I was a long time coming to the comedy of Bob Hope, whom I knew as a kid only from his television variety specials, in which he seemed little more than the mouthpiece for a battalion of joke writers. Only later did I discover what a gifted screen comedian he had been from the 1930s to the early '60s, most successfully in the series of imaginative "Road" comedies, in which he costarred with Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour.
Four of those, 1940's "The Road to Singapore," 1941's "The Road to Zanzibar," 1942's "The Road to Morocco" and 1945's "The Road to Utopia" are the understandable centerpiece of "Bob Hope: The DVD Tribute Collection," released by Universal Home Video in tribute to Hope's impending 99th birthday. All these come with bonus features, the best of which is "Hollywood Victory Caravan" on "Utopia," a war bonds fund-raiser with appearances by Hope, Humphrey Bogart, Alan Ladd and more. A documentary about the series, titled "The Road to Success," is on all four, which can be purchased as a set ($69.98) or individually ($19.98 each).
Also available individually is "The Paleface" ($19.98), Hope's hilarious 1948 spoof of "The Virginian" with Jane Russell; "The Ghost Breakers," a surprisingly spooky haunted house comedy from 1940 with Paulette Goddard ($19.98); and two "two-fers." The first pairs 1932's "The Big Broadcast," costarring W.C. Fields and Martha Raye and introducing Hope's theme "Thanks for the Memories"; and 1938's "College Swing," a musical with Raye and George Burns and Gracie Allen ($24.98). The second combines 1942's "My Favorite Blonde," with Hope and a trained penguin playing stooges to spy Madeleine Carroll; and 1942's "Star Spangled Rhythm," a star-studded World War II propaganda comedy with Crosby, Lamour, Mary Martin and Dick Powell ($24.98).