Lots of Moons: What is the “Song, ‘Moonlight Becomes You’”?

9 April 2015

The Short Answer (TSA)

Moonlight Becomes You in the film, Road to Morocco

The song Moonlight Becomes You is most associated with singer Bing Crosby. And that makes sense because the music was written by Jimmy Van Heusen with lyrics by Johnny Burck for Bing Crosby to be performed in the 1942 Paramount film, Road to Morocco.

Link to Wikipedia: Moonlight Becomes You (Song)

Film Poster: Road to Morocco

In case you can’t connect with the link above or there’s some problem with your audio, in part, the lyrics go:

Moonlight becomes you, it goes with your hair
You certainly know the right thing to wear.
Moonlight becomes you, I'm thrilled at the sight
And I could get so romantic tonight.

. . .

If I say, "I love you,"
I want you to know
It's not just because there's moonlight
Although, moonlight becomes you so.

. . .

In the film, Bing Crosby sings Moonlight Becomes You to costar Dorothy Lamour in the absence of the film's other costar, Bob Hope. In the film, an explosion destroys a ship during an ocean voyage leaving all those on-board healthy and alive. But when they are rescued, two unidentified stowaways, played by Crosby and Hope, are missing.

Hope and Crosby

Managing to reach shore, the pair find themselves stranded in the desert where they are captured and one of them (there is some confusion about which one), is sold as a slave to Princess Shalmar (Dorothy Lamour). All the while, the Princess is being fiercely pursued by an Arab suitor played by Anthony Quinn.

Dorothy Lamour

Wikipedia: Road to Morraco

Wikipedia: “Dorothy Lamour”

This, along with several other “Road Movies,” are part of a comedy series made with Crosby and Hope as costars. Often underestimated by contemporary and modern critics, the “Road Pictures” fared quite well both in terms of box office receipts and critical acclaim. The Road to Morocco was nominated for two Academy Awards, Best Sound Recording and Best Writing – Original Screenplay. In the year 2000, the American Film Institute ranked Road to Morocco 78th of the 100th funniest movies of all time.

AFI’s 100 Years . . . 100 Laughs

In no small part, the enduring appeal of these films can be traced to the performances of Crosby and Hope, themselves, who individually, and together, always brought the extremely well written scripts to life with self-effacing, though thoroughly professional, performances.

In the 1962 film, Road to Hong Kong, the pair are kidnapped by a super-villain patterned after the villains of the early James Bond films. When Hope sees sharks being kept in a nearby tank, he calls out an alarm to Crosby. After the suggestion that the sharks aren’t “man-eaters,” Hope nervously adds, “But what if they only eat actors!” Crosby gives Hope a conspicuous sidelong glance with the words, “We’re safe."