Road to Zanzibar Reviews

Tarzan movies had been around for years when ROAD TO ZANZIBAR, the second of the "Road" pictures, took the opportunity to satirize every jungle picture lensed up to that time. The script was funny, although much of the humor reportedly derived from on-set improvisations. Connivers Fearless Frazier (Bob Hope) and Chuck Reardon (Bing Crosby) must blow town because they sold a bogus diamond mine to Mons. Lebec (Lionel Royce), a criminal type who doesn't take well to being fleeced. Rather than face Lebec, Chuck and Hubert (as Fearless is known) light out for Zanzibar, where they meet a pair of Brooklynite entertainers, Donna Latour (Dorothy Lamour) and Julia Quimby (Una Merkel), who are in Africa to find Donna's brother. The girls convince Chuck and Hubert to put up the money for a safari into the interior, but the boys soon realize that they've been duped. It's not Donna's brother they're after, but a British millionaire she hopes to marry. Things only get worse after that, but that's as expected. The lyrics of "On the Road to Zanzibar" are banal compared to Sammy Cahn's words for "Road to Morocco," but it's a funny routine, with cannibals chanting a nonsense background.