Road to Morocco (1942)

1942, Paramount. Directed by David Butler. Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, Anthony Quinn, Dona Drake.

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From a National Catholic Register review

By Steven D. Greydanus

The third of the well-known Road movies starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour is perhaps the best. Lighthearted and nonsensical, sophisticated but not overplotted, Road to Morocco represents the point at which the Road-movie formula had hit its stride but hadn’t yet descended into self-parody. By this time audiences knew what to expect, and were in on the joke as Bing and Bob sang, in their self-aware opening number, "Where we’re goin’, why we’re goin’, how can we be sure? I’ll lay you eight-to-five that we meet Dorothy Lamour!"

This time out the boys take their Road act to Arabian Nights territory, where, as usual, they sing (especially Bing), crack wise (especially Bob), and vie over Lamour, who again has an agenda of her own. The story, which is taken about as seriously as the plot of a typical Looney Tunes cartoon, has Bing and Bob shipwrecked and washed up on the road to Morocco.

Bob’s sainted aunt (played by Hope himself in a wig) appears periodically from heaven, urging the boys along the path of righteousness; but when it comes time to pay the bill in a Moroccan eatery — and still more when Princess Shalmar (Lamour) unexpectedly takes an interest in Bob (!) — it’s every man for himself. Anthony Quinn shows up as a sheik who wants Shalmar for himself.

The camel sums it up nicely: "This is the screwiest picture I’ve ever been in."

See also

Remembering Bob Hope (article; includes other review links)

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Road to Morocco (DVD)

Road to Morocco (VHS)

Mild farcical innuendo and sensuality; brief comic menace and violence.