Duke and Chester (Bing Crosby, Bob Hope) find themselves in snow-covered Alaska, disguised as killers and innocently carrying a stolen treasure map. The real owner of the map, Skagway Sal (Dorothy Lamour), attempts to seduce the map from them. The local gangster, Ace Larson (Douglass Dumbrille), and the killers, Sperry and McGurk, also want the map, and their way of getting it is much less pleasant.
The fourth of the seven Road Pictures, the trio of Hope, Crosby, and Lamour are all in excellent form. There are no surprises and the formula developed in the previous films is followed with only one minor variation. Hope and Crosby, technically playing new characters, but ones that are once again shady-but-nice, toss insults back and forth, talk directly to the camera, obviously adlib, and repeat gags from the other pictures. Crosby gets a solo ballad; Lamour sings and shows some leg, and Hope and Crosby do a friendly number together. There is a fair amount of slapstick, some topical humor, and more one-liners than plot. The change is that Lamour is shown away from the boys. Apparently, all three were jostling for screen time and with Lamour on her own, she had a chance of getting in a word or two.
The Road Pictures are classics of American film comedy, and Road to Utopia is a solid entry in the series. But it isn’t a good place to start as it refers to the earlier flicks. If you haven’t seen these films, start with Road to Singapore or Road to Zanzibar, and be sure to catch Road to Morocco, arguably the best of the seven. Then its time for Utopia, at which point you’ll know if you’re going to enjoy it.
While most of the action takes place in the snow, there’s very little of Christmastime about Road to Utopia. I’m not even sure if the story takes place in December. However, when the boys are out on a dog sled in the middle of nowhere, they run into Santa on his sleigh. He has their Christmas presents, but they reject the notion, being too old for such childish things. Santa shrugs and takes off, as his sack opens and two hot babes pop out, singing “You’ll be sorry.”
The other Road Pictures were Road to Singapore (1940), Road to Zanzibar (1941), Road to Morocco (1942), Road to Rio (1947), Road to Bali (1952), and The Road to Hong Kong (1962).