Road to Zanzibar (1941)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Victor Schertzinger

Writers:

Don Hartman (story) and
Sy Bartlett (story) ...

Release Date:

11 April 1941 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Comedy | Musical | Romance

Tagline:

IT'S THAT GLEESOME THREESOME AGAIN! Giving you your worth in mirth! Toping all the fun in "Road to Singapore!" (original print media ad, includes misspelling of "Topping")

Plot:

Stranded in Africa, Chuck and his pal Fearless have comic versions of jungle adventures, featuring two attractive con-women.

Plot Keywords:

Africa | Fire | Diamond Mine | Safari | Carnival

Cast

Bing Crosby	...	Chuck Reardon
Bob Hope	...	Hubert 'Fearless' Frazier
Dorothy Lamour	...	Donna Latour
Una Merkel	...	Julia Quimby
Eric Blore	...	Charles Kimble
Douglass Dumbrille	...	Slave trader
Iris Adrian	...	French soubrette in cafe
Lionel Royce	...	Monsieur Lebec
Buck Woods	...	Thonga
Leigh Whipper	...	Scarface
Ernest Whitman	...	Whiteface
Noble Johnson	...	Chief
Joan Marsh	...	Dimples, helper in Human Cannonball act
Luis Alberni	...	Native booth proprietor
Robert Middlemass	...	Police inspector

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

USA:Passed | Finland:S | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #6869)

Filming Locations:

Imperial County, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

Originally, this film was not supposed to be a sequel to Road to Singapore (1940); in fact, Bing Crosby and Bob Hope were not even supposed to be in it. The film was first offered to Fred MacMurray and George Burns, who both rejected it. While assembling a list of contract Paramount stars to offer it to, someone at the studio remembered that "Road to Singapore" had done relatively well, and Hope and Crosby "seemed to work well together", so it was offered to them. The rest, as they say, is history.

Quotes:

Hubert 'Fearless' Frazier: [Cannibal burps] Must've been someone he ate.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Remington Steele: Cast in Steele (#3.9)" (1984)

Soundtrack:

AFRICAN ETUDE

Jungle Nonsense

This early entry in the Hope and Crosby canon may be their best. The Don Hartman gags are still fresh, and Bob and Bing are young enough to be romantic leads, which indeed they are. A spoof of the kind of jungle adventure movie popular at the time, one's enjoyment of this now more than sixty year old film may depend in part on the kind of movie it's making fun of, otherwise it might seem just plain absurd. It is anyway. Absurd I mean. Also very funny. The studio jungle looks like a studio jungle, which only adds to the air of the ridiculous, as does Bing's breaking into song at odd moments. Leading ladies Dorothy Lamour and Una Merkel are good foils for (as they used to call them) the boys. Good fun, and a great movie for the holidays.