operatic dramatic coloratura soprano (three octaves). She became one of the most famous singers of the late Victorian era and the early 20th centur ...
, Tasmanian-born
Errol Flynn Errol Leslie Thomson Flynn (20 June 1909 – 14 October 1959) was an Australian-American actor who achieved worldwide fame during the Golden Age of Hollywood. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles, frequent partnerships with Oliv ...
, and a dance routine featuring
Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
bagpipes Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, N ...
. As with the other Road movies, Bob Hope breaks the "
fourth wall The fourth wall is a performance convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this ''wall'', the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. From the 16th cen ...
" several times to make side comments to the audience. For example, as the music for a song sung by Bing Crosby begins, Hope looks to the camera and says, "He's gonna sing, folks. Now's the time to go out and get the popcorn." Crosby breaks the fourth wall after Hope "notices" the audience is paying attention when he's about to tell Crosby how he escaped from the giant squid. Hope and Crosby walk away from the camera and Hope tells his story in exaggerated pantomime (out of earshot). Crosby then walks back toward the audience and shrugs at the camera.


Sets

Hope Enterprises owned one-third of the film and Bob Hope wrote about this in his book ''This Is on Me''.
"There are other pleasant things about owning part of a picture. In the ''Road to Bali'' there was a beach scene for which tons of beautiful white sand had been trucked in from Pebble Beach. I had just put in a one-hole golf course at my house on Moorpark Street in North Hollywood. I had four sand traps standing empty, with nothing in them in which my friends could leave their hoof prints. When I saw that sand a light switched on in my head. “We own two-thirds of this sand, don’t we?” I asked. “Sure,” Bing said. “Why?” “Well,” I replied, “I’d like some of it for my course at home.” When he said, “Why not?” I called the prop man and said, “Take ten truck-loads of this sand out to my house when we’re done with it.” “No dice,” he said. “This is Paramount’s sand.” Bing and I had another talk with the boys in the front office. As a result, part of the ''Road to Bali'' is in my back yard.


Reception

Paramount hired the Bijou Theatre in New York City on November 14, 1952, to preview the film to exhibitors and critics. Hope was not happy that Paramount only spent $150,000 promoting the film compared to the $300-$400,000 he expected. The film opened in the United States on December 25, 1952, and opened in fourth position at the box-office. The New York premiere of the film took place at the Astor Theatre on January 29, 1953.
Bosley Crowther Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his ...
of '' The New York Times'' was very enthusiastic in his review of January 30, 1953:
"it is apparent that this veteran and camera-scarred team is the neatest, smoothest combo of comics now working the fun side of the screen. Apart, they may be very funny or clever or quaint or what you will, according to where you are sitting and what sort of picture they’re in. But together, and in a 'Road' picture, with the consequent freedom of style and reckless impulse that goes with it, they are pretty nigh nonpareil. At least, that's the word of this reviewer who spent a small part of yesterday falling out of a seat at the Astor while desperately clutching his sides. The reason? Quite simply, ''Road to Bali'' is a whoopingly hilarious film, full of pure crazy situations and deliciously discourteous gags, all played with evident relish and split-second timing by the team."
'' Variety'' was more cautious, having seen a preview, and their comments may have resulted in the removal of a couple of scenes:
"Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour are back again in another of Paramount’s highway sagas, this time in Technicolor, with nonsensical amusement its only destination. That end is reached eventually, but the road isn’t a smooth highway and the entertainment occasionally falters. Overall, however, it serves its intended purpose satisfactorily and the grossing prospects are okay...Hal Walker’s direction is geared to the free-wheeling spirit that dominates the script and does well by it, as do the three stars and the featured cast."
An extended choreographed version of "The Road to Bali" song which was cut from the final print has surfaced in recent years, and Paramount chief
Adolph Zukor Adolph Zukor (; hu, Zukor Adolf; January 7, 1873 – June 10, 1976) was a Hungarian-American film producer best known as one of the three founders of Paramount Pictures.Obituary ''Variety'' (June 16, 1976), p. 76. He produced one of America's ...
revealed in his autobiography that an expensive water ballet sequence was cut from the film too.


Soundtrack

The music for all songs was written by
Jimmy Van Heusen James Van Heusen (born Edward Chester Babcock; January 26, 1913 – February 6, 1990) was an American composer. He wrote songs for films, television and theater, and won an Emmy and four Academy Awards for Best Original Song. Life and caree ...
and Johnny Burke. Van Heusen's birth name was Edward Chester Babcock. For the final ''Road'' picture, ''
The Road to Hong Kong ''The Road to Hong Kong'' is a 1962 British semi-musical comedy film directed by Norman Panama and starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope, as well as Joan Collins, with an extended cameo featuring Dorothy Lamour in the setting of Hong Kong under B ...
'', Hope's character was called Chester Babcock. When
Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American ...
was recording the songs from the movie, they did not use Dorothy Lamour. Peggy Lee recorded the Lamour vocals. * "Chicago Style" by Bing Crosby and Bob Hope * "Moonflowers" by Dorothy Lamour * "Hoots Mon" by Bing Crosby and Bob Hope * "To See You Is to Love You" by Bing Crosby * "The Merry-Go-Run-Around" by Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour and Bing Crosby * "The Road To Bali" by Bing Crosby and Bob Hope (recorded commercially, but only used in the opening credits as sung by a chorus). Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Peggy Lee recorded all of the songs for
Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American ...
and these were issued on a 10" LP. Crosby's songs were also included in the Bing's Hollywood series.


Legacy

''Road to Bali'' was parodied in 1953 in the animated short '' Alley to Bali'', with Woody Woodpecker and
Buzz Buzzard Buzz Buzzard is a fictional animated character who appeared in several films produced by Walter Lantz Productions in the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. History Buzz is an anthropomorphic common buzzard and scammer making efforts to scam Woody Wo ...
in the Hope and Crosby roles. The cartoon was released by
Universal Studios Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...
, which currently owns the first four ''Road to...'' films.


Copyright status

The film was copyrighted under registration LP2200 1 January 1953. That registration entry also shows "in notice: 1952", meaning that is the year in the copyright notice on the film. The copyright was renewed under RE105899 dated 1 September 1981. However, according to copyright law, when the "in notice" year is earlier than the calendar year of the official registration, the
copyright term The copyright term is the length of time copyright subsists in a work before it passes into the public domain. In most of the world, this length of time is the life of the author plus either 50 or 70 years. Length of copyright Copyright subsists f ...
begins in the earlier year (1952 in this case). Therefore, for films registered for copyright in 1950 and later, the window for a valid renewal was the 28th calendar year of the original copyright term.'' Film Superlist: Motion Pictures in the U.S. Public Domain (1950-1959)'', page 509. For ''Road to Bali'', the 28th year was 1980, which means the film had already fallen into the public domain when the copyright was renewed in 1981.


Home media

Columbia Pictures Television Columbia Pictures Television, Inc. (abbreviated as CPT) was launched on May 6, 1974, by Columbia Pictures as an American television production and distribution studio. It is the second name of the Columbia Pictures television division Screen Gems ...
(in joint venture with
LBS Communications The Lexington Broadcast Services Company (first known as Lexington Broadcast Services and later known as LBS Communications) was a television production and syndication company formed on November 15, 1976, by advertising pioneer Henry Siegel, wh ...
through what was then
Colex Enterprises Colex Enterprises was a joint venture company between Columbia Pictures Television and LBS Communications, Inc., active from January 30, 1984, to November 24, 1986. The name of the joint venture is a portmanteau of the two companies' names (Columbi ...
) once had the television rights to this film in the 1980s, along with other Bob Hope movies from the 1940s and 1950s. This is evident in a home video release from the mid-1990s, where a CPT logo can be seen at the beginning and end of the film. Because the film is in the public domain, there have been at least a dozen DVD releases from a variety of companies over the years. However, Fremantle now holds ancillary rights to this film (as the successor in interest to
LBS Communications The Lexington Broadcast Services Company (first known as Lexington Broadcast Services and later known as LBS Communications) was a television production and syndication company formed on November 15, 1976, by advertising pioneer Henry Siegel, wh ...
), and official video releases have been issued under license from Fremantle, with DVD and HD-DVD releases coming from BCI Eclipse. A Blu-Ray was released on July 5, 2017, by
Kino International The Kino International is a film theater in Berlin, built from 1961 to 1963. It is located on Karl-Marx-Allee in former East Berlin. It hosted premieres of the DEFA film studios until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Today it is a protecte ...
.


References


External links

* * * * * * {{Martin and Lewis 1952 films 1952 musical comedy films 1952 romantic comedy films American adventure comedy films American buddy films American musical comedy films American comedy road movies American romantic comedy films American romantic musical films Films directed by Hal Walker Films set in Indonesia Paramount Pictures films Self-reflexive films Articles containing video clips 1950s English-language films 1950s American films