weezeralfalfa The Road Series, starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour, peaked during the war years. Thereafter, only a few more were made, at multi-year intervals. This one, released in -52, followed "The Road to Rio" released in '47. The Bali film was the only one filmed in Technicolor instead of B&W. Like "The Road to Singapore", the story supposedly mostly takes place on an Indonesian island. And like that film, they never make it to their titled destination. Dorothy had starred in in several other films supposedly sited in the South Seas or other exotic locations, even though she didn't look exotic.As usual, it features a couple of ne'er-do-well drifters, who have been surviving by occasional gigs in bands playing trumpet or clarinet, or by putting on vaudeville-like shows. They have to exit Melbourne, Aus. quickly to escape a couple of angry fathers and their daughters. They love women, but not for keeps. Unfortunately, they are also hounded on the train to Darwin, on the opposite side of Australia, so have to quickly exit the train. Some time later, they arrive in Darwin sporting long beards, which quickly vanish. They get a job diving for sunken treasure near the Indonesian island of Batu, where they meet Princess Lala(Dorothy Lamour), who warns them this is a suicidal venture, as the last 4 applicants disappeared into the ocean. Nonetheless, Hope: the diver, finds the lost treasure and barely survives a wresting match with a giant squid. "Grab the loot and Scoot" says Bing. But their employer wants to hog all they jewels, even tough, they rightfully belong to Princess Lala. The squid takes care of him, and the 3 motor on toward Bali. But, their trip is cut short when they hit a reef, sinking their boat. They survive to find themselves on a small island, where there are tigers, elephants and rust-colored gorillas, along with many natives and their chief and an Indian King: Ramayana, who demands that Princess Lala marry him, though he already has several wives. But she loves Bing and Hope, not the king. The rest of the film deals mainly with the question of whom the princess will marry.Of course, there are various geographical or cultural absurdities. There is a Batu group of small Indonesian Islands, but its located off the west coast of Sumatra: hardly on the way to Bali, which is the only Indonesian island with a dominant Hindu cultural heritage. The very impressive gold headpieces sometimes worn by some of the dancers or by the princess, are characteristic of Thailand, but not of Balinese nor Indian Hindus. Tigers and elephants occur in some Indonesian locations, but not likely on a small island. Gorillas, of course are far from their native habitat. The rusty-colored beasts look like a cross between orangutans and gorillas. The kids, especially, will be impressed by the monstrous-looking headpieces worn by Bing , Bob and the officials, at times.Note" Jane Russell, who appears for a moment at the end, had costarred with Hope in "The Paleface" and "The Son of Paleface".I'm somewhat surprised the censors didn't nix the supposed marriage of Bing to Hope.

SanteeFats I love and own all seven Road pictures. Bob Hope and Bing Crosby have an on screen relationship that is hilarious. Dorothy Lamar appears in the first six movies as the love interest of both the guys but Crosby ends up with her by the end of the movie. She also is in the Hong Kong one but since it is a few years later she basically does a cameo as an older torch singer in a club. In this particular show the two guys are running from many shotgun marriage parties that are trying to find them. They end up at a small island nation where Hope is sent down to find the treasure while Bing woos the princess. Michael Ansara plays the bad guy and of course gets his comeuppance. Since this is old time Hollywood all the natives are played by whites in make up.

Robert J. Maxwell If you've never seen one of the Bing Crosby and Bob Hope "Road" pictures, then you shouldn't miss this one. Of course, if you've managed to miss all the others, it means either that you don't like movies or that you're young -- very young.There's nothing wrong with being young, aside from the fact that you're dominated by the sea of hormones your internal organs swim in, you're beset by curious and unbidden throbs, and that you go around uttering hoarse, goaty cries. It's just that, in watching this funny comedy, you're likely to miss some of the topical jokes.And, let's face facts, 1952, when this movie was released, is not 1941, when the first "Road" picture appeared, "The Road to Singapore," which served as a kind of plot-heavy notochord that provided the spine for the string of highly amusing sequels that appeared over the next five or six years -- roads to Zanzibar, Morroco, Rio and Utopia.By 1952, the formula had about played itself out. The two leads are as full of zest and spontaneity as always, they don't look much older, Dorothy Lamour is as pleasant a presence as ever, and the musical numbers are as catchy as usual, written by the same team, but the gags are repetitive and less fresh.It's worth catching, especially, as I say, if you're new to the genre. You may skip the geriatric antics of "The Road to Hong Kong."

ldavis-2 When more than one writer is credited with a script, chances are the movie stinks. As if he knew this, the director had Bob and Bing breaking the fourth wall, and throwing in stuff that did nothing except bog the "story" down. It was the cinematic equivalent of watching a doctor desperately trying to revive a patient who is D.O.A.It was creepy that women young enough to be their daughters throw themselves at the boys. Indeed, the sexism and racism here is despicable! Were Bob's and Bing's egos' that fragile or that inflated? I couldn't decide which.How was it that the natives spoke perfect, unaccented English? Where did they get their fine clothes and jewels? How did they build that mansion? Bob, Bing, and Dorothy land on a supposedly deserted island, but spend the night in the swankiest hut ever built, and Dorothy romps in a man-made lagoon the next morning! Why did they throw in the tiger and the gorilla? How did Dorothy's evil cousin wind up where she wound up? Then, because the film makers ran out of ideas (not that they had any to begin with), they pull an Irwin Allen, and have a volcano erupt! Ninety minutes of torture, and our trio never do get to Bali (why they had to get to Bali is never explained). Instead, Bing, Dorothy, and Jane Russell (don't ask) walk toward a yacht anchored in the harbor (don't ask) as Bob frantically tries to stop the "movie" from ending (don't ask).Avoid this like the plague. Your brain cells will thank you.