DAVID BUTLER

Bil’s rating (out of 5):  BBB. 

USA, 1942.  Paramount Pictures.  Screenplay by Frank Butler, Don Hartman.  Cinematography by William C. Mellor.  Produced by Buddy G. DeSylva.  Music by Victor Young.  Production Design by Hans Dreier, Robert Usher.  Costume Design by Edith Head.  Film Editing by Irene Morra.  Academy Awards 1942.

Bing Crosby and Bob Hope whoop it up in yet another Road adventure, this one taking them to exotic North Africa. After washing onto the continental shores from a life raft, they follow their own ineptitude to the palace of a great sheik, with Hope being recruited as the slave of a beautiful princess (Dorothy Lamour, again!). He thinks he’s hit the big time, but she really wants him for a ritual sacrifice that Crosby has to help him out of. The plot is no concoction of genius, but the duo are incredibly funny together and the self-reflexive humour, while sometimes too cute, is appreciably witty.