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A Few Words About A few words about...™ Road to Bali -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

Robert Harris

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We have Kino Lorber to thank for a bit of whimsy, as they're about to release two of the seven Crosby-Hope "road" pictures in Blu-ray. While Dorothy Lamour appeared in all seven, the final film featured Joan Collins, with Ms Lamour making an appearance.

The series, which began in 1940, with Road to Singapore, continued with Zanzibar in 1941, Morocco in 1942, Utopia in 1945, Rio in 1947 (concurrently released by KL), Bali in 1952, and the final edition, Hong Kong in 1962.

I visited Bali first, as it was produced in 3-strip Technicolor, and was hoping for quality elements. Of the seven, it's also the only production in color.

While not a new digital re-combine, color levels and grain in Kino Lorber's release give the viewer an excellent idea of what the film looked like upon release. Presumably derived from an existing re-combine to an IP, the majority of the film looks wonderful, with only a few shots obviously out of registration, and another handful, with minor problems, that no one will notice.

Audio is crisp and clear, with nary a problem.

Note must be made of a superior commentary track featuring Mark Evanier, and someone mysteriously going by the name of Michael Schlesinger. It's a track that makes viewing the film twice, a pleasant necessity.

Image - 4.25

Audio - 5

4k Up-rez - 4

Pass / Fail - Pass

Recommended

RAH
 

Virgoan

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Whom do you suspect "someone mysteriously going by the name of Michael Schlesinger" of actually being?
 

Peter Apruzzese

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image.jpeg
Whom do you suspect "someone mysteriously going by the name of Michael Schlesinger" of actually being?
 

Dick

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Not the funniest of the Road films (for that I would nominate THE ROAD TO MOROCCO), but the color is an alluring element, and the film does have its share of zingers.
 

Bert Greene

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As long as we've brought up the topic of sarongs and Lamour, can anyone on earth tell my why Universal has kept "The Jungle Princess" (1936-Paramount) so maddeningly hidden away all these years? I don't think it's even circulated anywhere since the days of those old 16mm MCA syndicated film packages and the local late-shows that leased them. No vhs, no cable-tv, no dvd, etc. Hasn't made it to the Universal Vault series, although they did bring out an old transfer of the Technicolor follow-up, "Her Jungle Love" (1938). Anyway, it just seems to amaze me how this film which was a pretty prominent and highly popular release of its day has somehow been so strikingly neglected over the years. Hope it's not indicative of a problem with elements.

I used to enjoy those Lamour sarong pictures, although they tended to devolve more and more into silly fluff as they went along. "Typhoon," "Aloma of the South Seas," "Beyond the Blue Horizon." I think the last one was "Rainbow Island" (1944), and that one was indeed pretty dumb and pointless. But going back to that first one, "The Jungle Princess," that one was a real delight.
 

Mike Frezon

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Perhaps more to the point, he is a member here. With your admin superpowers :), you may want to peruse posts by Cadavra (as Peter also alluded to - more graphically - in his post yesterday evening).

"To the point" is always helpful for those of us who aren't aware of all the interconnectedness amongst the players. And allusions only help those with context.

Gotta have a scorecard sometimes.

00ConnieMack.jpg
 

FanCollector

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As the series went on, the initial meetings with Lamour grew ever more "meta," taking advantage of the audience's expectation. Some wonderful accompanying dialogue in this one, such as:

Lamour: Do you two always fight over girls?

Hope: We've never had any money. (Long take to camera.) That was for Washington.

Crosby's ballad here, "To See You Is To Love You" is especially pretty. (Hitchcock fans will recognize it from the soundtrack to Rear Window.)
 

Nick Eden

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Good point re The Jungle Princess. As far as I can remember, I don't ever recall seeing this. Would welcome an opportunity at some point.
 

John Morgan

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For me, the best ROAD pictures are the middle three: ROAD TO MOROCCO, ROAD TO UTOPIA and ROAD TO RIO. That last one seems headed for Blu ray, but the first two are owned by Universal, so who knows. Although I have the blu for ROAD TO HONG KONG, for me, it just doesn't feel like it belongs in the series: Different studio, leads a bit too old, Lamour reduced to a cameo and the film just seems tired. I love many of Bob Hope films. The best period was 1939 through the early 50s. If my arm was twisted I would pick MY FAVORITE BLONDE as my favorite.
 

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