Road to Morocco

Road to Morocco
April 8, 1943
Paramount
Comedy, Musical
DVD
B-

While this isn't as funny as I remember, it still has its moments.  Yes, it's probably as politically incorrect as Road to Zanzibar, but it has a much lighter touch, and at least there's no cannibalism.  David Butler also directed Playmates, and he's good at blending silly music with a silly plot, as well as lots of then-topical references, e.g. Here Comes Mr. Jordan.  The title song is one of my favorites ever, and even as a kid I delighted in these lyrics:  "Like a complete set of Shakespeare that you buy in the corner drugstore for a dollar ninety-eight/ We're Morocco bound/ Or/ Like a volume of Omar Khayyam that you buy in the department store at Christmas time for your cousin Julia/ We're Morocco bound."

There's more fourth-wall-breaking than in Zanzibar, with that title song referencing Dorothy Lamour and Paramount.   Bing's solos are very good, too, and I like the reprise of "Moonlight Becomes You" done by the trio, with shifting voices!  We've got the usual romantic triangle, but this time Bob gets a great alternate girl: cute, affectionate, and brave Dona Drake.  There's also Anthony Quinn as Lamour's rejected fiance.  And Bob & Bing have a bromance that involves accidental kissing.  There are moments that I'm surprised got past the censors, like Bob saying the word "reefers," and Dorothy's kisses uncurling the toes of Bob's shoes.  (Bing suggests she try kissing his nose and straightening that.)  I really like the sets and costumes.  So why not a higher grade?  Well, there is that political incorrectness, not just about Arabs (much more than in Casablanca) but about "village idiots."  Some of the other jokes bomb, too.  Still, the movie is worth seeing.

Harry Woods, who was gangster Alky Briggs in Monkey Business, is unconfirmed as being in this movie.  Leo Belasco, Monte Blue, Dick Botiller, and Jamiel Hasson were all in Casablanca, which is fitting since Casablanca is in Morocco.  Vivian Dandridge sang in A Day at the Races, and she plays a servant here.  (She's also the voice of "So White" in 1943's infamous cartoon Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs, talk about politically incorrect!)  James Dime was in Go West.  Suzanne Ridgeway was in Citizen Kane and would go on to It's a Wonderful Life.

Playmates

Playmates
December 26, 1941
RKO
Comedy, Musical
VHS
B

I won't argue that this is a good movie, but I do find it a very entertaining one, especially the music.  Kay Kyser and his band sort of play themselves, as does John Barrymore in his last film.  Throw in Patsy Kelly as one of the fast-talking agents (the other is Peter Lind Hayes, who I only I know of because he apparently was on the first TV sitcom to feature a baby), mix in Lupe Velez (best known for the Mexican Spitfire series),and give M.A. Bogue, AKA Ish Kabibble, lots to do, so even the non-musical scenes are fun.  (Check out, to take just one example, Patsy as Lulu saying that the A Vitamins "taste like 'ell to me," a great sneak past the censor.)

But, oh, that music!  The "best" (well, funniest) numbers are first and last.  "Thank Your Lucky Stars and Stripes" (in this movie released shortly after Pearl Harbor) has to be one of the most ridiculous "patriotic" songs ever.  Lines like, "If you can sing and believe in anything," "If you have shoes and can say the things you choose," and "If you can joke and enjoy an artichoke," along with stuff about traffic cops and sweater girls and ham & eggs, belted out in enthusiastic big-band style, convince me.  "Romeo Smith and Juliet Jones" with its happy ending and slang like "hepcat" and "thirty grand" is of course a big hit with the posh Long Island audience onscreen.  Even the lesser songs, like "Humpty Dumpty Heart" and "Que Chica," couldn't possibly be taken seriously, at least not nowadays.

Surprisingly, in the midst of the in(s)anity, Barrymore, who's been chewing whatever of the scenery he can wrestle away from everyone else, gives a fine, understated rendition of Hamlet's soliloquy.  It doesn't blot out the later image of Kyser having a dream where he fights a bull with Barrymore's face (only to wake up kissing Hayes, thinking it's Velez), but it is a touching moment.  The movie's title by the way (which decades later would suggest Playboy bunnies) is a pun on "play" in the theatrical sense.

Marshall Ruth was in Turnabout.  Fred Trowbridge was in Citizen Kane.  Jack Gargan was in The Bank Dick and Citizen Kane.  Barry Norton would go on to Casablanca, Bill Cartledge to The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (as the short soldier).  Leon Belasco, who plays Prince Maharoohu, would appear in Road to Morocco (and a 1972 TV-movie called Playmates).