Product Details

• Actors: Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, Murvyn Vye, Peter Coe (III)
• Format: Black & White, Color, EP, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 2
• Studio: Anchor Bay
• VHS Release Date: September 18, 1995
• Run Time: 190 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6303811140
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #461,333 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best of the Road series, with one small glitch, April 29, 2003

By 

Mike Ritter (Phoenix, AZ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Road to Rio (DVD)

This has always been my favorite film in my favorite film series. And I agree with the other reviews here that the Brentwood DVD boasts a nice crisp print, courtesy of the UCLA Film Archives. However, there is one inexplicable mistake in the video transfer. Movies such as this that predate widescreen format generally fit neatly into a standard TV picture frame with only minimal clipping on all sides. But "letterboxing" is not just for wide-screen movies. In the better DVD and video versions of pre-widescreen movies the opening credits are often letterboxed on all four sides so that the viewer can see the entire frame without the names being clipped off at the beginning or end (hence the word "letterbox").
Such is the case with this version of Road to Rio. There is a 4-sided letterbox around the opening credits, but the frame of the film is not adjusted to fit inside the letterbox! So instead of allowing us to see the entire frame, the letterboxing here actually masks a large portion of the picture. (This is really unfortunate because the opening credits are quite clever, with the names of the stars literally dancing along a cartoonish painting of the Copacabanna beach to the tune of "Brazil.") As you watch the credits you will notice the clumsy pan-and-scan as the frame is consciously maneuvered within the letterbox to follow the shifting position of names and credits. This of course, defeats the whole purpose of letterboxing, and begs the question, "What were these people thinking?" They obviously knew the picture did not fit the letterbox!
The reason this is so annoying is that Director Norman Z. McLeod (perhaps the most accomplished comedy director of the entire "Road" series) was a cartoonist and drew a series of amusing little stick-figure caricatures of the cast and crew that appear in the lower right hand corner of Road to Rio's opening credits. This was a trademark of McLeod's; he did this in some of his earlier comedies as well. Unfortunately the ham-fisted letterboxing almost completely obscures these drawings. I know this sounds like a minor complaint, but Rio's opening titles are the best in the series and really set the tone for the whole movie. Someone really had to go out of their way to mess up an otherwise excellent presentation of this film. An earlier VHS version of Road to Rio released by Columbia Home Video managed to letterbox the opening credits properly.
It's a shame that Road to Rio and Road to Bali are not owned by Universal (which owns all of Paramount's pre-1948 releases including the first four "Road" films). Universal's "Road" DVDs are technically beautiful. If Rio and Bali could have been part of Universal's DVD set, fans would've been very fortunate. Alas Rio and Bali are owned by Bob Hope Enterprises. As is often the case with older films whose copyrights are not held by major studios with the resources to do them justice, these two great films (as well as several other Hope classics owned by Hope Enterprises) have had a very inconsistent existence on home video.
May 2003 marks not only the 100th birthday of the great Mr. Hope, but Bing Crosby would also have been 100 years old this month! (Bing was 27 days older than Bob). Even with the letterboxing glitch, this DVD of Road to Rio is a wonderful way to celebrate the centennial of one of Hollywood's greatest comedy teams. Happy Birthday, Bob!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Quick Trip..., July 26, 2001

By 

Leealike "Leealike" (London) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Road to Rio (DVD)

This is a review of the STERLING/PEARSON DVD "Bob Hope Film Collection" edition (with the green cover!) I hope that helps set this apart from the other editions and reviews...

The film is a good example of the Road movies - it's no Utopia or Morocco, but it's still very entertaining. Lamour is ravishing whilst Hope and Crosby wise-crack and soft-shoe with the best of 'em. All in all a four star movie.

However, this DVD has a rather pathetic amount of extras (ie. none), a fair-to-middling print and a very low audio track. My suggestion is to find another DVD edition. At the end of the day - we all want to upgrade from VHS to DVD, so why settle for an edition that is estentially lower quality?

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good and wholesome family entertainment!!, June 21, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Tooele, Utah) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Road to Bali/Road to Rio [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The "road" series are tremendous fun. Despite having seen these movies many times over we still enjoy them each and every time that we watch them. My wife and I have introduced these classics to our children who have become avid fans of Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour. When you think of Bob Hope you naturally think of the ROAD series. This is comedy that you can share with your family without fear inappropriate content. Enjoy!!