Road to Singapore

• Directed by Victor Schertzinger
• March 14, 1940 (US)

Two playboys try to avoid romance on a tropical island where they meet a beautiful woman.

Road to Singapore is a light and superficial bit of fluff which is engaging from start to finish. The type of film Hollywood once did so well. This movie begat a popular series of Road to… movies and their basics like jokes about Bing’s waist, the use of pat-a-cake, and the occasional yet harmless con. Like so many first films this often feels like a rough draft rather than a fully realized movie. Road to Singapore generally works but you can tell they are playing it cautious.

Josh Mallon (Bing Crosby) and Ace Lannigan (Bob Hope) are best friends adverse to marriage but hot on women. Josh for his part is an heir to a shipping fortune and adverse to the responsibility that comes with it. Ace is just adverse to responsibility. They are meant to be comical guys though the aversion to women in a modern context hints at something else though that is certainly not the case.

Bing’s role in fitting with his public image is to woo the women with Hope being the loyal sidekick engaging in schtick very similar to what might be found in his act. Dorothy Lamour had just starred in some successful South Seas themed films and her image here taps into that. As Mima she is just exotic enough to look like a beautiful ‘other’ but not so exotic that certain audience members of the time might get upset over the Caucasian and well-heeled Josh romancing a character obviously not intended to be white.

Besides great music there are some witty jokes such as when Josh and Ace are under the mosquito net together. The dialogue between them takes on the tone of a romantic couple. It is an old time husband and wife being disturbed during the night. Again they allude to something that is then demonstrated to not be the case.

Though romancing Mima, Josh is promised/engaged to Gloria (Judith Barrett). Gloria comes to retrieve Josh who went halfway around the world while leaving her in the good ol’ USA. She takes it all in stride that he has taken up with an island woman he has known way less than her. How much of a pill was Gloria that a virtual stranger was more appealing? What does it say about Gloria she took it all with a smile? I know these were not deep movies but sometimes you need to think before you do something.

Then again do not think too deeply about much of anything here. Logic and plot take a backseat to entertaining the audience. The music showcases the performers from bouncy fun to the more romantic. Given the presence of two women in the movie I expected both Josh and Ace to end up with somebody but nope! Josh gets the girl and Ace becomes the awkward third wheel.

The moment where Mima reveals she basically set Josh free to go back to Gloria and Ace figures it out is a bit of a dramatic shift in the film. It is no Oscar caliber moment but certainly is a different tone and showed Hope had some range beyond comedy. Hence the eventual running Oscar performance joke.

With the comedy of Bob Hope and the music of Bing Crosby married with the good looks of Dorothy Lamour, Road to Singapore is a classic bit of comedy. Not rip-roaring funny but it will put a smile on your face.