Customer Reviews

Road to Utopia

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour made seven "Road" films in total and all were great entertainment and worth seeing (except perhaps for their last one "The Road to Hong Kong" (1962) which was something of a disappointment and not up to the standards of the earlier films). However, "Road to Utopia" in my opinion was one of the best and has not become dated over the years. The film is very fast moving with gag following gag, talking animals, Bob Hope's remarks to the camera, and even has comedian Robert Benchley interrupting proceedings to give a running commentary on the film as it progresses! Dorothy Lamour provides the glamour and adds a song or two.

Duke Johnson (Bing Crosby) and Chester Hooton (Bob Hope) are struggling entertainers down on their luck who travel to Alaska. Killers Sperry and McGurk steal a vital map showing the location of a gold mine. Our two heroes manage to obtain the map and decide to impersonate Sperry and McGurk which leads them into more trouble than they could have imagined. Along the way they meet saloon singer Sal Van Hoyden (Dorothy Lamour) and as usual both men compete for her charms. With the real Sperry and McGurk hot on their trail plus other assorted villains after them Hope and Crosby get into many tight corners but they still find time for some great songs along the way including "Put It There Pal" which is a typical Hope-Crosby number.

Some favourite lines from the film:

Bob Hope (to Bing Crosby): "I didn't think there was one more way to get the cops after us but you found it!".

Hope (to Crosby): "Next time I'll bring Sinatra". (When Crosby loses a talent contest on board ship).

Hope (to Crosby): "It may be a mountain to you but it's bread and butter to me!".

Hope (to Douglass Dumbrille): "I'll take a lemonade .... in a dirty glass".

I have always been a big fan of Bob Hope and as a young schoolboy and then later as a teenager I used to wait eagerly with anticipation for each new Bob Hope picture to arrive at our local cinema. They didn't always come up to expectations but if it was a "Road" film then I was pretty sure that it would be O.K. Bob Hope and Bing Crosby were two of the biggest stars to come out of Hollywood in the 30's and 40's and although the "Road" films never won any "Oscars" they certainly brought an enormous amount of pleasure to a lot of people during that time and can still be enjoyed today.

BOOKS. For a more detailed look at the "Road" series of films take a look at a fascinating book by Randall G. Mielke entitled "The Road to Box Office: the Seven Film Comedies of Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour, 1940-1962".

This is hardly an original insight, but anyone who dismisses Bob Hope as the tiresome, unfunny comic from those dreadful 1960s 'comedies' he appeared in is missing out on a real national treasure - his films up to around 1952 are hysterically funny, and his ROAD entries with cohorts Crosby and Lamour are among the best of 'em. Hope, along with the brilliant Preston Sturges, had restored Paramount to the comedy throne they'd occupied in the early 30s; from the lavish budget and attention to period detail throughout UTOPIA, it's obvious that the studio was not ungrateful. For my money, ROAD TO UTOPIA is the funniest film he ever made (though there are half-a-dozen others close on its heels). As in all ROAD movies, the engine powering the vehicle was the lightning-quick banter between the two leads; Crosby smooth as snake-oil, Hope perpetually suspicious and cowardly. And with excellent reason - no straight man ever victimized a foil the way Bing routinely does to Bob. ROAD movies always threaded their satires of B-movie plots (this one spoofing Robert W Service-style frozen-North melodrama) with plenty of topical humor, much of it capitalizing on the fans' awareness of the stars' personal foibles (Crosby's rivalry with Sinatra, his investments in thoroughbreds, Hope's disastrous box-office returns in LET'S FACE IT), and there's a goodly amount of what's now referred to as 'breaking the fourth wall' (they talk directly to the audience at varying points). What elevates UTOPIA just over the others is the sky-high breezy confidence of everyone involved this go-around. The cast and crew, coming off ROAD TO MOROCCO, were on a roll and knew it, and they ride that momentum for all it's worth (Hope's constant kibitzing is particularly hilarious). Der Bingle gets to groan a couple of subpar songs (as opposed to MOROCCO's highlights - 'Ho Hum' and 'Moonlight Becomes You' - this outing's 'It's Anybody's Spring' and 'Welcome To My Dream' are instantly forgettable) but the team's 'Put It There, Pal' is infectious fun and Miss Lamour's 'Personality' is sexy and sprightly. A further note on Lamour - she's luxuriously beautiful here, an ice-cream sundae with curves (why she's never ranked with the decade's top screen sirens is unfathomable: she's every bit the looker that Lake, Grable, Hayworth & Sheridan were, and a better singer besides). My apologies for not quoting any of the zingers from the script, but there are just too many of them to play favorites with. ROAD TO UTOPIA is well worth the effort it'll take you to track down; get cracking.

Classic 1946 comedy "Road to Utopia", the 4th in the "Road" series, starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour. After their Morocco jaunt in 1942, Crosby, Hope and Lamour spent four years making their separate successes, before rejoining to go back in time on an anachronistic Alaskan adventure in "Road to Utopia", a film that was nominated for a "Best Original Screenplay" Oscar and which is even crazier than its predecessor, with a talking fish taking over from Morocco's comical camel, the addition of narrator Robert Benchley and an ending so outrageous it's a wonder they managed to sneak it past the censor! The Johnny Burke-Jimmy Van Huesen score includes "Put it There, Pal", "Good Time Charlie" and "Personality". Surrealism, songs, slapstick- a fantastically funny flick and an essential for fans of Hope, Crosby, Lamour or crazy comedy in general. An American classic!

If you've seen the other "Road" films, you'll love this one. Bob Hope and Bing Crosby are up to their usual antics with Dorothy Lamore right in the middle. The two guys are funny, witty, and as impromptu as ever.

The Movie stars Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour. This one has a story and it is full of fun surprises making it my favorite of all of the Road To Movies. Movies made back then.. were clean and were made to entertain. This one is a success.

Great series of movies. The seven Road pictures are classic in my opinion. Everything is clean, the humor is classic.

Road to Utopia was not a bad film, but if you compared to the other Road films [On the Road With Bob Hope and Bing Crosby Collection (Road to Singapore/Road to Zanzibar/Road to Morocco/Road to Utopia)] probably the least funny or interesting.

The film starts out well with Bob and Bing as old men who are bragging about their adventure in Utopia (the Alaskan gold fields). Then a guy pops in and says "this is a flashback" and away we go.

We start with two bad guys who murder the father of a beautiful girl (Dorothy Lamour, naturally) and run off with a map to a gold mine.

The map is the thing everyone in the film goes after (the "weenie" in Hollywood talk) but really it's all about Bob and Bing who wisecrack and croon their way through this film. The constant jokes start to wear a bit thin and the plot line is even thinner!

There is the occasional narrator who pops in at the upper left part of the screen to explain a scene or two. This was explained earlier in the film where this guy would pop in to explain parts of the plot that were not clear to the audience, but was in fact just a gag to keep the film rolling along.

Dorothy does not get a lot of speaking parts as she falls for the guys, especially Bob.

The jokes are rather lame and Bing's songs are not very memorable. Road to Morocco was much better with its silly plot and romantic possibilities. Road to Utopia is fine but not nearly as funny. For the Bing & Bob completist.

Bing, Bob, and Dottie in another fun-filled romp, this time through the frozen landscape of Alaska in the early 1900's. Some great gags with plenty of laughs along with some quite lovely tunes. . ."Welcome to My Dream", and "Personality" being just a couple. Road to Utopia takes on everything we have seen before in the previous three Road films, and presents the gags, the songs, and the themes that make a Road film a Road film, in a fresh and original way giving forth a cornicopia of fun and playfulness that makes watching this movie a real reel pleasure.

This road picture is my co-favorite with Zanzibar. I just think that there are more funny lines per minute in these two than any of the others.

I read where they (Paramount) held off on releasing this picture because Bing was in the running for the academy award (for his performace in "Going My Way" ... and he would eventually win) and they didn't want to jeopardize his chances of winning.

He's a rogue here ... that's for sure. And Bob is his patsy ... again.

There's a nice little song on the deck of the ship. There's a talent contest, and the boys would lose out ... to a monkey. But it's a nice little number. Later on Dorothy Lamour sings "Personality", and is her usual charming self ... with a nice little Betty Boop accent.

But this road picture is aided by the sly commentary of Robert Benchley, and there is little or no lull in the fun.

My teenaged son loves classic movies, and he's a huge fan of all the Bob Hope/Bing Crosby "Road" pictures. This is his favorite one, and I can see why. There's a chuckle a minute on this "Road to Utopia," as well as some enjoyable songs by Crosby, Hope and Dorothy Lamour.

...I would agree that there are some memorable one liners in this "Road" picture, but you really have to see and hear them in context.

This is a good one, just for laughs. Corny, but fun!