'The Road To Singapore' ( 1940 ) starred Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour. It was a winning team - Hope provided the gags, Crosby the singing, and Lamour the glamour. Five more pictures in similar vein followed. With 'The Road To Bali' ( 1952 ), it looked like the end for the musical comedy series, but a decade later it returned for an encore, which was filmed in England despite the title!
'Hong Kong' has Bob and Bing as 'Chester Babcock' and 'Harry Turner', con men trying to sell a flying device that looks like the one Woody Allen used to escape security guards in 'Sleeper' ( 1973 ). During a demonstration, Chester loses his memory. Harry takes him first to an Indian doctor ( an uncredited Peter Sellers reprising his 'Milionairess' role in all but name ) and then to a Tibetan monastery. Chester is cured but then accidentally memorises a formula for space navigation, and agents of a mysterious organisation known as 'The Third Echelon' are after both of them. Luckily, one such agent is 'Diane' ( Joan Collins )...
When I first saw this on television many moons ago, I assumed that Hope and Crosby were spoofing 'James Bond'. The S.P.E.C.T.R.E.-like 'The Third Echelon' hides out in an underground lair ( beneath sea level ) accessible through a secret entrance, employs agents in black, roll-neck jumpers ( worn by at least every spy at some point in the '60's ) and is led by a 'Blofeld'-like megalomaniac ( Robert Morley ). Their plan for world domination involves space rockets ( also the premise of 'Dr.No', the first Bond movie ). I was surprised to learn that 'Hong Kong' actually came out before 007's debut, meaning that Norman Panama and Melvin Frank beat all those spy spoofs to the punch by a few years. The titles were designed by Maurice Binder, by the way!
Dorothy Lamour is unfairly relegated to a small role ( she's on screen for no more than five minutes ) while the main female role is given to Joan Collins, despite her having virtually no flair for comedy. Still it was good to see 'Dottie' again with the boys.
The gags come thick and fast. One is 'borrowed' from Chaplin's 'Modern Times' - Bob and Bing are flying around in a space capsule and a machine feeds them bananas and milk ( the ship was originally intended to house monkeys ). The Hong Kong setting allows for racial stereotyping which probably would not be allowed now, but the most interesting scene is Chester and Harry's encounter with Sellers. It is the old guard of comedy handing over the baton to the new. Allegedly they tried to delete it as they felt the ex-Goon to be upstaging them.
Loads of British faces on view - Dave King ( as a Chinese restaurant owner ), Roger Delgado ( later to play 'The Master' in 'Dr.Who' ), Walter Gotell ( 'General Gogol' of the Bond movies ), Felix Aylmer, and a fleeting appearance from David Niven! The ending has our heroes stranded on an alien planet, where they bump into Rat Packers Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin! Not one of the best 'Road' films by a long chalk, but Bob and Bing are always watchable. Too old? Well, they were in their sixties, but it would only have been a problem if they had been playing young men. They weren't.
In 1977, Bob and Bing planned to make 'The Road To The Fountain Of Youth' but the latter's death made the project impossible. For better or worse, 'Hong Kong' was the end of the pair's long journey.
'Hong Kong' has Bob and Bing as 'Chester Babcock' and 'Harry Turner', con men trying to sell a flying device that looks like the one Woody Allen used to escape security guards in 'Sleeper' ( 1973 ). During a demonstration, Chester loses his memory. Harry takes him first to an Indian doctor ( an uncredited Peter Sellers reprising his 'Milionairess' role in all but name ) and then to a Tibetan monastery. Chester is cured but then accidentally memorises a formula for space navigation, and agents of a mysterious organisation known as 'The Third Echelon' are after both of them. Luckily, one such agent is 'Diane' ( Joan Collins )...
When I first saw this on television many moons ago, I assumed that Hope and Crosby were spoofing 'James Bond'. The S.P.E.C.T.R.E.-like 'The Third Echelon' hides out in an underground lair ( beneath sea level ) accessible through a secret entrance, employs agents in black, roll-neck jumpers ( worn by at least every spy at some point in the '60's ) and is led by a 'Blofeld'-like megalomaniac ( Robert Morley ). Their plan for world domination involves space rockets ( also the premise of 'Dr.No', the first Bond movie ). I was surprised to learn that 'Hong Kong' actually came out before 007's debut, meaning that Norman Panama and Melvin Frank beat all those spy spoofs to the punch by a few years. The titles were designed by Maurice Binder, by the way!
Dorothy Lamour is unfairly relegated to a small role ( she's on screen for no more than five minutes ) while the main female role is given to Joan Collins, despite her having virtually no flair for comedy. Still it was good to see 'Dottie' again with the boys.
The gags come thick and fast. One is 'borrowed' from Chaplin's 'Modern Times' - Bob and Bing are flying around in a space capsule and a machine feeds them bananas and milk ( the ship was originally intended to house monkeys ). The Hong Kong setting allows for racial stereotyping which probably would not be allowed now, but the most interesting scene is Chester and Harry's encounter with Sellers. It is the old guard of comedy handing over the baton to the new. Allegedly they tried to delete it as they felt the ex-Goon to be upstaging them.
Loads of British faces on view - Dave King ( as a Chinese restaurant owner ), Roger Delgado ( later to play 'The Master' in 'Dr.Who' ), Walter Gotell ( 'General Gogol' of the Bond movies ), Felix Aylmer, and a fleeting appearance from David Niven! The ending has our heroes stranded on an alien planet, where they bump into Rat Packers Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin! Not one of the best 'Road' films by a long chalk, but Bob and Bing are always watchable. Too old? Well, they were in their sixties, but it would only have been a problem if they had been playing young men. They weren't.
In 1977, Bob and Bing planned to make 'The Road To The Fountain Of Youth' but the latter's death made the project impossible. For better or worse, 'Hong Kong' was the end of the pair's long journey.