Taraparain Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Senteur As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

SanEat A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

ksf-2 A chunk of history in this chapter of the Road films; Bob Hope and Bing Crosby traveled around the world (... the back lot of Paramount.) So many greats in here - Jerry Colonna, comedian, musician, and actor, was in many of Bob Hope's projects, as well as so many others. Gale Sondergaard, so evil and serious, also in many Hope films, but my favorite role for her is in the 1940 version of The Letter (bette davis). The multi-talented Andrews Sisters, in their final appearance as sisters in a film, according to wikipedia. they had recorded 47 songs with Bing, which is probably why they are in Road to Rio. The Wiere Brothers were an act that had come over from Deutchland, and stayed, performing when and where they could. This film was kind of in the middle of all the "road" films. the plot is pretty inane, but as usual, they boys run off from their last fiasco of a performance, and meet up with Dorothy Lamour on the way to Brazil. Her aunt has evil intentions, so Bing and Bob must run interference and save the day! A fun caper with Hope and Crosby. They don't show this one very often, but it IS (was ?) available on DVD. Directed by Norm McLeod, who had worked with ALL the great comedians, including the Marx Brothers.

weezeralfalfa Presently available on DVD packaged with the DVD for the next Road series: "The Road to Bali" Expect the same basic format as in the previous films of this series. As in most of these films, the boys(Bing and Hope) begin as ne'er-do-well struggling entertainers. This time they begin as a song and dance team, singing "We're on our way to Apalachicola". Next, Hope rides a bicycle on a high wire, with disastrous results. He falls and, in the chaos, a fire is started that consumes the circus tent. They flee as stowaways on a liner to Rio. After stealing a suit of clothes, they encounter Lucia(Dorothy Lamour) leaning over the deck railing, as if she's ready to jump in the ocean. They dissuade her and make friends with her. They hide in a lifeboat, then duck into a barber shop, where they trick the barber into a closet and continue working on his customer, especially clipping his mustache. This is very similar to to the episode in the prior Marx Brother's "Monkey Business", and I would imagine some other films. In both cases, the situation could have been further exploited for more laughs. Meanwhile, an evil middle-aged woman: Mrs. Vail, has hypnotized Lucia with her star sapphire necklace, into identifying the boys as the stowaways, and to say she despises them. They are given an opportunity to join the ship's orchestra, with "Hot Lips" Hope playing the trumpet and Bing the clarinet and singing. Mysteriously, soap bubbles emerge from Hope's trumpet when he plays(yes, stupid). The Andrew Sisters team with Bing, singing "You Don't Have to Know the Language.Mrs. Vail continues to try to get rid of the boys as romantic rivals to her brother whom she wants to force Lucia to marry so that she can obtain some important papers and control Lucia, presently being her guardian. Thus, the boys and 2 goons hired by Mrs. Vail play cat and mouse. She offers them $10,000. to scram, then hypnotizes them to fight a pistol duel with each other. I will leave their further adventures for you to see.The circus fire event near the beginning recalls the circus tent fire in "Road to Zanzibar", which also induced them to flee.I don't understand why the cavalry unit riding toward the wedding celebration was included periodically. They have no role in the boys' escape from their predicament.At one point, Hope is assumed dead of a gun wound, then 'wakes up' after a while. This reminds me of some cheap westerns where the hero is apparently dead, then 'wakes up'.

SanteeFats This is the fifth in a series of seven "Road" done by Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and Dorothy Lamour. I really like the first six movies in the series. Sure it is underdone by today's standards and the comedy and acting is old school. I find that to be refreshing compared to the comedy movies of the current time line. The three Weire brothers come very close to stealing the movie. They are good musicians and obviously worked very hard on their routines and they are funny as well. The Andrews Sisters show up almost like an after thought. They are a treat to watch when they sing and once in a great while one or more of them actually gets to act a little. I love the guy with the huge stache who leads the cavalry charge and has the big voice!!! The whole plot of the movie is B & B saving the heiress from the bad guys and of course they get it done.

writers_reign Four of the seven 'Road' movies, just over half the franchise, were made in the 1940s and this one, released in 1947, was the last of them. All seven are available on DVD in a handsome slipcase resembling one of those Louis Vuitton steamer trunks that you took with you on a world cruise if you were well-heeled and named Somerset Maugham or Noel Coward. One outlet was offering this set at a silly price and I snapped it up primarily for the songs, there are well over 20 in the seven titles of which a surprising number are very high quality or, dare I say it, high Standards. This one yields the standout ballad But Beautiful, the catchy You Don't Have To Know The Language, Appalachacola, Fla whilst Lamour gets one of the one-word title songs that were something of a trademark (in all she sang four; Constantly, Personality, Moonflowers and this one, Experience). Nobody went to these movies looking for a great plot and were quite happy to to find a pair of performers one jump ahead of the posse and watch Crosby set Hope up for another life-threatening stunt before meeting up with Lamour and the resident heavies. This time around it's Gale Sondergaard who's out to swindle Lamour and marry her off profitably. Frank Faylen, Nestor Paiva, the Andrews Sisters and the Wiere Brothers make up the numbers for one of the top three in the franchise.