Movie review –Road #3 – “The Road to Morocco” (1942) ***1/2

The best road movie to date with a pleasing air of unscrupulousness: Bing and Bob are shipwrecked then wind up in Morocco where Bing sells Bob into slavery to make some money, which is pretty full on. Then is turns out he’s been bought by a princess (Dorothy Lamour) to marry, which triggers Bing’s competitive instincts. As in Zanzibar, Lamour is no retiring violet – she wants to marry Hope but only so he will die and she has no intention of sleeping with him. The rivalry between the lead duo is accentuated – when Hope discovers that Lamour’s husband will be killed he tries to get Bing to take his place - the gags are stronger (great one with a camel kissing them, and the fourth wall is often broken), the songs are more charming (the title track is especially delightful). Again Lamour really likes Bing but this time they give Hope a pretty girl to have as compensation. There is an off scene where Hope pretends to have a speech impediment in order to get some food and runs into a shop owner with a speech impediment, and the film does fade away towards the end.