The way to Singapore
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The way to Singapore |
| Original title | Road to Singapore |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1940 |
| length | 85 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Victor Schertzinger |
| script |
Don Hartman , Frank Butler |
| production | Harlan Thompson |
| music | Victor Young |
| camera | William C. Mellor |
| cut | Paul Weatherwax |
| occupation | |
And without mentioning in the opening credits: Elvia Allman , Monte Blue , Arthur Q. Bryan , Edward Gargan , Greta Granstedt , Grace Hayle , John Kelly , Harold Miller , Edmund Mortimer , Charles Morton , Cyril Ring , Larry Steers and Richard Tucker | |
The way to Singapore , original title Road to Singapore , is an American comedy film in black and white from 1940. Directed by Victor Schertzinger . The script was written by Don Hartman and Frank Butler based on a story by Harry Hervey . The main roles were played by Bob Hope , Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour . It is the first of seven films in the series Der Weg nach… .
action
The millionaire heir Josh Mallon prefers to work on a ship than to be prepared to run his family's shipping line. In addition, his father Joshua urges Josh and Gloria Wycott to get married soon. Together with his friend Ace Lannigan, who is fleeing from the forced marriage with one of his lovers, he mixes up a celebration of the Mallon and Wycott families so that he and Ace have to flee to the island of Kaigoon. There they live in a small village and swear off women. One evening they sit together in the village pub and watch the whip artist Caesar and his partner Mima perform. Josh and Ace both react visibly to Mima, so that she comes to their table after the performance. Caesar immediately intervenes with his whip, and a fight ensues, in the course of which Ace and Josh flee through the window and take Mima, who wants to get away from her brutal partner, with them. Mima moves in with the two of them. Soon they run out of money, so they decide to sell cleaning products as laundry detergents. However, they destroy Achille Bombanassa's suit during the first public demonstration of their product. This is how Caesar gets on her trail, but also Josh's father, who has his son searched for in all branches of his shipping company with a photo. Willow, who runs the Kaigoon branch, is the first to ask Bombanassa.
Meanwhile Josh and Ace have both fallen in love with Mina. However, the three are starving for lack of money. When the big annual celebration comes up, where all indigenous people get free food, Josh and Ace pose as such and take whatever they can get. Josh's father and Gloria also arrive during this party to bring Josh back. Under the impression that Josh is going to return home, Ace proposes marriage to Mima. Josh also wants to stay with Mima, who now has to choose between the two. She actually loves Josh, but doesn't want to stop him from marrying Gloria and chooses the Ace. Josh therefore leaves with his father and Gloria. Caesar alerts the authorities that Ace does not have a passport. Therefore this should be shown. Ace can still prevent this and use it to expel a law enforcement officer. Nevertheless, he leaves the island with Mima. But he notices that Mima loves Josh. Ace lures Josh off his ship so that Josh and Mima can marry.
production
Production company
The Way to Singapore was produced by Paramount Pictures .
Cast & Crew
The Way to Singapore was the first joint film by Bob Hope and Bing Crosby , who had previously made fun of each other in their respective radio programs. However, the story had previously been offered to Fred MacMurray and Jack Oakie under the title The Road to Mandalay and George Burns and Gracie Allen under the title Beach of Dreams . But they all refused. Because of the exotic location , Dorothy Lamour was an obvious choice as another lead; another role in which she could appear in a sarong , her "trademark". Bing Crosby and Bob Hope rarely stuck to the script and tended to follow their instincts (or the tips of their personal gag writers). Bob Hope is said to have asked the scriptwriter Frank Butler to shout "Bingo" out loud when he hears something that sounds like one of his text passages. Dorothy Lamour was initially very irritated by this, but soon she decided that there was no point in learning the script.
Edith Head was responsible for the costumes in The Way to Singapore , while Hans Dreier and Robert Odell and AE Freudemann were responsible for the production design .
Filming
Filming for The Road to Singapore began on September 25, 1939 and continued through December. The location was Paramount Studios. The working title of the film was follow the sun .
music
In addition to the film music of Victor Young playing in the way to Singapore , the songs presented an important role as in any other film in the series. The first, Captain Custard , will be sung by Bing Crosby and Bob Hope at the party on the ship, the second, The Moon and the Willow Tree , will be sung by Dorothy Lamour as she leaves the boat one evening and sits on the shore. These two songs are by Victor Schertzinger and Johnny Burke . The other three songs were written by James V. Monaco (music) and Johnny Burke (lyrics). Bing Crosby sings Sweet Potato Piper in the village market square when the three of them sell Ace's detergent. The typical love song that Bing Crosby sings to Dorothy Lamour is Too Romantic. Finally, Kaigoon is performed by the villagers at the big festival.
Sweet Potato Piper made it into the top 20 of the US charts, and Too Romantic even reached number 3 there.
Premiere
The Way to Singapore premiered in New York City on March 14, 1940 . The film was released on DVD on March 5, 2002. The film was distributed by Paramount Pictures .
The German-language premiere was on Bayerischer Rundfunk on February 12, 1985.
reception
Reviews
Some critics saw elements of the later films in The Road to Singapore . They missed the spontaneity or the weirdness of these films. However , the way to Singapore less polished. Nevertheless, they found the film funny, had a lot of fun with it or said it was good entertainment. Similarly, contemporary critics considered the film to be promising and as a good foundation for further films. Although the story makes little sense, it doesn't matter because the clowning and the songs are the most important things. It was a good comedy Frank S. Nugent of the New York Times also saw some “endearing nonsense”, but thought it was not enough for a good comedy. The lexicon of international film , however, only saw a "grotesque, the action of which is only a pretext for slapstick ideas."
Bing Crosby and Bob Hope were praised for being very good, if not quite as good as they were later, and they are a wonderful match. Dorothy Lamour has adapted well, which is not easy under the circumstances, but she is not a comedian and has a more decorative role. The scriptwriters would have found it a little harder to find their way.
Financial result
The Road to Singapore was the box office’s best-selling film of 1940. It grossed $ 3.2 million.
Web links
- The way to Singapore in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f Road to Singapore (1940). In: American Film Institute . Retrieved September 23, 2018 .
- ↑ a b c d e Road to Singapore (With Songs) . In: Variety . February 28, 1940, p. 16 (English, online at Archive.org [accessed September 23, 2018]).
- ↑ a b c Tom Vallance: Obituary: Dorothy Lamour . In: The Independent . September 24, 1996 ( online in Independent.co.uk [accessed September 23, 2018]).
- ↑ a b c d e Derek Winnert: Road to Singapore *** (1940, Bing Crosby, Dorothy Lamour, Bob Hope, Charles Coburn, Anthony Quinn, Jerry Colonna) - Classic Movie Review 6606. In: Derek Winnert. January 26, 2018, accessed September 23, 2018 .
- ↑ a b c d Paul Tatara: Road to Singapore (1940). In: Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved September 23, 2018 .
- ^ Donald W. McCaffrey: The Road to Comedy: The Films of Bob Hope . Greenwood Publishing Group, Santa Barbara 2005, ISBN 978-0-275-98257-7 , pp. 105 (English, limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed September 23, 2018]).
- ↑ The way to Singapore at Rotten Tomatoes (English) , accessed on September 23 2018th
- ↑ a b The way to Singapore. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed September 23, 2018 .
- ^ A b Hal Erickson : Road to Singapore (1940). In: All Movie. Retrieved September 23, 2018 .
- ↑ a b c d e Craig Butler: The Road to Singapore (1940). In: All Movie. Retrieved September 23, 2018 .
- ↑ a b c “The Road to Singapore” with Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour . In: Harrison's Reports . March 9, 1940, p. 39 (English, online at Archive.org [accessed September 23, 2018]).
- ↑ a b c Frank S. Nugent : THE SCREEN; Posting a Proceed-With-Caution Sign on Paramount's 'Road to Singapore' - 'Earl of Chicago' Opens . In: The New York Times . March 14, 1940 ( online on the New York Times pages [accessed September 23, 2018]).
- ^ Road to Singapore (1940). In: The Numbers. Retrieved September 23, 2018 .