Bend of the River

Director– Victor Schertzinger

Cast – Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Dorothy Lamour
 

Country of Origin – USA

Released by: Kino Lorber Studio Classics

Number of discs – 1/1

Reviewed by - David Steigman

Date- 4/26/2019

Arguably the “Road to” pictures starring Bob Hope and Bing Crosby were some the best comedy films that the legendary pair of actors starred in which catapulted them into superstardom. The first four of the seven “Road to” film series were released on Blu-ray thanks to Kino Lorber. The first two in the series, Road to Singapore and Road to Zanzibar were both directed by Victor Schertzinger which set the films’ standards years to come.

In Road to Singapore two best friends and “playboys” Josh Mallon (Bing Crosby) and Ace Lannigan (Bob Hope) return to the USA from an ocean voyage. Upon seeing how their fellow sailors are mistreated by their spouses and decide to never get involved with women. This vow doesn’t last long as Ace is practically forced to marry to an ex-lover and Josh is also being forced to marry his fiancée Gloria (Judith Barrett) at both of their father’s wishes. Josh’s father, Joshua Mallon IV (Charles Coburn) wants his son to settle down, get married and run the family business, and Josh isn’t interested in that. Both Ace and Josh, not wanting anything to do with their respective situations, especially so when Josh gets mixed up in a scandal, escape by fleeing to Singapore. Well, at least they attempt to. They don’t wind up in Singapore, but on the island of Kaigoon where they meet a beautiful dancer, Mimi (Dorothy Lamour) who has an abusive dance partner, Caesar (Anthony Quinn). She leaves Caesar to live with Josh and Ace, with Caesar attempting to take her back through force. Of course romance once again hits Ace and Josh as they both fall for Mimi and she has to make a decision between one of them. Josh’s father, after tracking his son down, appears and demands he returns home and be a responsible adult. Caesar also after Ace and Josh informs the authorities that the two are in the island illegally. Both friends find themselves in a precarious predicament!

Road to Singapore is a great start to the film series, with a strong story and superb direction. The movie is great escapism. It is a fun entertaining harmless eighty minutes of comedy, lite drama, music and other nonsensical antics. Hope, Crosby and Lamour all have great chemistry together and director Schertzinger keeps the film moving along at a good pace and with a lot of energy.

Road to Zanzibar stars the same core cast (Hope, Crosby, and Dorothy Lamour). Even though their names are different in this film, their characters are more or less the same as Road to Singapore. In this picture Chuck Reardon (Crosby) and his pal Fearless Hubert Frazier (Hope) are working hard as circus performers to save money to get back home to the US.  They have a canon trick which goes awry and sets the circus on fire, and run for their lives. The good news is, they have saved enough money to get home. Hubert sends Chuck to buy boat tickets so they can head back, but unfortunately Chuck winds up spending their money on and becoming the owner of a diamond mine that he bought from Charles Kimble (Eric Blore). Still worse, the deed that Chuck just bought to own a diamond mine was worthless; luckily Hubert was able to get their money back by selling the same worthless deed to Monsieur Lebec (Lionel Royce).  But, Lebec and his bodyguard, wanting to make sure they aren’t being scammed, want to see the mine. Finding themselves in a jam with Lebec, they escape on a boat heading to Africa. While in Africa a pair of attractive con-artist females, Donna LaTour (Lamour) and Julia Quimby (Una Merkel) aware that Chuck and Hubert have seven thousand dollars on hand, have tricked them into financing a phony safari across the country. Julia’s ploy is telling the boys her friend Donna is going to be sold at a slave auction. They save her with the highest bid, not knowing the two women are actually sharing the money for their own purposes. Along the ride back still unknowingly being conned Chuck and Hubert both fall for Donna. Eventually the two men realize that they were being set-up and prepare to have a confrontation with the ladies about their scheme. But since this is a comedy, what follows isn’t exactly going to be serious. 

Road to Zanzibar is another silly funny film, and just like Road to Singapore, it is another harmless weekend matinee film. It certainly is grand entertainment especially with the scene involving a gorilla. The direction is smooth and the acting is superb with Hope and Crosby clearly enjoying their roles.

Kino Lorber presents Road to Singapore and Road to Zanzibar on Blu-ray and both films have been given excellent treatment. The video quality for both film are a delightfully gorgeous presentation, more or less identical. There are some minor print damages and mild, faint vertical lines here and there for each, as one would expect from films over 70 years old. However, it’s few and far between as the majority of the black and white image is sharp with deep textures, rich black levels and a superb gray scale. Scenery and characters faces during close-up shots have a lot of detail.  Both movies have a smooth, polished look to them and are quite satisfactory.

English DTS-HD master audio 2.0 was used for both “Road to” films and the sound quality is flawless with dialog, songs and other action noises coming in clear without drop-offs or hissing. Optional English subtitles are available for both releases.

The extras for both Blu-rays are similar and were ported over from the DVD releases. Road to Singapore contains the featurettes Bob Hope and the Road to Success and Entertaining the Troops.  Bob Hope and the Road to Success is a 14 minute feature about the actor’s early career leading to the “Road to “films. Entertaining the Troops is another is just that, with Bob Hope doing his comedy routines for the armed forces. Trailers for Road to Singapore, Road to Zanzibar, Road to Morocco and Road to Utopia and a sing-a-long round out the extras.

Road to Zanzibar omits the Entertaining the Troops feature but “Bob Hope and the Road to Success and Command Performance 1944 with Bob Hope is included. Command Performance 1944 has Bob Hope again entertaining the US troops along with special guests Judy Garland and Lana Turner. And the same “Road to” trailers are part of the supplemental package.

Both Road to Singapore and Road to Zanzibar are enjoyable movies to sit back, relax, and put your troubles aside movies. Even though the material is dated, it doesn’t prevent the “Road to” pictures are timeless classics. You just don’t see this style of comedy anymore. The audio and video quality of the two films is superb, making the viewing experience better than ever, and the ported over extras make these releases more than worthwhile.