Road to Singapore

Josh Mallon (Crosby) is the heir to a shipping empire, started by his great grandfather.  He wants to sail around the world on one of the ships, alongside his best friend Ace Lannigan (Hope), but his father "the Skipper" (Coburn) wants him to take over the family business.  Josh's fiance Gloria (Barrett) starts planning their lives together, starting with getting Josh behind a desk.

Josh and Ace escape and head toward Singapore, but their money runs out on the small island of Kaigoon.  They rescue dancer Mima (Lamour) from her abusive partner Caesar (Quinn).  Both men vow to avoid women and romantic entanglements, but both start to fall for Mima.


The first film collaboration of Bing Crosby and Bob Hope, and the beginning of their successful franchise of Road to... films (they made 7 altogether, always with Dorothy Lamour).  The film was initially offered to other comedians before they decided to go with Crosby and Hope.  Crosby and Hope had previously worked together live, but this marked their first on-screen pairing.  The studio added Lamour, who was popular at the time.  To round out the cast, they brought in Jerry Colonna, who appeared on Hope's radio show.  Colonna was best known for his loud singing and ability to stretch notes for long periods of time.  He appeared in 2 other Road films.

The script was written by Frank Butler and Don Hartman, but the writing teams of Crosby and Hope also contributed material that was already in the stars wheel-houses.  They also started a running gag (that appeared in all of the Road films) of the pat-a-cake game.  Also, like the other films in the franchise, both Crosby and Hope's characters are chasing after / in love with Lamour's character.

I am most familiar with their Road to Bali film, but this was a solid start to the series.

Road to Singapore (1940) 85 minutes
Director: Victor Schertzinger
Starring: Bing Crosby as Josh Mallon
Dorothy Lamour as Mima
Bob Hope as Ace Lannigan
Charles Coburn as Joshua "Skipper" Mallon IV
Judith Barrett as Gloria Wycott
Anthony Quinn as Caesar
Jerry Colonna as Achilles Bombanassa