The way to Bali

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Movie
German title The way to Bali
Original title Road to Bali
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1952
length 91 minutes
Age rating FSK 6
Rod
Director Hal Walker
script Frank Butler ,
Hal Kanter ,
William Morrow
production Harry Virtue ,
Daniel Dare
music Joseph J. Lilley
camera George Barnes
cut Archie Marshek
occupation

And without mentioning in the opening credits: Michael Ansara , Sue Casey , Harry Cording , Bob Crosby , Bernie Gozier , Carolyn Jones , Jerry Lewis , Dean Martin , Jane Russell and Steve Calvert as gorilla

synchronization

The Road to Bali is an American comedy film from 1952. Directed by Hal Walker based on a script by Frank Butler , Hal Kanter and William Morrow . The main roles were played by Bob Hope , Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour .

action

The two American singers Harold Gridley and George Cochran have to flee through the audience exit at the end of a performance in Melbourne : Two young women willing to marry, whom Harold and George had both promised to marry, block both sides of the stage together with their angry fathers. The escape on a train (that is, George on the train and Harold rather below) only lasts for a short time, as one of the fathers is looking for them there too. At the last second George jumps out the window and pulls Harold with him. They land in the outback and travel on foot in the company of a flock of sheep - when they finally reach a place they have long beards. They are looking for work, but only get the opportunity to work as a deep-sea diver for Prince Ken Arok. He wants to dig up treasure and several divers have died trying. First, Ken Arok brings Harold and George to the palace where he and his cousin, Princess Lahla, live. Lahla doesn't want anything to do with Ken Arok's plans, she calls his approach murder. After a welcome party, she tells George about the octopus that guarded the treasure and has so far killed all divers who came too close to it. George says Harold would do it. However, he is currently busy with a basket that he received at the party. When you play with the flute that goes with it, a young woman climbs out of this basket.

The next morning, Ken Arok urges the dive. Harold is unaware of the danger, but he dives because George told him that Lahla will marry the successful diver. He succeeds, but is then attacked by the squid. Ken Arok and his helpers are now only interested in the treasure. Lahla and George try to get Harold back on board. When that finally succeeds, the helpers have already fled the boat. Ken Arok was pulled overboard by a tentacle . Lahla fears that Ken Arok wants to murder her, so he travels to Bali with George and Harold . Both woo Lahla, but she can't decide - she actually loves George, but Harold reminds her of a childhood friend, a chimpanzee . Soon the boat runs aground and sinks. The three save themselves on a volcanic island . After a short exploration, they find a hut in which to spend the next few days. After a few incidents (for example, a female gorilla “falls in love” with Harold, then with George) they are captured by a group of savages; they seem to be cannibals .

The three are locked up in the kidnapper's village. The first to be performed is Lahla Bhoma Da, who turns out to be a good friend of Lahla's father. He encourages Lahla to marry both of them. This is easy on the island, as women can have several men there. Wedding preparations begin, but the king of the island wants Lahla for himself. So he decides to marry George off to Harold. In the opinion of marrying Lahla, the two conduct the wedding. When they realize what has happened, they also learn that they are both about to be killed soon. But the volcano erupts and they can free themselves. They save Lahla and hurry to the beach with her. There Lahla explains that she has decided to marry George. Harold should have a woman come out of the basket. To his delight, Jane Russell steps out, but she too turns to George. So George happily goes away with the two women, while Harold tries in vain to prevent the end of the film.

production

After The Road to Singapore (1940), The Road to Zanzibar (1941), The Road to Morocco (1942), The Road to Utopia (1946) and The Road to Rio (1947) it took five years for the successful film series to continue . The sixth film was originally supposed to be called Road to Hollywood (in German Der Weg nach Hollywood ), but was then renamed Der Weg nach Bali . After the first five films were all in black and white , The Way to Bali was shot in Technicolor . The last part of the series, The Road to Hong Kong , was again in black and white in 1962.

Production companies

The Road to Bali was produced by Paramount Pictures , Bing Crosby Enterprises and Hope Enterprises . The performers and staff members were paid individually by each of the production companies.

Cast & Crew

As in all previous films in the series, Bob Hope , Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour were given the lead roles. For Dorothy Lamour, however, this was the last film in the series in which she had a leading role. In The Road to Hong Kong , they only got a Cameoauftritt . Since, unlike Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, she did not co-produce, she also worked for a fixed salary, so she received no profit-sharing. When she demanded an equal fee for the creation of the soundtrack album , she was replaced by Peggy Lee without comment . The role in The Road to Bali was her last leading role in a film.

More cameos were used in The Road to Bali than in the previous films. So Bing Crosby's brother Bob appears in a scene on the volcanic island, fires a shot and leaves again. Bing Crosby's character remarks that he had promised him an appearance (English: Shot ) in the film. Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis can be seen in a dream of Princess Lalah as a couple, Jerry Lewis as a woman and with Lalah's headdress. Even Jane Russell has a cameo appearance at the very end of the film. Moreover, it is Humphrey Bogart to see just how he pulls a boat by a river. However, this is not Bogart's appearance; the scene from African Queen was simply cut into the film.

The gorilla was played by Steve Calvert, one of the most prominent gorilla actors in Hollywood in the 1950s .

Edith Head was responsible for the costumes in The Way to Bali , and Hal Pereira , J. McMillan Johnson , Sam Comer and Ross Dowd were responsible for the production design .

Filming

The shooting of The Way to Bali ran from the end of April to the end of June 1952. The shooting was in Paramount Studios.

Scenes

In addition to the already mentioned scene with Humphrey Bogart , the trick sequences with the octopus were also taken from another film, in this case from pirates in the Caribbean Sea . On the other hand, as Adolph Zukor , then chairman of the board of Paramount, wrote in his autobiography in 1953, an elaborate water ballet was cut from the film because the audience rejected the scene in the previews .

music

The score is by Joseph J. Lilley . The songs written by Jimmy Van Heusen (music) and Johnny Burke (text) play a much larger role in The Way to Bali . The six songs that were created for the film were released on record as early as 1952. However, The Road to Bali was not heard in the film. To See You , which Bing Crosby sings as George to Lahla on board the boat, was introduced with a joke in the film: Harold announces that George would now sing and adds in the German version “Do him a favor and listen Give it to him. ”In the original version, however, he recommends that the audience get some popcorn. George and Harold are introduced with Chicago Style and Princess Lahla with Moonflowers . On the evening of the festival in the palace George and Harold have an appearance as Scots and sing Hot Mon . George, Harold and Lahla address the question of why Lahla does not really want to make a decision on the volcanic island with the song Merry-Go-Run-Around .

Premiere

The Way to Bali premiered in Los Angeles on December 25, 1952 , and hit US cinemas in January 1953. The film was distributed by Paramount Pictures .

The German premiere was on August 14, 1953, the Austrian on December 18, 1953.

synchronization

The following were involved in the synchronization of Der Weg nach Bali :

role actor Voice actor
Harold Gridley Bob Hope Georg Thomalla
George Cochran Bing Crosby Paul Klinger
Princess Lalah Dorothy Lamour Friedel Schuster
Ken Arok Murvyn Vye Paul Wagner

reception

Reviews

Contemporary reviews

The contemporary reviews already showed clearly different evaluations. Such was Bosley Crowther of the New York Times simply thrilled Road to Bali . He thought the film was extremely funny and said they had never been better. The critics of the Variety, on the other hand, complained that no significant story was told. They only serve to create the basis for jokes and slapstick . The only goal is to amuse yourself with nonsensical jokes. That doesn't always work, and sometimes The Road to Bali is not entertaining, but by and large the goal is achieved, the film has the prospect of becoming financially successful. But that is exactly what the Spiegel doubted "in view of the [the] technicolored boredom" of the film. Otherwise the way to Bali was cut down with harsh words. Paimann's film lists saw an “[e] xotic grotesque” that had a “laughing effect” on “friends of the genre”. Otherwise one mentioned "by no means new but well-used gags and the mediocre color photography."

Later reviews

Craig Butler also criticizes the story. She is already very thin, even for a film in The Road to Series. Therefore, the focus is on the jokes and the songs, which are absolutely fine, but somehow don't really go together. There would be a lot of genre parody and a lot of cameos . All in all, however, it is lovable and undemanding fun and sometimes very funny. John Sinnott saw it similarly, but in his review he rated The Road to Bali and its predecessor, The Road to Rio together. The story is not really important and the film often does not take itself seriously. Sinnott highlights the chemistry between Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, and that the lead roles are sometimes aimed directly at the audience. He really enjoyed the film. Hal Erickson said the film isn't as fresh and spontaneous as other in line, but likes the gags and cameos. Jonathan Rosenbaum wrote that he loved the movie when he was nine and suspects that there are some things about it that could still be quite funny. Anyway, the cameos and technicolor would help. The lexicon of international films saw a "[t] partially designed as an original self-persiflage by Hollywood slapstick comedy."

Phil Hall said that if you don't know the other films in the series, you might find The Way to Bali at least partially funny, albeit in a more sentimental way. But if you know the other films, this one seems like a repetition. Over the entire film there is a feeling of having seen it all; Much of the characters' humor and the crazy situations they put themselves into seem like a second or third version of something similar to the earlier films. He explains the many cameos with the assumption that the producers noticed that the film was missing something. The only thing that is really different is that it is a color film. But the additional color cannot hide the “monochromatic humor”. Dennis Schwartz didn't like the film at all. He has an inordinate amount of lame jokes. Hope and Crosby also looked like tired travelers. Only the cameos would help a little.

Gross profit

In Variety's January 1954 list of the top box office films in the United States and Canada for 1953, The Road to Bali ranks 21st at $ 3 million, or tied with the films Once the Sun Shines Again , The World belongs to him and A Heart and a Crown in 19th place. The first five films in the series had grossed at least four million dollars each.

copyright

For films that had their copyright in the USA before January 1, 1978, the copyright had to be renewed after 28 years. None of the three production companies that shared the copyright managed to apply for an extension in time. Because of this, Der Weg nach Bali became public domain in the USA in early 1981 . However , this regulation does not apply in Germany , Austria and Switzerland , so that the film is not in the public domain in these countries.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h Road to Bali (1953). In: American Film Institute . Retrieved August 25, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Release certificate for the way to Bali . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , March 2006 (PDF; test number: 56 31D DVD).
  3. ^ A b c Brian Cady: Road to Bali (1953). In: TCM. Accessed September 10, 2018 .
  4. ^ A b c Phil Hall: The Bootleg Files: Road to Bali. In: FilmThreat. April 3, 2009, accessed August 25, 2018 .
  5. ↑ Confessions of a Hollywood Gorilla. In: Hollywoodgorillamen.com. September 14, 2006, accessed August 25, 2018 .
  6. ^ A b Craig Butler: Road to Bali (1952). In: All Movie. Retrieved August 25, 2018 .
  7. ^ A b John Sinnott: Road To Rio / The Road To Bali, The (HD DVD) (HD DVD). In: DVD Talk. January 8, 2008, accessed August 25, 2018 .
  8. ^ A b Hal Erickson : Road to Bali (1952). In: All Movie. Retrieved August 25, 2018 .
  9. ^ Adolph Zukor , Dale Kramer: The Public is Never Wrong . GP Putnam's Sons, New York 1953, p.  293 ( online at Archive.org [accessed August 25, 2018]).
  10. ↑ Bing Crosby, Bob Hope And Peggy Lee? - Road To Bali (Selections From The Paramount Picture). In: Discogs . Retrieved August 25, 2018 .
  11. ↑ a b The way to Bali. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed August 25, 2018 . Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  12. ↑ The way to Bali. In: DVD-Forum.at. Retrieved August 25, 2018 .
  13. ↑ The Road to Bali (1952). In: synchronkartei.de. German dubbing file , accessed on August 25, 2018 .
  14. ↑ According to Road to Bali . In: Film Bulletin . February 23, 1953, p. 31 ( online in Archive.org [accessed August 25, 2018]).
  15. ^ Road to Bali (Songs-Color) . In: Variety . November 19, 1952, p.  6 (English, online at Archive.org [accessed August 25, 2018]).
  16. ↑ a b New in Germany . In: Der Spiegel . tape  1953 , no. 35 , August 26, 1953, p. 33 ( online at Spiegel.de [accessed on August 25, 2018]).
  17. ↑ The Road to Bali (Road to Bali) . In: Paimann's film lists . No. 2020 , December 23, 1953, p. 118 ( Online in Filmarchiv.at ( Memento from August 25, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) [JPG; accessed on August 25, 2018]).
  18. ↑ Jonathan Rosenbaum : Road to Bali. In: Chicago Reader . Retrieved August 25, 2018 .
  19. ^ Dennis Schwartz: Road to Bali. In: Ozus' World. April 29, 2009, accessed August 25, 2018 .
  20. ↑ Top Grossers of 1953 . In: Variety . January 13, 1954, p.  10 (English, online at Archive.org [accessed August 25, 2018]).