Road To Zanzibar (1941)

A pair of con men (Bing Crosby, Bob Hope) stranded in North Africa are talked into putting together a safari by a hustler (Dorothy Lamour) and her pal (Una Merkel) to take them through the jungles in order to see her dying father. Actually, there is no dying father but there is a rich boyfriend at the end of the journey. The follow up to the successful ROAD TO SINGAPORE with the same trio is a hit and miss affair. The songs by Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke are a dull lot and the gags never quite reach the hilarity one expects of the ROAD series. It doesn't help that in the latter part of the film we're stuck with "ooga booga" cannibal natives and obvious men in gorilla suits though a scene with a gorilla stomping Hope had me giggling like a schoolboy. As usual, the actors breaking down the fourth wall offers up some amusement as when Lamour questions where the music comes from when Crosby serenades in the middle of the jungle. Still, not one of the better franchise efforts. Directed by Victor Schertzinger. With Eric Blore, Douglass Dumbrille and Iris Adrian.