Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Bob Hope and Bing Crosby + Dorothy Lamour made six "Road" pictures for Paramount between 1941 and 1953: 1) Road to Singapore - 1940 2) Road to Zanzibar - 1941 3) Road to Morocco - 1942 4) Road to Utopia - 1946 5) Road to Rio - 1947 6) Road to Bali - 1953 (the only one in color) Paramount's pre-1948 catalog is now owned by Universal, which has a spotty record of reissuing these wonderful films on DVD. Films 1-4 are available in three different editions: [hint: for ease of navigation, read the review though to the end, then come back and click on the links.] Best, but most expensive, is 4 movies on 4 DVDs (2002): Bob Hope Tribute Collection - The Road Show Series (The Road to Morocco / The Road to Singapore / The Road to Utopia / The Road to Zanzibar) (available separately). Worst is 4 movies on 1 double-sided DVD (2004): On the Road With Bob Hope and Bing Crosby Collection (Road to Singapore/Road to Zanzibar/Road to Morocco/Road to Utopia) Double-sided DVDs fail at an alarming rate. The most recent edition (2012) is the one one one being reviewed (light blue and orange cover). Two DVDs, with a double feature on one side of each disc (not double-sided, thank God). Picture quality is equivalent to the 2002 4 disc version, but the price is a lot less. Some of the "extras" from the 2002 4 disc version were left out. The only important loss was the movie trailers. All three versions are closed-captioned. At the price, this is the new recommended version. Annoyingly, films 5 and 6 were left out of each collection. Paramount stupidly allowed the copyright to expire on these films, so they are now in the Public Domain. Lots of inexpensive copies are available on DVD from various cheapo labels. The situation was somewhat rectified in 2010 when Shout Factory released an authorized 3 DVD collection: The Bob Hope Collection (The Lemon Drop Kid / Road to Bali / Road to Rio / My Favorite Brunette / The Seven Little Foys) Less expensive, almost as good: Road to Bali / Road to Rio I only wish Universal would issue the six film collection complete in a nice box on 3 double-feature DVDs (NOT 2-sided!). Maybe even blu-ray. P.S. Missing from my list is the seventh film, The Road to Hong Kong (1962), but it is owned by MGM, not Universal: The Road to Hong Kong - or - Bob Hope MGM Movie Legends Collection (Alias Jesse James/Boy, Did I Get the Wrong Number/The Facts of Life/I'll Take Sweden/The Princess and the Pirate/The Road to Hong Kong/They've Got Me Covered) The boys are a bit long-in-the tooth (Dorothy Lamour is reduced to a cameo). Not as good as the first six, but still worth a look. P.P.S. All seven films are available in a boxed set, but its only available in the United Kingdom (issued in 2005). They are region 2 DVDs, which means American DVD players won't play them. Available on Amazon UK (amazon.co.uk): ASIN: B0009W09GE To view them you will need a region-free DVD player. These machines are "gray market" (not "black market" which would be illegal). Removing the region 1 encoding chip is considered "tampering" and voids the manufacturer's warranty. Most sellers provide their own 30 day or 90 day warranty. Look up "region free DVD player" on the Amazon search bar.