Road To Rio (1947) :
Brief Review -
May not be the best, but certainly one of the best musical comedies in the "Road To..." franchise. RIO-TIC in many senses. Just look closely! The "Road To..." franchise is known to everyone who follows 40s Hollywood, so they know what to expect and what to look for. Well, here is a perfect dish for them. Bob Hope and Bing Crosby aren't wasted; rather, they are used every single minute. They do all the things you want them to do, and there is a nice story too. Edmund Beloin and Jack Rose have written a good story for a musical comedy that has the required chaos and twists. This may just remind you of Marx Bros' classic comedy Duck Soup, as the timeline and setup looked somewhat similar. The film is about two inept vaudevillians who stow away on a Brazilian-bound ocean liner and find themselves stuck with a girl. Together, they foil a plot by a sinister hypnotist to marry off her niece to a greedy fortune hunter. She looks like Lamour; she might sing like her, he says. That's what we call solid humour with a slapstick gag. The same goes when he mentions Boggie (Humphrey Bogart). Then you have the Warner Bros. Line that goes smoothly and fine. Jerry Colonna has one line filled with cackling humour. It's good to see comedy outside your regular human brain when the writer really thinks outside the box and uses known things to create laughter. Those 3 brazilians! Bob Hope is on a riot as always. It's a pleasure to see him play a smart fella who can easily blabber something smart yet cowardly. For a change, Crosby is a faulty guy here. He is mad about girls and easily fooled. The bromance works again. Dorothy Lamour looks breathtaking and does well in her beautifully written and visualised role. Gale Sondergaard is just the perfect antagonist. Master Norman McLeod is impressive yet again as he delivers a thoroughly entertaining ride to Rio.
RATING - 7/10*
By - #samthebestest.
May not be the best, but certainly one of the best musical comedies in the "Road To..." franchise. RIO-TIC in many senses. Just look closely! The "Road To..." franchise is known to everyone who follows 40s Hollywood, so they know what to expect and what to look for. Well, here is a perfect dish for them. Bob Hope and Bing Crosby aren't wasted; rather, they are used every single minute. They do all the things you want them to do, and there is a nice story too. Edmund Beloin and Jack Rose have written a good story for a musical comedy that has the required chaos and twists. This may just remind you of Marx Bros' classic comedy Duck Soup, as the timeline and setup looked somewhat similar. The film is about two inept vaudevillians who stow away on a Brazilian-bound ocean liner and find themselves stuck with a girl. Together, they foil a plot by a sinister hypnotist to marry off her niece to a greedy fortune hunter. She looks like Lamour; she might sing like her, he says. That's what we call solid humour with a slapstick gag. The same goes when he mentions Boggie (Humphrey Bogart). Then you have the Warner Bros. Line that goes smoothly and fine. Jerry Colonna has one line filled with cackling humour. It's good to see comedy outside your regular human brain when the writer really thinks outside the box and uses known things to create laughter. Those 3 brazilians! Bob Hope is on a riot as always. It's a pleasure to see him play a smart fella who can easily blabber something smart yet cowardly. For a change, Crosby is a faulty guy here. He is mad about girls and easily fooled. The bromance works again. Dorothy Lamour looks breathtaking and does well in her beautifully written and visualised role. Gale Sondergaard is just the perfect antagonist. Master Norman McLeod is impressive yet again as he delivers a thoroughly entertaining ride to Rio.
RATING - 7/10*
By - #samthebestest.