ROAD TO HONG KONG

Olive Films has just announced their upcoming release of The Road to Hong Kong on Blu-ray. Fans of this classic Bing Crosby/Bob Hope vehicle have noticed the film's absence from various Road series collections over the years. The movie was available briefly in 2002, but has since gone out of print with discs fetching upwards of $50. Released on May 22nd 1962, The Road to Hong Kong is not often highly rated in the series, but it does feature our vaudevillian heroes caught up in a SPY adventure around a secret Russian formula for rocket fuel! With Dr No premiering on October 5th, 1962, Bing and Bob beat Bond in the Cold War movie space race by almost five months. From Blu-ray: "Bob Hope and Bing Crosby star as conmen Chester Babcock and Harry Turner in their final 'road' comedy collaboration. When Chester loses his memory, a wacky espionage adventure ensues for the wisecracking duo, taking them from Sri Lanka to Hong Kong via Tibet - and outer space. Along the way they become entangled with a beautiful but deadly spy, Diane (Joan Collins), who will stop at nothing to get her hands on a secret Russian formula for rocket fuel that Chester has inadvertently memorized. The film features cameo appearances from stars including Peter Sellers, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and David Niven." Our sister sites Double O Section and HMS Weblog both reviewed the film in the past and discovered interesting links to the Bond series. The cast/crew on The Road to Hong Kong included 007 set designer Syd Cain, title artist Maurice Binder, and stunt man Bob Simmons. And our Man David Foster of sister site Permission To Kill included The Road to Hong Kong is his top-5 spy set designs- details here. Foster also appeared in our For Your Shelf Only collector series here. Learn more: Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Road series.

  
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