The Road to Hong Kong (1962)

"The laughs come thick and fast" (Variety) in this seventh hilarious Road movie from Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. Cavorting through a series of madcap adventures with Joan Collins, DorothyLamour and Robert Morleyas well as Peter Sellers, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and David NivenCrosby and Hope dish out a "fricassee of jokes and gags" (Los Angeles Times) in what may be the wildest entry in their popular film series! Vaudevillians Harry (Crosby) and Chester (Hope) travel to Tibet to search for a drug to restore Chester's memory. Once they find the cure, Chesters memory becomes so good that he accidentally memorizes a secret formula for space navigation. Soon the two meet up with a beautiful spy (Collins) and get slightly sidetracked'to another planet!

Road to HongKong

Their last movie together and their gags and lines starting to where thin but still over all a reasonable film if you want the road series of crosby and hope. June 12, 2008

The last "Road to..." movie & worth the money

When I first came across this movie I was a bit skeptical- how would it stand up next to the earlier pictures? Boy am I glad I went ahead and added it to my collection. It's at least as funny, and may even be a bit better than the all the others! September 26, 2007

Great Laughs

What a pair Bing Crosby & Bob Hope will really make you laugh in this one. love the scene where bob is pushing or was it pulling Bing Crosby & Joan Collins great scene.
a great pass time for the entire family March 16, 2006

End of the Road to ...

Road to Hong Kong was the last Hope - Crosby Road film. Dorothy Lamour only makes an appearance in this film. Joan Collins is the love interest in the film - a beautiful spy for the top secret spy group The First Echelon.

Harry and Chester are a couple of con artists. When Chester loses his memory in an accident, they are sent to a Tibetan Lamasery. En route Chester is accidentally slipped a rocket fuel formula. While at the Lamasery, they find out about a rare herb that increases memory capacity. The boys know this will make a great mentalist act for vaudeville and still it. They steal a bottle and return home. As a test, Chester memorizes the formula. This sets the remainder of the film. The First Echelon wants their formula and will do anything to get it.

This being the final Road film, lots of guest stars including Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, David Niven and an early performance by Peter Sellers.

This is the most polished of the Road films. Written by Norman Panama and Melvin Frank, who have collaborated on a number of his films including their Oscar nominated Bob Hope film The Facts of Life and Frank's best solo film, A Touch of Class. Just sit back and enjoy.

DVD EXTRAS: None
January 21, 2006

One More Time.....

The Bob Hope/Bing Crosby/Dorothy Lamour "Road" pictures were the most successful film series until someone named James Bond came along. The Road To Hong Kong was a belated final entry - a nice idea but one executed on a miserly budget when the stars were somewhat past their peak. The script roughly follows the dependable formula of the earlier films and, while not as funny or as charming as the classic Road To Morocco, still provides a fair amount of amusement. It is certainly not the overcooked turkey that some people claim.

Cheaply filmed in England in black and white on cardboard sets and with special effects of rocket ships that would have made Ed Wood proud, the film relies a lot on the audience's affection for Hope and Crosby. The interplay and patter of their double act, so finely tuned over the years, is still a major attraction. Poor Dorothy Lamour is reduced to a guest star spot while the female lead is given to Joan Collins looking amazingly fresh and extremely sexy. One of the main embarrassments of the film is the love scenes between a visibly aging Crosby and the svelte young Collins. But, apart from that, she works quite well with the old troupers. And Robert Morley has a fun turn as a Dr No-type villain.

For me, though, the real star is Bob Hope in his trademark role as a professional coward with delusions of being a great lover. Whether tossing off a succession of quips or performing slapstick (with the aid of an obvious double) he breathes more life into the film than it possibly deserves. One of Hope's best scenes is with a pre-international stardom Peter Sellers who plays an eccentric Indian doctor. It is both fascinating and funny to witness this encounter between comic geniuses from different generations.

Yes, yes, yes...I know the film is creaky and looks older than it actually is. But it is also a lot of fun and has its heart in the right place. It's certainly no worse than any of the British "Carry On" films which have somehow been elevated to cult status. To paraphrase another fun film of that era - Hope and Crosby may have been past their prime, but what they had left over was more than most film comics started out with. September 2, 2004

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