"Road To Morocco", possibly Bing Crosby and Bob Hope's most perfect "Road to" movie opened November 10th, 1942, two days after the US landed in Morocco at the height of WW2. And the opening of the movie has Italian, Chinese and Russians news reporters because an English one announces that a freight ship has exploded, with everybody accounted for except for two people.
Uh oh! Is this the road to Casablanca? Who wants to hear any more about the damn war? Never far, the very next scene finds Bing Crosby, who suggested they stowaway to get back to the States, and Bob Hope, hereby known as "Turkey" (his nickname in the movie), who was sneaking a smoke in the gunpowder room when it caught fire.
And that's it for WW2. Off we go to Morocco, where Bing sells Turkey into slavery, Turkey gets bought by a Princess, Dorothy Lamour. Since Bing had just bet us 8:5 she'd be in the movie, no big shocker there! And much, much hilarity ensues as they fight villainous Arabs and each other, on the road back home.
This was the third of the Road movies, yet another dazzling piece of extended hi-jinx filled with word play, bad faith, and third wall tumbling winks to the audience. It is hard to know how this could be any better. A fluffy headed, light hearted, perfection of escapism. Exactly what was needed.
Better still is the music. The title track, with Bing and Turkey on a camel, is fun enough, but the big number of the evening, sung to Lamour as he steals her from Hope (er, Turkey) (Lamour: "A goose is beautiful until you put it next to a peacock") is "Moonlight becomes You". Written by the brilliant songwriting team of Johnny Burke and Jimmy Van Heusen, the pair wrote stuff like "Swing On A Star" and "Going My Way" together, "Moonlight Becomes You" is a perfect creation: a gorgeous form of seduction, with da Bing crooning "If I said I love you I want you to know, it's not just because there's moonlight although, moonlight becomes you so".
Movie, Grade: A
Music, Grade: A