Road to Morocco is a 1942 American comedy film starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour, and featuring Anthony Quinn and Dona Drake. Written by Frank Butler and Don Hartman and directed by David Butler, it's the third of the "Road to ..." films, preceded by Road to Zanzibar (1941) and followed by Road to Utopia (1946). This movie has great costumes, great one-liners, great songs, and the greatest trio of travelers to grace the silver screen.
The film is a daffy, laugh-drafting film. The comedy is brilliantly finessed, the plot streamlined to near-perfection at 82 minutes, and Crosby, Hope, and Lamour continue to spark off each other wonderfully.
The boys were on form as well. One of their funniest!
ROAD TO ZANZIBAR 1941 - Photos From Bob Hope, Bing Crosby & Dorothy Lamour's Classic Comedy
Road to Morocco works so much better than the first two installments, possibly due to switching director to David Butler. This also has some really catchy songs, and a solid beginning, middle, and end structure rather than a loose narrative to hang gags off of. Oh, and a talking camel!
The movie surprising turns out to be exactly what you needed at the time you watch it, and Bob Hope & Bing Crosby's third road movie Road to Morocco turned out to be exactly that for me on a real bummer of a day. Dorothy Lamour managing to look like a Goddess while being drenched in Bing Crosby & Bob Hope's nonsense. Pure class!
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Synopsis: You'll Shriek At These Shieks!
The story is about two fast-talking guys cast away on a desert shore and sold into slavery to a princess. Two carefree castaways on a desert shore find an Arabian Nights city, where they compete for the luscious Princess Shalmar.
A freighter explodes off the coast of North Africa under mysterious circumstances. All hands are accounted for save for stowaways Jeff Peters and Orville 'Turkey' Jackson, the latter's smoking habit causing the explosion. Upon reaching land, Orville reminds Jeff of his promise to Aunt Lucy to take care of him, but Jeff says she died before he could agree to it.
As Jeff and Orville make their way into the city, they are nearly run over by Arabs led by Sheik Mullay Kasim, who has come to propose to Princess Shalmar. Orville is approached by men carrying a mysterious woman in a veiled palanquin, and her hand takes his before they leave.
While at a restaurant, Jeff and Orville plan to skip out on the bill, but a man takes Jeff aside and gives him some money. Jeff has sold Orville, and although he is initially angry, he eventually calms down after Jeff promises to buy him back. Jeff has a vision of Aunt Lucy, who shames him for selling Orville. He attempts to buy Orville back but discovers that he has been sold once again.
Aunt Lucy then advises Jeff to find Orville and suggests that he sing his favorite song. Jeff walks and sings until a note and Orville's locket are thrown from the palace, warning him of danger. Jeff climbs over the palace wall and hears a woman singing. Jeff storms into the palace but is caught by guards. Orville pretends not to know him, resulting in the princess dismissing everyone except Jeff.
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Orville then confesses to their engagement, but the princess reveals that she bought him and that her wise man advised her to marry him. The princess invites Jeff to stay, and Orville is waited on by girls, including Mihirmah, who confesses her love for him. Later, Jeff sings and attracts the princess, and they go for a walk. Mihirmah tries to convince Orville to leave with her.
Jeff tells the princess that he should be the one marrying her, but Orville threatens him with a sword. The following day, Kasim threatens to kill Orville, but the princess takes him to the wise man, who reveals a prophecy: the first husband will die a violent death within a week of marriage, and the second will have a long and happy life.
Orville learns of the prophecy and runs off with Mihirmah, convincing Jeff that the princess actually loves him. That night, Aunt Lucy's spirit rebukes Orville. Princess Shalmar refuses to marry Jeff and sends Orville away to prepare for the wedding.
Later, the wise man tells the princess and Jeff that he misread the stars and that the prophecy is incorrect. Jeff now understands why Orville wanted to avoid the marriage, and tells him that the princess has changed her mind. Princess Shalmar and Jeff decide to get married in the United States along with Orville and Mihirmah. However, Kasim intervenes and abducts the princess while giving Mihirmah to one of his men.
Kasim leaves Jeff and Orville stranded in the desert and takes the women with him. While wandering in the desert, they discover an oasis near Kasim's camp. They try to sneak in but are caught. They then witness a clash between two sheiks and take advantage of the chaos to escape with the girls. The four board a boat back home.
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However, things take a dangerous turn when Orville causes an explosion while smoking in the powder room.
Cast
- Bing Crosby as Jeff Peters
- Bob Hope as Orville 'Turkey' Jackson
- Dorothy Lamour as Princess Shalmar
- Anthony Quinn as Sheik Mullay Kasim
- Dona Drake as Mihirmah
Reception
Bosley Crowther of The New York Times liked it: "Let us be thankful that Paramount is still blessed with Bing Crosby and Bob Hope, and that it has set its cameras to tailing these two irrepressible wags on another fantastic excursion, Road to Morocco, which came to the Paramount yesterday. For the screen, under present circumstances, can hold no more diverting lure than the prospect of Hope and Crosby ambling, as they have done before, through an utterly slaphappy picture, picking up Dorothy Lamour along the way and tossing acid wisecracks at each other without a thought for reason or sense."
Variety commented: "Crosby, Hope and Lamour have done it again. Their click in Road to Singapore and Road to Zanzibar is eclipsed by Road to Morocco... Crosby, of course, is still more or less straighting for Hope’s incessantly steaming gags.
Anyone who thinks Millennials invented ironic detachment clearly hasn't seen an old Bob Hope movie. Two of the biggest funny-ish multimedia stars of their era team up for 90 minutes of gentle and entirely non-subversive meta-comedy. It's the Deadpool and Wolverine on 1942.
I never considered Road to Morocco the best movie in the series, but this viewing certainly proved me wrong.
Formula: perfected. "I got something that can't miss!""So have they - guns."
Yep, it's another wacky adventure with Hope and Crosby, the zingers are fast and furious, just plain old fun.
Some jokes made me chuckle, the sets are big and lavish, and Director David Butler keeps things moving, but this is the definition of a slightly amusing comedy that someone older than forces you to watch because they loved it when they were a kid.
Unsurprisingly, a good amount of this Oscar-nominated script hasn’t aged well, but there’s no denying Bing Crosby and Bob Hope are a great screen pairing. You just know American audiences were gobbling this escapist entertainment 🆙 during WWII.
Road to Morocco does a fairly decent job parodying “exotic” adventure and romance movies popular during its time and might be the oldest movie I’ve seen that so persistently reminds you that it knows it’s a movie. A camel breaks the fourth wall and says this is the screwiest picture it has been in. It ends with Hope breaking-character-in-character to tell Crosby that he spoiled his chance at an Oscar. Hehe haha.
All kidding aside, I liked this movie. It has a lot of funny jokes and a pleasingly relaxed, offhand feel.
Funny in 1 hour and 23 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Movie is an amusing musical comedy, and another successful pairing of the two stars. What I liked best were the clever break the fourth wall jokes, some that involve talking camels.
Dorothy Lamour is stunning and charming, but she has competition with lots of beautiful harem girls. Hope and Crosby are two childhood fighting pals, first on a raft at sea, then reaching a desert shore. A camel finds them and they ride to Morocco.
With no money, Crosby sells Hope into slavery (without the latter's knowledge), only to find him with the local princess, who he now wants for herself. Yes, the movie is old, silly escapist entertainment for a worried wartime audience, but still works today thanks to broad if crazy humor and great performances by the leads, who also take jibes at their employers and government censors without overdoing it.
Reading the 2nd volume of the bio of Bing Crosby, I realized I have never watched a "Road" movie with Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour. Starving vagabond Jeff (Bing Crosby) sells best friend Orville (Bob Hope) into slavery in a Moroccan marketplace to buy food.
Searching for his partner after an attack of conscience, Jeff discovers that Orville is now engaged to the gorgeous Princess Shalmar (Dorothy Lamour), whose astrologers have told her that her first husband will die violently, leaving her free to marry her beloved Sheik Mullay Kasim (Anthony Quinn).
I personally did not find this film funny at all. The comedy was slap stick like and it did not make me laugh. What got me was how much of this film looked like it was either blue screen or there was a projected background for scenes rather than use a real environment that looked more like the desert or a location. I thought it was dumb that each time they got ship wrecked it was for smoking in a powder room. It was like come on.
Now, ABBOTT AND COSTELLO, THE THREE STOOGES, LAUREL AND HARDY, THE MARX BROTHERS, those boys still hold up.
Anyway, Bing Crosby is such a jerk in this.
"This is the screwiest picture I was ever in!" - Talking Camel 🐪
It feels wrong to rate the any of the Road to films because they're essentially all the same story but with different jokes and songs. And I don't mean that as a criticism.
I won’t forget……that extended ableist bit.
Soundtrack
Bing Crosby recorded several of the songs for Decca Records. "Moonlight Becomes You" topped the Billboard charts for two weeks during a 17-week stay in the lists.
Here is a table with song titles:
| Song Title | Performer | Billboard Peak |
|---|---|---|
| Moonlight Becomes You | Bing Crosby | 1 |
Awards and Honors
The picture received Oscar nominations for Best Sound Recording (Loren L. Ryder) and Best Original Screenplay.
In 1996, Road to Morocco was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
The film was also nominated for AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies list, AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs list and AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs for "Moonlight Becomes You".
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