Four of the seven 'Road' movies, just over half the franchise, were made in the 1940s and this one, released in 1947, was the last of them. All seven are available on DVD in a handsome slipcase resembling one of those Louis Vuitton steamer trunks that you took with you on a world cruise if you were well-heeled and named Somerset Maugham or Noel Coward. One outlet was offering this set at a silly price and I snapped it up primarily for the songs, there are well over 20 in the seven titles of which a surprising number are very high quality or, dare I say it, high Standards. This one yields the standout ballad But Beautiful, the catchy You Don't Have To Know The Language, Appalachacola, Fla whilst Lamour gets one of the one-word title songs that were something of a trademark (in all she sang four; Constantly, Personality, Moonflowers and this one, Experience). Nobody went to these movies looking for a great plot and were quite happy to to find a pair of performers one jump ahead of the posse and watch Crosby set Hope up for another life-threatening stunt before meeting up with Lamour and the resident heavies. This time around it's Gale Sondergaard who's out to swindle Lamour and marry her off profitably. Frank Faylen, Nestor Paiva, the Andrews Sisters and the Wiere Brothers make up the numbers for one of the top three in the franchise.
Review of Road to Rio
