Road to Utopia – Bing and Bob Blogathon!

The string of films that Bing Crosby and Bob Hope did together are the original buddy comedies/films and are all a joy to watch (except for Road to Hong Kong, but that’s mostly because I’m salty about Dorothy Lamour getting the brush off for the younger Joan Collins). During my last Bing and Bob Blogathon, I took us to Bali, but this time we’re heading into the frozen Alaska landscape of Road to Utopia.

If you choose to buy this film, I may earn a commission as an Amazon affiliate, check out the Bluray, DVD or on streaming!

Synopsis:

As we open, Duke (Bing) and Chester (Bob), are again part of a double act. They give us a song before leading us into swindling the audience with a ghost gag. A ghost who supposedly sometimes gives people money (but mostly takes it) as the form of Chester inside a table. They decide to go their separate ways with Chester heading to New York while Duke goes to seek his fortune in Alaska.

An amusing scene plays out where they keep picking each other’s pockets with Duke ending up with all of the money. When Chester is waving goodbye from the New York-bound boat, he discovers what Duke did. He makes a mad dash to the other boat and the two end up going to Alaska together. Chester accidentally throws all their money out a porthole (which he thought was a safe) and the two must work on the boat since they are unable to pay for the tickets for the trip.

While cleaning, they discover a map to a gold mine left in the room of two murderers named Sperry and McGurk, who killed to get it. It actually belongs to Sal (Dorothy Lamour). Duke and Chester fight off the bad guys, take the map, and then impersonate them. This gets them food and lodging because everyone in the town is afraid of them. Thinking they’re dangerous, Sal still uses her feminine wiles to get her map back.

Eventually, the real murderers catch back up with them, looking for the map. And Duke and Chester are separated, Chester marrying Sal while Duke attempts to fight off the mob of townspeople who still think he’s a murderer. We find out later that he won the fight when he visits the couple again in their old age to tell them what happened.

The Players:

Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour

These three together are what make the “Road to” series what it is. The dynamic of two buddies who obviously love each other like brothers fighting over the superb beauty of Dorothy Lamour makes for some funny moments in the entire series. A large part of the gag is the back and forth about who she will choose. In this one, she’s not given much of a choice because the ground literally spills with her and Bob/Chester on one side and Bing/Duke on the other. This marks the only occasion where Bob gets the girl on the level.. in Road to Rio, he technically ends up with Lamour, but only through hypnosis. That ending gives me some ick, but that’s a story for another day!

Background Trivia:

This scene with the bear gave the guys some trouble…

So it’s always a risk working with animals, but they could have gotten seriously injured by this bear. The stars were nervous about it to begin with, but they were assured that the bear was tame and the trainer would always be nearby to help. The bear was supposed to lie down next to Bob, but instead sniffed him and growled. When this happened, Bob and Bing stopped the scene immediately and refused to work with the bear any longer, since they were worried about their safety. Turns out they were right to be concerned because the very next day, the bear attacked the trainer and tore his arm off! I couldn’t find additional information about the incident, but I assume that the trainer lived or Bob would have said that the trainer died instead while recounting the story.

This is the only Road to picture where they don’t do their patty-cake routine to outsmart the bad guys. Instead, they literally just pull the rug out from under them instead. I’m not sure why they decided to go this route here, but it still works to confuse the villains.

It is also the only one that does not take place in a warm climate, although that doesn’t seem Dorothy from donning her sarong for one scene.

What if…?

The bear hadn’t given that warning growl…

If the bear hadn’t given that warning growl, I wonder what would have happened. I assume that Bing and Bob would have continued to work with the bear, which could have been fatal for one or the both of them. They could have been attacked instead of the trainer. Obviously, the bear didn’t listen very well to its trainer, and they gave it too much credit. It was still a wild animal and the movie could have been a tragedy instead of a comedy.

If you like alternative history or biographical/historical fiction, I write that as well under the pen name Dottie Fray.

If you choose to buy this film, I may earn a commission as an Amazon affiliate, check out the Bluray, DVD or on streaming!

This article was originally posted as part of the Bing and Bob Blogathon. Check out all the entries here!