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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
The Bob Hope/Bing Crosby/Dorothy Lamour "Road" pictures were the most successful film series until someone named James Bond came along. The Road To Hong Kong was a belated final entry - a nice idea but one executed on a miserly budget when the stars were somewhat past their peak. The script roughly follows the dependable formula of the earlier films and, while not as funny or as charming as the classic Road To Morocco, still provides a fair amount of amusement. It is certainly not the overcooked turkey that some people claim.
Cheaply filmed in England in black and white on cardboard sets and with special effects that would have made Ed Wood proud, the film relies a lot on the audience's affection for Hope and Crosby. The interplay and patter of their double act, so finely tuned over the years, is still a major attraction. Poor Dorothy Lamour is reduced to a guest star spot while the female lead is given to Joan Collins looking amazingly fresh and sexy. One of the main embarrassments of the film is the love scenes between a visibly aging Crosby and the svelte young Collins. But, apart from that, she works quite well with the old troupers. And Robert Morley has a fun turn as a Dr No-type villain.
For me, though, the real star is Bob Hope in his trademark role as a professional coward with delusions of being a great lover. Whether tossing off a succession of quips or performing slapstick (with the aid of an obvious double) he breathes more life into the film than it possibly deserves. One of Hope's best scenes is with a pre-international stardom Peter Sellers who plays an eccentric Indian doctor in a cameo. It is both fascinating and funny to witness this encounter between comic geniuses from different generations.
Yes, yes, yes...I know the film is creaky and looks older than it actually is. But it is also a lot of fun and has its heart in the right place. It is certainly no worse than many of the Carry On films. Hope and Crosby may have been past their prime, but what they had left over was more than some film comics started out with.
Cheaply filmed in England in black and white on cardboard sets and with special effects that would have made Ed Wood proud, the film relies a lot on the audience's affection for Hope and Crosby. The interplay and patter of their double act, so finely tuned over the years, is still a major attraction. Poor Dorothy Lamour is reduced to a guest star spot while the female lead is given to Joan Collins looking amazingly fresh and sexy. One of the main embarrassments of the film is the love scenes between a visibly aging Crosby and the svelte young Collins. But, apart from that, she works quite well with the old troupers. And Robert Morley has a fun turn as a Dr No-type villain.
For me, though, the real star is Bob Hope in his trademark role as a professional coward with delusions of being a great lover. Whether tossing off a succession of quips or performing slapstick (with the aid of an obvious double) he breathes more life into the film than it possibly deserves. One of Hope's best scenes is with a pre-international stardom Peter Sellers who plays an eccentric Indian doctor in a cameo. It is both fascinating and funny to witness this encounter between comic geniuses from different generations.
Yes, yes, yes...I know the film is creaky and looks older than it actually is. But it is also a lot of fun and has its heart in the right place. It is certainly no worse than many of the Carry On films. Hope and Crosby may have been past their prime, but what they had left over was more than some film comics started out with.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
The last joint trip out for Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, The Road to Hong Kong doesn't have the best of reputations but, while it never really takes off, it's an inoffensive time-filler with enough moderately amusing (rather than laugh-out-loud funny) moments to make it worth a look. Shot in the UK and cashing in on the Space Race craze of the day, it has Hope and Crosby's conmen caught up with `Third Echelon' leader Robert Morley's plans to rule the world by conquering space when Hope accidentally memorises a secret rocket formula. If the plot plays like a lower budget backlot dry run for a Roger Moore Bond film and a few of the comic setpieces fall flat, it coasts by on the duo's star power. Joan Collins more or less fills in the Dorothy Lamour role, though Dottie does turn up for an extended cameo near the end of the film. It's probably the cameos that give the film much of its interest today: Zsa Zsa Gabor may not have made the final cut and Jerry Colonna's scene plays like it was written for Groucho Marx, but David Niven, Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin pop up as well while an unbilled Peter Sellers does his Indian doctor routine in one prolonged setpiece. It doesn't measure up to the earlier Road films, but considering how much worse Hope's films in particular would become in the 60s it probably looks a lot better now with hindsight.
6 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
The weakest, by far, of the series. The Boys were too old, the girl too young - one for completists only (i.e. me!)
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