Fan service from Hope and Crosby

I mentioned some time back getting a box set of Bob Hope movies that's really a repackaging of two Hope sets. One of those sets is several of the Road movies. Recently, I put the third of those movies in the DVD player, Road to Morocco.

The movie stars off with a bunch of radio commentators talking about a ship that blew up in the middle of the ocean. Two of the surviving passengers were Jeff Peters (Bing Crosby) and Orville Jackson (Bob Hope), who are now floating on some of the wreckage from the ship. Amazingly, they aren't carried farther out to sea, but instead wind up drifting ashore, to a part of northern Africa where the desert literally meets the sea. That allows for a camel to show up on the beach, which the two men can then ride to get to civilization and safety.

Except, of course, that there wouldn't be much of a movie in that case, so when they get to the first big town, one of those stereotypical Arab towns with a bazaar, a local strongman with a lot of women, and all that fun stuff. This is, after all, a comedy. The two men try to get some food but don't have any money, so Jeff surreptitiously sells Orville into slavery to get the money for the meal. And these two are friends?

At least Orville is going to have the chance to turn the tables on Jeff. Orville has wound up in the palace with Princess Shalamar (Dorothy Lamour) and her ladies-in-waiting. Shalamar is supposed to marry the local sheik, Mullay Kasim (Anthony Quinn), but she falls in love to marry Orville. It's a ruse, however, as Shalamar has heard a prophecy that her first husband is going to die a violent death shortly after the marriage, while it's the second husband who will have a long and happy life. Thus, marry a schlub like Orville and, after he dies, make Kasim the second husband. Meanwhile, truly falling in love with Orville is the lady-in-waiting Mihirmah (Dona Drake).

Orville learns about the prophecy, which is why he offers to let Jeff marry Shalamar. Orville figures that in this case, it will be Jeff who dies the violent death, leaving Orville free to marry Shalamar and become that happy second husband. In any case, the two mean still have to deal with the wrath of Kasim....

That's the basic plot of Road to Morocco, but by this point, even though it was only the third movie in the series, the movies are really more about the banter between Hope and Crosby, and breaking the fourth wall, than they are about the actual goings-on. As such, the movies may not appeal to people looking for something with a more coherent plot. There's also the chance for Crosby to croon several songs, while Lamour also gets to sing a song.

I'm not all the way in the "wants a coherent plot" camp, but I'm also definitely not firmly in the "inside baseball" camp. As a result, I can see that there are going to be people who like Road to Morocco more than I did. It's certainly not a bad movie; you just have to know what you're getting into and be lookin for that.