The Road to Hong Kong
| The Road to Hong Kong | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster
|
|
| Directed by | Norman Panama |
| Produced by | Melvin Frank |
| Written by | |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Robert Farnon |
| Cinematography | Jack Hildyard |
| Edited by | Alan Osbigton |
|
Production
company |
Melnor Films
|
| Distributed by | United Artists |
|
Release date
|
March 1962, UK |
|
Running time
|
91 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
The Road to Hong Kong is a 1962 British comedy film directed by Norman Panama and starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, as well as Joan Collins, with a cameo featuring Dorothy Lamour. This was the last in the long-running Road to … series and the only one not produced by Paramount Pictures, though references to the others in the series are made in the film and shown in Maurice Binder's opening title sequence.
The story is told in flashback as Diane (Joan Collins) explains to American Intelligence how transmissions from passengers picked up from a missile to the moon are by Americans rather than Russians.
Harry Turner (Cosby) and Chester Babcock (Hope) are defrauding people in Calcutta by selling a "Do-it-yourself interplanetary flight kit" that ends up injuring Chester, giving him amnesia. An Indian doctor (Peter Sellers) says the only way for Chester's amnesia to be cured is through help from monks in a lamasery in Tibet.
At the airport, Chester mistakenly picks up a suitcase with a marking designed to be a point of contact between agents of a SPECTRE-type spy organization called "The Third Echelon." Diane (Colllins), a Third Echelon secret agent, is supposed to give plans of a Russian rocket fuel stolen by the Third Echelon to the man with the suitcase, who will be taking them to headquarters in Hong Kong. She mistakenly thinks Chester is the contact.
In Tibet, the two make their way to the lamasary in Lost Horizon fashion. Not only do the lamas cure Chester, but they have a Tibetan tea leaf that gives super memory powers to those who consume it. Chester and Harry observe as great works of Western literature in the manner of Fahrenheit 451 are committed to memory, one giggling lama (David Niven) memorizes Lady Chatterley's Lover. The scheming Harry decides to steal a bottle to give Chester the power of photographic memory for lucrative nefarious purposes.
...
Wikipedia