Road to Singapore

Infobox Film
name = Road to Singapore


caption = 1940 movie poster
director = Victor Schertzinger
producer = Harlan Thompson
writer = Frank Butler &
Don Hartman
(screenplay)
Harry Hervey (story)
starring = Bing Crosby
Dorothy Lamour
Bob Hope
Charles Coburn
Judith Barrett
Anthony Quinn
Jerry Colonna
music = Victor Young
cinematography = William Mellor
editing =
distributor = Paramount Pictures
released = March 14, 1940
runtime = 85 min
country = USA
awards =
language = English
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by = Road to Zanzibar
amg_id = 1:41585
imdb_id = 0032993

"Road to Singapore" is a 1940 Paramount Pictures film starring Bing Crosby, Dorothy Lamour, and Bob Hope, which marked the debut of the long-running and popular "Road to..." series of pictures starring the trio.

According to Hope biographer Raymond Strait, the project which became "Road to Singapore" was first offered to Fred MacMurray and Jack Oakie, and after they declined, to George Burns and Gracie Allen, with a second male lead to be determined. They also declined. (Burns is quoted as saying that Gracie "thought the whole thing was silly.") At this point, Paramount decided to pair Hope and Crosby, and to take advantage of the screen popularity of Lamour, who had already made several lucrative pictures with a "South Seas" theme.

Although the "Road to Singapore" script was written by established filmwriters Frank Butler and Don Hartman and the film was directed by Victor Schertzinger, much of the action on the screen consists of material ad libbed by Hope and Crosby on the spur of the moment or surreptitiously contributed by their own writing staffs. The film also starred Charles Coburn and Jerry Colonna and marked an early appearance in a major picture by Anthony Quinn, playing a "bad guy" role. The plot is very slight, and serves mainly as a vehicle to promote Crosby's musical numbers and Hope and Crosby's banter.

The film was an immediate box office success, helped in large measure by good reviews and by Hope's promotion of it on his weekly radio show. It was probably also aided by Hope's hosting, for the first of many times, of the annual Academy Awards show for 1939 pictures, considered by many film historians to have been the best single year in the history of the American cinema.

This is the only installment of the series in which Hope is billed third, under Dorothy Lamour.

Ironically, neither Hope nor Crosby reach Singapore in the film. Instead, the fictional island of "Kaigoon" is the primary location.

The lyrics of the song "Kaigoon" are in Esperanto. [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032993/]

Main cast and characters

ongs

*"Captain Custard":Lyrics by Johnny Burke - Music by Victor Schertzinger:Performed by Bing Crosby and Bob Hope

*"The Moon and the Willow Tree":Lyrics by Johnny Burke - Music by Victor Schertzinger :Performed by Dorothy Lamour

*"Sweet Potato Piper":Lyrics by Johnny Burke - Music by James V. Monaco :Performed by Bing Crosby, Dorothy Lamour and Bob Hope

*"Too Romantic":Lyrics by Johnny Burke - Music by James V. Monaco:Performed by Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour

*"Kaigoon":Lyrics by Johnny Burke - Music by James V. Monaco :Performed by chorus

References

Strait, Raymond, "Bob Hope: A Tribute" New York: Pinnacle Books ISBN 0-7860-0606-4, 2003

External links

*imdb title | id=0032993 | title=Road to Singapore
*amg title | id=1:41585 | title=Road to Singapore