Road to Utopia

Infobox Film
name = Road to Utopia


caption = 1946 movie poster
director = Hal Walker
producer = Paul Jones
writer = Melvin Frank
Norman Panama
starring = Bing Crosby
Bob Hope
Dorothy Lamour
Robert Benchley
Hillary Brooke
Douglass Dumbrille
music = Leigh Harline
cinematography =
editing =
distributor = Paramount Pictures
released = February 27, 1946
runtime = 90 min
country = U.S.
awards =
language = English
budget =
preceded_by = Road to Morocco
followed_by = Road to Rio
amg_id = 1:41586
imdb_id = 0038032

"Road to Utopia", filmed in 1943 but not released until 1946, is the fourth film of the road series.

Production

The film is the only "Road to..." film without a real place in its title though Alaska with its gold mines is referred to as "Utopia" several times in the film. Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour starred, as they did in all but one of the series. The film is also the only "Road" film that did not take place in contemporary times though the film begins and ends with the cast made up to look older who flashback to the past. As a “narrator”, humor essayist Robert Benchley provides some wry commentary that is interspersed throughout the movie. There are also jabs at Paramount Pictures (the studio that originally released the film) and a reference to Frank Sinatra, not to mention many instances of "breaking the fourth wall" and general wackiness.In her autobiography, Dorothy Lamour said that the release of "Road to Utopia" may have been delayed by Paramount to not jeopardise the public's and Academy Awards committee's acceptance of Crosby as Best Actor for playing a priest in "Going My Way". [p.142 Lamour, Dorothy "My Side of the Road" Prentice-Hall 1980] Now in public domain.

Plot summary

At the turn of the century, Duke Johnson (Bing Crosby) and Chester Hooton (Bob Hope), two vaudeville performers, go to Alaska to make their fortune in the gold rush. On the ship to Skagway, they find a map to a secret gold mine, which had been stolen by McGurk (Nestor Paiva) and Sperry (Robert Barrat), a couple of thugs.

Meanwhile, Sal Van Hoyden (Dorothy Lamour) is in Alaska to try and recover the map; it had been her father's. She falls in with Ace Larson (Douglass Dumbrille), who wants to steal the gold mine for himself. Duke and Chester, McGurk and Sperry, Ace and his henchmen, and Sal, chase each other all over the countryside, trying to get the map and the gold.

ongs

*"Good Time Charlie", performed by Bing Crosby and Bob Hope
*"It's Anybody's Spring", by Bing Crosby and Bob Hope
*"Personality", Dorothy Lamour
*"Welcome to My Dream", Bing Crosby
*"Put It There, Pal", Bing Crosby and Bob Hope
*"Would You?", Dorothy LamourAll lyrics by Johnny Burke, and music by Jimmy Van Heusen.

External links

*imdb title | id=0038032 | title=Road to Utopia
*amg title | id=1:41586 | title=Road to Utopia

References