Product Details

• Actors: Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, Una Merkel, Eric Blore
• Directors: Victor Schertzinger
• Writers: Barney Dean, Don Hartman, Frank Butler, Sy Bartlett
• Producers: Paul Jones, William LeBaron
• Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, HiFi Sound, Original recording reissued, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Universal Studios
• VHS Release Date: October 8, 2002
• Run Time: 91 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302510147
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #325,739 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The second Road movie from Paramount Pictures finds barnstorming con artists Chuck Reardon (Bing Crosby) and Hubert "Fearless" Frazier (Bob Hope) at liberty after their act goes haywire. (In these movies, Crosby generally lures the suckers into the tent, while Hope is always stuck getting shot out of the cannon.) A phony map to a diamond mine brings our boys into the middle of Africa, which means there's a good chance they'll end up sitting in a cauldron while natives perform a cannibal dance around them. These stereotypes would be offensive if the movie wasn't actively parodying the kind of jungle movie popular in 1941 (just as Road to Morocco would satirize the Arabian nights picture). Dorothy Lamour is along for the ride, of course, and her scene in a tight clinch with Hope established a tradition of steamy comic exchanges through the series (as she croons a love song to him, he checks to see if his wallet is still in his pocket). This is the first Road movie to actively wink at the audience; in one scene, Lamour mocks the way movies always have characters break out into song in the middle of nowhere with a full orchestra backing--which is exactly what happens next. The chatter between Crosby and Hope already feels improvised, and it should be noted that the secret of their chemistry is not a sentimental friendship but a cheerfully hostile rivalry between the two characters, a cheeky approach that must've delighted audiences used to the Andy Hardy niceness of most Hollywood movies of that era. Oh, and they do their patty-cake routine, too. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "He Musta' Seen the Picture!", April 28, 2005

By 

Bobby Underwood "starlighthotel" (Manly NSW, Australia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Road to Zanzibar [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Bing and Bob's second outing is about as much fun as you can have at the movies. Bing's "Rhythm on the River" director of the previous year, Victor Schertzinger, allowed the boys to ad-lib so much screenwriters Don Hartman and Frank Butler must have been frantically turning pages trying to see where that line came from! The end result of Bing and Bob's great chemistry was a delightfully funny film with a couple of nice songs and a formula that lovely Dorothy Lamour and the boys would make legendary.

The film has a hilarious opening as Fearless Frazier (Bob) is about to be shot out of a cannon at a carnival by his pal Chuck (Bing). When things go south and the carnival burns to the ground, they take the show on the road. Chuck always has the ideas, as usual, which have "Fearless" doing everything from wrestling an octopus to becoming the human bat. One of Chuck's greatest ideas is to put Fearless in a lead coffin and submerge it in water. As for how Fearless is to escape, well Chuck hasn't quite worked out all the details yet!

And so it goes. There is some usual nonsense about a diamond mine the boys get hoodwinked into buying and in turn snooker someone else into buying, but it's only an excuse for the boys to end up in darkest Africa with the gorgeous Lamour. Donna Latour (Lamour) and her pal Julia (Una Merkel) are running a con pretending to be captured by slave traders when Julia discovers all that dough Chuck and Hubert (Fearless!) made off their diamond mine map and the girls decide to take them on safari, and take them for a ride!

Lamour is sexy and mischievous in her knee high socks and gorgeous hats but begins to worry her pal Julia when she starts to fall for one of the boys. Fearless thinks it's him, of course, when she gets his motor going singing "You're Dangerous" on a moonlit night. But the audience knows it's Chuck, even if there is a complication involving the rich guy named J. Theodore Bradley she's suppose to marry.

Some of the best moments come when the boys get lost and discover some drums in an old cave and begin to have fun. You can guess the rest! Will the boys be supper for the natives in the interior of darkest Africa? Will Lamour go with her heart and go for Chuck? It's certainly fun finding out as Bing and Bob throw the script out the window, filling Zanzibar with their easygoing charm and funny one-liners.

Dorothy Lamour is really pretty here and was the perfect choice to partner with the boys. They just seem like they belong together, both then and now. Victor Young does the music score and Bing gets to sing to Lamour while they're rowing on the river. Watching this one is a fun way to remeber Bing and Bob, who are no longer with us. But as long as great films like this one are available, their memories will remain forever.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Road Picture, January 21, 2005

By 

Jim O'Brien "JamesMark" (Franklin, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Road to Zanzibar (DVD)

This road picture is my off again, on again pick for the best one. Utopia and Zanzibar both are excellent.

The first half hour of this movie just flies by everytime I watch it. It always seems like the pace slows down once they hook up with Dorothy Lamour. Nothing against Dottie, per se, but she is not funny. Great actress, great singer, but she couldn't get a laugh if her life depended on it. Some pretty good lines are given to her, and they fall flat every time.

But the boys are in top form here. Great scene at the night club where they are forced to do an impromptu dance and comedy routine.

The plot doesn't always make sense, but it doesn't seem to matter. I read where the competition between Bing and Bob to be the funnier guy was pretty intense during the filming of Zanzibar ... and maybe that's why the final product is so very funny.

A lot of laughs in The Road to Zanzibar.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great "Road" Picture!, November 4, 2001

By 

Alex Udvary (chicago, il United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Road to Zanzibar [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I personally think that this movie is better than "Road to Morocco", the movie some claim to be the best of the "Road" pictures. It managed to get an Oscar nomination for it's screenplay! Crosby plays Chuck Reardon and Hope is "Fearless" Frazier, that right there is funny. Hope? Fearless! You must be joking lol. They are a couple of con men who perform varies "stunts" at a circus. Hope has to wrestle snakes and bears, and finds himself as the "human bullet". He gets shot out of a cannon. And, that's when all their trouble starts. They burn down the circus lol. And are on the run from the police. I love old-fashion comedies like these. Then again, my opinion may be a bit bias, since I grew up watching these type of movies. I just wish Hollywood could make more films like them. Once Hope and Crosby are on the run, guess who they run into? Dorothy Lamour! Legend has it Lamour had to literally fight to say her lines. Hope and Crosby we're ad-libing so much, sometimes the director had no idea what was going to happen! This is such a great silly, amusing film. You can tell everyone had a good time making this. Hope and Crosby started to play "in jokes" on us. By making several references that THEY ARE IN A MOVIE! All the way through the "Road to Zanzibar" I had a hugh smile on my face. And, how could one not enjoy this film. We have Crosby here to sing a few songs. Hope is here for the laughs, and boy can he provide them! And Lamour is here to keep me up at nights lol. It's just a winning combination. There are a lot of funny moments in this film, but, I don't want to spoil them by giving them away. Buy or rent this film if you're ever a bit down. Or you just want a good laugh. Una Merkel co-stars and Eric Blore has a small bit part (as usual).