Matcollis This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

Calum Hutton It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Ortiz Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

tavm A year after first teaming in Road to Singapore, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour appear together again in Road to Zanzibar. Hope and Lamour have switched billing this time-him now second and her third-which remains for the rest of the series as distributed by Paramount. Also, things are allowed to be a bit more wacky unlike in the previous one with some great visual humor concerning Bob getting mixed up with a gorilla. Ms. Lamour also gets to have some fun especially when she seems to seduce Hope in one scene when singing to him. Speaking of Bob, he's not so smart here unlike last time since here he's clueless thinking Dottie's in love with him not realizing she referring to someone else (not Bing) unlike in the last one when he realized she's in love with Bing's character there! Also, this is the only one of the Road pictures in which he doesn't share a number with Crosby. In summary, while Road to Zanzibar is a little better then Singapore, it's still a little uneven when trying to consistently get laughs. Still, it's often enjoyable enough so on that note, it's still worth a look. Next up, Road to Morocco.

bkoganbing A previous reviewer said something interesting about this second Road picture being a satire on all those Hollywood jungle epics. A pet peeve of mine has always been that American's concepts of Africa came out of those films. We were not in the imperialist game in Africa which was good, but we also knew nothing about these people, their politics and culture, and in some respects we're paying for that ignorance.That being said, I can't hold up Road to Zanzibar for that kind of criticism. It's a comedy and a funny one. With the success of the Road to Singapore and the obvious chemistry between Bob and Bing, the boys could now unload their monkeyshines on the audience full blast.This film marked the beginning of a long association between composer James Van Heusen and Bing Crosby. Van Heusen was replacing Jimmy Monaco as partner to Johnny Burke, lyricist, and this was the first of many Crosby films they would score.And the songs followed the usual Road picture pattern. Bing starts the movie off by singing You Lucky People You under the opening credits and continuing it in the opening scene at a carnival sideshow, a nice patented Crosby philosophical number. Dotty sings You're Dangerous while trying to vamp Hope the schnook. But then Bing croons to Dotty It's Always You another ballad and finally Hope and Crosby have a patter number Birds of a Feather sung in up tempo as the law is closing in. In that same scene is Eric Blore, better known for Fred Astaire films and he contributes to the clowning with a nice touch.In a sense this is the first real Road picture because Singapore didn't have a lot of the spontaneity the others do because no one figured it would be such a hit. So get out and hit the Road.

eearwigg I think that Road to Zanzibar is hilarious, one of the best Road movies. The gorilla fight made me laugh the hardest. I would recommend all of the Road movies, if you liked this one. The singing and all of the jokes were great. Bob Hope is one of the funniest people, and in my mind, he is still alive...kinda.

telegonus This early entry in the Hope and Crosby canon may be their best. The Don Hartman gags are still fresh, and Bob and Bing are young enough to be romantic leads, which indeed they are. A spoof of the kind of jungle adventure movie popular at the time, one's enjoyment of this now more than sixty year old film may depend in part on the kind of movie it's making fun of, otherwise it might seem just plain absurd. It is anyway. Absurd I mean. Also very funny. The studio jungle looks like a studio jungle, which only adds to the air of the ridiculous, as does Bing's breaking into song at odd moments. Leading ladies Dorothy Lamour and Una Merkel are good foils for (as they used to call them) the boys. Good fun, and a great movie for the holidays.