The way to Utopia
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The way to Utopia |
| Original title | Road to Utopia |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1946 |
| length | 86 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Hal Walker |
| script |
Norman Panama Melvin Frank |
| production | Paul Jones |
| music | Leigh Harline |
| camera | Lionel Lindon |
| cut | Stuart Gilmore |
| occupation | |
| |
The Road to Utopia (original title Road to Utopia ) is an American adventure film from 1946 directed by Hal Walker . Bing Crosby and Bob Hope play two friends who go on an adventurous trip to Alaska and have a fateful encounter with a beautiful woman played by Dorothy Lamour .
The film is part of the series of comedy "Road" films Road to ... or Weg nach ... and is the fourth film in a seven-part series. This film is the only one in the series whose title does not refer to a real place.
action
A white-haired couple greet a friend from the old days. You haven't seen each other for 35 years. Chester and Sal Hooten were convinced their friend Duke Johnson was dead. All three think back to the adventurous story that binds them together and that happened during the Alaskan Gold Rush .
Duke, a vaudeville artist, and his partner Chester Hooten are forced to flee town, where they performed at a fairground , after an incident caused by the escape of bandits Sperry and McGurk . Sperry and McGurk robbed and murdered Mr. Latimer, who was keeping a map for Sal van Hoyden showing the exact location of a gold mine. This gold mine was once discovered by Sal's father in Utopia Alaska. Sal sets out to pursue the bandits; she wants the map back so that she can prove her claim to the mine. Duke also wants to go to Alaska to find happiness in the "gold rush", but Chester would much rather go back to New York . However, Duke is able to outsmart his friend and so they end up as stowaways on a ship to Utopia- Alaska. When they are found they have to work on the ship. In the meantime, Duke and Chester have learned from newspaper reports about the theft of the map by Sperry and McGurk, and when they are supposed to clean their cabin they look around for the map and find it. At this very moment, however, the two of them come back and a wild brawl ensues. Duke and Chester manage to outsmart the thieves and escape in a boat wearing their clothes. Sperry and McGurk remain tied up on board.
When they arrive in the gold rush town of Skagway , they are actually taken for the notorious thieves and murderers Sperry and McGurk and are met with great fear. In the city's hotel they meet in the saloon Sal van Hoyden, who had turned to the owner Ace Larson for help. Larson was a friend of her father's. Sal appears there as a singer. Ace plans to get to the treasure map via Sal with his girlfriend Kate and his partner LeBec in order to take over the mine. He poses to Sal as a fatherly concerned friend and advises her to use her feminine charms to get the card back into her possession. Sal tries both men too. Duke and Chester tore the card in half and each has one half with them. LeBec manages to get Duke's half of the card. Together with Kate and Ace Larson, he goes on a dog sled to Dawson City , where it is bitterly cold. Duke and Chester follow them, as does Sal. In a hut where the icy weather drives them, the women cleverly manage to steal the other half of the card from Chester, which he kept hidden under his undershirt. Sal, who has since fallen in love with Duke, tells him after he confesses his true identity that the mine is hers. Meanwhile, however, Sperry and McGurk have also arrived, leading to further incidents, at the end of which the citizens of Skagway demand that Sperry and McGurk be hanged. The map with the location of the mine is now in Ace Larson's safe, from which Duke and Chester retrieve it. On the run from Ace Larson and his men, a glacier suddenly splits , leaving Chester and Sal on one side, the protected side, while Duke and his pursuers are left defenseless on the other side.
Thirty-five years later, Duke met Chester and Sal's grown-up son, who was cut out of his face. So the friends met again. He learns from Chester and Sal that Chester adopted him when they both believed he was dead, and Duke tells them how he managed to shake off his pursuers and save himself.
background
The shooting took place from December 3, 1943 to January 1944. The film was shot at Paramount Studios in Hollywood , USA . Other scenes were shot in June Lake, California . In the USA the premiere of the film took place on February 27, 1946, it was generally in the cinemas of the USA on March 22, 1946. In the Federal Republic of Germany , Der Weg nach Utopia was first shown in cinemas on January 26, 1951, and in Austria on May 25, 1951.
Robert Benchley, an American humorist, theater critic and actor who died in 1945, before the premiere of the film, and who appeared in the film as a speaker in order to provide viewers with comments on individual actions at regular intervals, said that the film was was made to demonstrate how not to make a film. For Hal Walker it was his first solo directing work. The film also includes a scene showing a snow-capped mountain surrounded by stars, Paramount-Pictures trademark.
The fourth film in the "Road" series is considered one of the best. From 1940, the first film of the series comes The Road to Singapore in 1941 was followed by The Road to Zanzibar , 1942 Road to Morocco , then in 1946 The Road to Utopia , 1947 Road to Rio and 1952 Road to Bali and 1962 the stragglers The Way to Hong Kong . The most financially successful was The Road to Rio .
Reviews
The lexicon of international film spoke of a "schematic slapstick conversation."
Bosley Crowther of the New York Times said in a general sense that since Charlie Chaplin's search for gold, there has not been as much humor and artificial snow swirled around as in Road to Utopia . For the latest Paramount "Road", Messrs. Crosby and Hope as well as the indestructible Dorothy Lamour have a flood of unruly fun and clowning, gags and travesty ready, which even a snowdrift cannot suffocate. The "Road" films are always an occasion to have a wonderful time. The laughter will spread across the country.
Awards
At the Academy Awards in 1947 , Norman Panama and Melvin Frank were nominated for "Best Original Screenplay " . It won Muriel Box and Sydney Box for their screenplay for the film The Seventh Veil ( The Seventh Veil ).
Web links
- The road to Utopia in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Road to Utopia at TCM - Turner Classic Movies.
- ↑ The way to ... at then-im-kino. Retrieved February 9, 2016.
- ↑ The Road to Utopia. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed September 10, 2018 .
- ^ Road to Utopia Bosley Crowther, The New York Times. Published February 28, 1946. Retrieved January 27, 2013.