NFR Project: 'Road to Morocco' (1942)

 

NFR Project: “Road to Morocco”

Dir: David Butler

Scr: Frank Butler, Don Hartman

Pho: William C. Mellor

Ed: Irene Morra

Premiere: Nov. 10, 1942

83 min.

First of all, read Richard Zoglin’s excellent essay on this film at the Library of Congress website.

For me, the central conceit of the Hope/Crosby “Road” films is that it is all, after all, just a movie. The comedy duo takes nothing seriously, mysteriously gifted with the sense that all that defines their existence is their proclivity to crack jokes about whatever situation they are in.

Now, for 1942, this attitude was refreshing. People were tired of realism; finding themselves at war was surely a part of it. A film that tells this kind of tale is looking to distract you, to pick your comedy pocket while it does its sleight of hand. It is not so much a film as it is the performance of the making of a film, a post-modernist kind of entertainment that congratulates us for being in on the gag. We know that, for them, this is all just another gig.

The chemistry of smooth crooner Bing Crosby and fast-talking comic Bob Hope was exceptional. The deadpan of Crosby paired with the manic mugging of Hope was a perfect repartee-barbed volleyball game. Their dialogue developed, loose and informal, like a jazz improvisation. Between the age of Laurel and Hardy and the age of Abbott and Costello, Hope and Crosby were moviedom’s comedy kings, and their relaxed, sometimes smarmy “Is this thing on?” sensibility was much imitated by all manner of comedians.

The two made seven Road pictures in all, between 1940 and 1962. This is the third and the most successful. As usual, Crosby is the smart schemer with the beautiful voice, and Hope is the cowardly, inane schpritzer, letting loose a torrent of clowning that sometimes makes Crosby look comatose. It was a formula that worked.

Crosby is Jeff Peters, and Hope is his idiot cousin Orville “Turkey” Jackson. They are adrift upon the ocean, victim of Orville’s idiocy with matches. They land in a desert country and fall in with Arabians; chiefly, their princess (the ever-lovely Dorothy Lamour). Crosby sells Hope as a slave, but finds that Hope is in the lap of the princess, prepared to be her (doomed) husband.

Hope is resigned to die at the hands of the stone-faced Kasim (Anthony Quinn!). They crack wise through being abducted, abandoned in the desert, then chased by bandits, all while Crosby gets the girl. They sabotage the meeting of the sheiks, allowing them to escape. (Crosby dumps gunpowder into a batch of hand-rolled cigarettes; Hope opines, “What are you making, reefers?”)

Two camels with animated eyes and mouths discuss the proceedings. “When I see how silly people behave, I’m glad I’m a camel,” says one. “Oh, I’m glad you’re a camel too, Mabel!” says the other, his eyes rolling lasciviously. 

Somewhere in there, Der Bingle sings that great hit song, “Moonlight Becomes You” (Jimmy Van Heusen/Johnny Burke).

It’s a film that goes at the pace of a gag a minute. It’s got a little of everything in it, and nothing is taken seriously (except by Anthony Quinn).

It’s hokey, it’s corny, it’s vaguely racist. We are living in the land of comic stereotypes. It’s just what a stressed-out WWII-era audience found to be entertaining. If you dig Crosby, or you like Hope, or both, then this film is right up your alley. If you’re not into their pre-hipster banter then this film will be a irritant.

Hope and Crosby were not friendly in real life, and the put-downs they trade have some of that emotional juice to them. They were pros going through their paces.

But they made it look easy; they made it look as though they were in it just for kicks.

The NFR is one writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry in chronological order. Next time: To Be or Not to Be.