The Road to Hong Kong (1962)

Mistaken identity and the acquisition of a rare Tibetan herb put two buffoonish con men on the wrong side of a secret organization geared toward world domination.

Director:

Norman Panama

Writers:

Melvin Frank, Norman Panama

Stars:

Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Joan Collins

Cast

Cast overview:
Bing Crosby	...	Harry Turner
Bob Hope	...	Chester Babcock
Joan Collins	...	Diane
Robert Morley	...	Leader of the 3rd Echelon
Walter Gotell	...	Dr. Zorbb
Felix Aylmer	...	Grand Lama
Alan Gifford	...	American Official
Michel Mok	...	Undetermined Role (as Michele Mok)
Katya Douglas	...	3rd Echelon Receptionist
Roger Delgado	...	Jhinnah
Robert Ayres	...	American Official
Mei Ling	...	Ming Toy
Jacqueline Jones	...	Blonde at Airport
Yvonne Shima	...	Poon Soon
Dorothy Lamour	...	Dorothy Lamour

Storyline

Bob Hope and Bing Crosby return as con men Chester Babcock and Harry Turner, in the last of their road movies. When Chester accidentally memorizes and destroys the only copy of a secret Russian formula for a new and improved rocket fuel, they are thrust into international intrigue, trying to stay alive while keeping the formula out of enemy hands.

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Plot Keywords:

sea | monk | underwater installation | herbs | rocket | 

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Taglines:

The last of the red hot Lamas!

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Genres:

Comedy | Musical | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Passed

Did You Know?

Trivia

The only Hope-Crosby "Road" movie to be filmed in widescreen, though it was made in "spherical" widescreen. All of the earlier "Road" movies had been filmed in the standard 5x4 screen ratio (later known as the "NTSC" American television standard).

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Goofs

Visiting a Tibetan monastery in 1962 would have been utterly impossible. Following the 1959 Tibetan revolt, Mao's Great Leap forward had the monasteries forcibly closed at the cost of up to 200,000 Tibetan lives and utterly isolated the entire country.

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Quotes

Chester Babcock: Who do you think they'll be shooting at - you or the schnook with the I.B.M. machine up his univac?

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Connections

Referenced in The Graham Norton Show: Dame Joan Collins/Richard Madden/Lily James/Paul Hollywood/DNCE (2016)

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Soundtracks

Teamwork
Music by Jimmy Van Heusen
Lyrics by Sammy Cahn
Performed by Bob Hope and Bing Crosby
Also performed by Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and Joan Collins

User Reviews

The Road Ends In Hong Kong

This turned out to be the end of a great cycle of comedy films. Two mega-individual stars, pooling their talents to come up with comedy classics.

Since this was the only Road picture not done on the Paramount lot it has a whole different feel to it and not for the better. Unfortunately the decision was made to dump Dorothy Lamour from her traditional role as sex object for Crosby and Hope to pant over. Joan Collins was years away from her career role as Alexis Carrington. Here she's just not into the same spirit of things that Dotty was. Dotty was brought in and did one of her numbers Warmer Than A Whisper towards the end of the film.

It's been pointed out that 29 year old Collins looked ridiculous falling for 58 year old Crosby. I can see the case for it, but I would remind everyone that four years earlier, Bing in fact took as his second wife, a woman with just such an age difference.

One of the inside jokes of the film was that Hope's name in the film was Chester Babcock which is the birth name of Jimmy Van Heusen who wrote so many film scores for Crosby. Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn contributed a ballad for Bing dueted with Collins called Let's Not Be Sensible. And Bob and Bing get two patter numbers, Teamwork and the title tune. There's a lot less music in this outing and that's not for the better of the film.

Still the film has some good comedic moments the best of which involve a hilarious scene in a Hindu doctor's office with an unbilled Peter Sellers as the doctor. The doctor advises Hope to take a cure for amnesia at a hidden lamasery, a la Shangri La, where they find David Niven committing Lady Chatterley's Lover to memory. And at the end when the boys and Collins arrive on another planet in a surreal ending they find Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin waiting for them.

Among the rest of the supporting cast Robert Morley as a mad scientist and chief villain and Felix Aylmer as the Grand Lama stand out.

Before Crosby died in 1977, he Hope and Lamour and signed to do still another film entitled Road to the Fountain of Youth. I wish it had been done. Road to Hong Kong is all right, but not up to the standards of those wacky days at Paramount.

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 May 1962 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Road to Hong Kong

Filming Locations:

Hong Kong, China

Company Credits

Production Co:

Melnor Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1