The Road to Hong Kong Blu-ray Review
The movie begins sensationally with a pre-credit sequence featuring one of the best of all the Crosby-Hope duets: “Teamwork” (penned as are the other tunes in the movie by Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen). But any thought that this effort might update the series’ formula for a slightly more permissive age and with jokes and situations befitting the boys being a bit older (seven years since The Road to Bali) is dashed by the plethora of familiar and overused gags from all of the previous pictures in the series: their awareness that they’re making a movie (calling for “special effects” on numerous occasions and throwing knowing glances and soft asides to the audience more than once), skipping around from place to place (Hong Kong, Tibet, and Calcutta are only a few of the stops), jokes about Crosby’s fortune and Hope’s nose, the patty-cake routine, the continual array of surprise unbilled guest stars (Peter Sellers, David Niven, Jerry Colonna, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin), and both men fighting over the same girl, this time a luscious but comically flatfooted Joan Collins, right down to Bing's love song to the lady: "People in Love." Money has obviously been spent on trick sets (a banana feeding station which abuses the boys steals comic ideas from Chaplin’s Modern Times, a man-trapping divan that slides in and out of various sets), and there is a great sight gag when the boys don space suits built for apes with their overextended arms and squat legs. But who can ever forgive or forget the shameful treatment of series regular Dorothy Lamour abandoned as the boys’ usual love interest (though she herself photographs beautifully and is certainly more age-appropriate for these grandpas than Joan Collins) and relegated to a cameo as herself ten minutes before the movie ends (even if she does get to sing quite nicely “Warmer Than a Whisper”). Otherwise, the Norman Panama/Melvin Frank screenplay follows traditional paths with the usual schemes that blow up in the boys’ faces and their need to escape at any cost from those who are out to trap them.
There’s been no erosion in the effortless teamwork and enjoyable chemistry that Bing Crosby and Bob Hope shared on-screen for two decades. Whether much of the dialogue was ad-libbed or scripted and tossed off expertly by these two old pros, the boys haven’t lost their mischievous sense of play even with the advancing years and a lack of freshness in scripting them some decent comedy set-ups. Robert Morley deadpans his way toward complete madness by the end of the film as the leader desperate to conquer all. Joan Collins isn’t an inventive enough comedienne to keep up with the two seasoned veterans she’s paired so uncomfortably with (though she gives it a game try). Peter Sellers absolutely steals his one scene as a neurologist helping Bob with his memory loss. It’s fun to see the two veteran stars trying to hold it together as Sellers goes off on wonderfully funny tangents while remaining in character.
The various roads that Bing Crosby and Bob Hope cinematically traversed for over twenty years came to a sadly inglorious end with The Road to Hong Kong. Worse, the two comedians didn’t even let their six-Road co-star Dorothy Lamour in for most of the fun in their seventh romp relegating her to a mere cameo appearance in the film’s second half. It’s the seventh and last of the venerable series, and perhaps it was one too many since this one is unquestionably the series’ weakest entry.
Studio: MGM
Distributed By: Olive
Video Resolution and Encode: 1080P/AVC
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Audio: English 2.0 DTS-HDMA
Subtitles: None
Rating: Not Rated
Run Time: 1 Hr. 31 Min.
Package Includes: Blu-ray
keep caseDisc Type: BD25 (single layer)
Region: All
Release Date: 02/17/2015
MSRP: $29.95
The Production Rating: 2.5/5
The movie begins sensationally with a pre-credit sequence featuring one of the best of all the Crosby-Hope duets: “Teamwork” (penned as are the other tunes in the movie by Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen). But any thought that this effort might update the series’ formula for a slightly more permissive age and with jokes and situations befitting the boys being a bit older (seven years since The Road to Bali) is dashed by the plethora of familiar and overused gags from all of the previous pictures in the series: their awareness that they’re making a movie (calling for “special effects” on numerous occasions and throwing knowing glances and soft asides to the audience more than once), skipping around from place to place (Hong Kong, Tibet, and Calcutta are only a few of the stops), jokes about Crosby’s fortune and Hope’s nose, the patty-cake routine, the continual array of surprise unbilled guest stars (Peter Sellers, David Niven, Jerry Colonna, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin), and both men fighting over the same girl, this time a luscious but comically flatfooted Joan Collins, right down to Bing's love song to the lady: "People in Love." Money has obviously been spent on trick sets (a banana feeding station which abuses the boys steals comic ideas from Chaplin’s Modern Times, a man-trapping divan that slides in and out of various sets), and there is a great sight gag when the boys don space suits built for apes with their overextended arms and squat legs. But who can ever forgive or forget the shameful treatment of series regular Dorothy Lamour abandoned as the boys’ usual love interest (though she herself photographs beautifully and is certainly more age-appropriate for these grandpas than Joan Collins) and relegated to a cameo as herself ten minutes before the movie ends (even if she does get to sing quite nicely “Warmer Than a Whisper”). Otherwise, the Norman Panama/Melvin Frank screenplay follows traditional paths with the usual schemes that blow up in the boys’ faces and their need to escape at any cost from those who are out to trap them.
There’s been no erosion in the effortless teamwork and enjoyable chemistry that Bing Crosby and Bob Hope shared on-screen for two decades. Whether much of the dialogue was ad-libbed or scripted and tossed off expertly by these two old pros, the boys haven’t lost their mischievous sense of play even with the advancing years and a lack of freshness in scripting them some decent comedy set-ups. Robert Morley deadpans his way toward complete madness by the end of the film as the leader desperate to conquer all. Joan Collins isn’t an inventive enough comedienne to keep up with the two seasoned veterans she’s paired so uncomfortably with (though she gives it a game try). Peter Sellers absolutely steals his one scene as a neurologist helping Bob with his memory loss. It’s fun to see the two veteran stars trying to hold it together as Sellers goes off on wonderfully funny tangents while remaining in character.
Video Rating: 4/5 3D Rating: NA
Audio Rating: 4/5
Special Features Rating: 1/5
Overall Rating: 3/5
Reviewed By: Matt Hough
Support HTF when you buy this title:
