go, but the leading lady was now Joan Collins rather than Dorothy Lamour. Lamour did make a cameo appearance as herself late in the film. In her autobiography, Lamour wrote that Crosby thought her too old to be a leading lady (she was 48), while Hope refused to do the film without her. Her extended cameo that featured her singing with Hope and Crosby was a compromise. Other cameos are provided by David Niven, Peter Sellers, Roger Delgado, Jerry Colonna, Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. In order to preserve the feel of the 1940s and '50s Road films, the movie was shot in black and white (even though the previous entry Road to Bali had been shot in color). The name of Hope's character, "Chester Babcock", is an in-joke. Edward Chester Babcock was the real name of Hollywood composer Jimmy Van Heusen, whose work is featured in this and other "Road" pictures. The lamasery where Hope goes to restore his memory is reused from Black Narcissus. Peter Sellers' appearance as an Indian physician involves extended interplay with Crosby and Hope. The plot of the film (released 22 May 1962) involves espionage and space rockets predating Dr. No (released 5 October 1962) and the spy craze of the 1960s. Hope and Crosby are up against a SPECTRE type organization called "The Third Echelon" who have their own underwater secret headquarters and are led by Robert Morley with James Bond film regular Walter Gotell as "Dr. Zorbb" and Bob Simmons as an astronaut. The film's art director is another Bond film regular, Syd Cain. Although the movie features the same kind of antics and gags as previous episodes, with all characters trying their utmost to help each other, the film was not as well-received as its predecessors. Some critics felt that the 59-year-old Hope and Crosby couldn't pull off the part credibly at their age and that it was unfair for them to dump their old partner Lamour (with whom they had excellent screen chemistry) for the more youthful Collins. Others thought the decade-long gap since the last Road movie wrecked the momentum of the series and that Peter Sellers came off as more fresh and funny than the aging stars of the film. In 1977, Sir Lew Grade had planned to reunite Hope, Crosby and Lamour in The Road to the Fountain of Youth for which Melville Shavelson had completed the