While
THE ROAD TO HONG KONG ($20) was the last of the road movies, Bob
Hope and Bing Crosby certainly hadn’t lost any of their zany charm and
great comic interplay, even if some of the film’s routines seem a bit
frayed around the edges. In this outing, Bob and Bing portray
ex-vaudevillians Chester Babcock and Harry Turner, who are scamming their
way across Asia as petty con men. When their latest swindle goes bust,
Chester is left with a case of amnesia and off to a lamasery in Tibet in
search of a mystical cure.
After
the monks restore Chester’s memory, the duo make off with another sacred
herb, one that is supposed to imbue an individual with total recall. After
ingesting the herb, Chester ends up memorizing a secret rocket fuel
formula, which makes him a prized commodity for The Leader of the 3rd
Echelon (Robert Morley), who is bent on using the formula in a bid to take
over the world. Joan Collins takes over the "Dorothy Lamour"
role as the beautiful gal our heroes fight over, although Lamour does show
up for an amusing cameo. Look for Peter Sellers in an uncredited bit as an
Indian doctor, which could be the film’s most inspired and hilarious
moment.
MGM
Home Entertainment has made THE ROAD TO HONG KONG in a 1.66:1 wide
screen presentation that has NOT been enhanced for playback on 16:9
displays. Again, I take exception to MGM’s policy against issuing 1.66:1
films without the 16:9 enhancement, especially since consumers are
purchasing wide screen displays in increasing numbers. While this black
and white transfer looks terrific on a 4:3 monitor, blowing it up to
accommodate a 16:9 big screen monitor softens the image and introduces
unnecessary artifacts. The film element use for the transfer displays very
few blemishes, which makes it appear a lot newer than a movie celebrating
its fortieth anniversary. Blacks are very solid and white appear clean.
Contrast is quite nice and the image displays a nice varied gray scale.
Noticeable film grain is modest and never bothersome. Digital compression
artifacts are very well concealed throughout the presentation.
The
Dolby Digital monaural soundtrack holds up very well for its age.
Background hiss and surface noise is quite minimal and the track will take
a fair amount of amplification without distortion. Dialogue is very crisp
and clean, so one can appreciate all of the witty banter between Hope and
Crosby, as well as some of the groaners that escape their lips. There are
a few musical numbers in the film that sound fine, in spite of the reduced
fidelity of these vintage recordings. A Spanish language track is also
encoded onto the DVD, along with English, French and Spanish subtitles.
The basic interactive menus provide access to the standard scene selection
and set up features, as well as a theatrical trailer.
THE
ROAD TO HONG KONG may not be the best of the road movies, but it still
pretty darn funny. If you are a fan of these Bob Hope and Bing Crosby
opuses, then you’ll want to add THE ROAD TO HONG KONG to your DVD
collection.
While
THE ROAD TO HONG KONG ($20) was the last of the road movies, Bob
Hope and Bing Crosby certainly hadn’t lost any of their zany charm and
great comic interplay, even if some of the film’s routines seem a bit
frayed around the edges. In this outing, Bob and Bing portray
ex-vaudevillians Chester Babcock and Harry Turner, who are scamming their
way across Asia as petty con men. When their latest swindle goes bust,
Chester is left with a case of amnesia and off to a lamasery in Tibet in
search of a mystical cure.
After
the monks restore Chester’s memory, the duo make off with another sacred
herb, one that is supposed to imbue an individual with total recall. After
ingesting the herb, Chester ends up memorizing a secret rocket fuel
formula, which makes him a prized commodity for The Leader of the 3rd
Echelon (Robert Morley), who is bent on using the formula in a bid to take
over the world. Joan Collins takes over the "Dorothy Lamour"
role as the beautiful gal our heroes fight over, although Lamour does show
up for an amusing cameo. Look for Peter Sellers in an uncredited bit as an
Indian doctor, which could be the film’s most inspired and hilarious
moment.
MGM
Home Entertainment has made THE ROAD TO HONG KONG in a 1.66:1 wide
screen presentation that has NOT been enhanced for playback on 16:9
displays. Again, I take exception to MGM’s policy against issuing 1.66:1
films without the 16:9 enhancement, especially since consumers are
purchasing wide screen displays in increasing numbers. While this black
and white transfer looks terrific on a 4:3 monitor, blowing it up to
accommodate a 16:9 big screen monitor softens the image and introduces
unnecessary artifacts. The film element use for the transfer displays very
few blemishes, which makes it appear a lot newer than a movie celebrating
its fortieth anniversary. Blacks are very solid and white appear clean.
Contrast is quite nice and the image displays a nice varied gray scale.
Noticeable film grain is modest and never bothersome. Digital compression
artifacts are very well concealed throughout the presentation.
The
Dolby Digital monaural soundtrack holds up very well for its age.
Background hiss and surface noise is quite minimal and the track will take
a fair amount of amplification without distortion. Dialogue is very crisp
and clean, so one can appreciate all of the witty banter between Hope and
Crosby, as well as some of the groaners that escape their lips. There are
a few musical numbers in the film that sound fine, in spite of the reduced
fidelity of these vintage recordings. A Spanish language track is also
encoded onto the DVD, along with English, French and Spanish subtitles.
The basic interactive menus provide access to the standard scene selection
and set up features, as well as a theatrical trailer.
THE
ROAD TO HONG KONG may not be the best of the road movies, but it still
pretty darn funny. If you are a fan of these Bob Hope and Bing Crosby
opuses, then you’ll want to add THE ROAD TO HONG KONG to your DVD
collection.