Alfredo Sabato Movies

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Carnival in Costa Rica: 1947

This musical romance is set in the beautiful South American country and chronicles the love affair between a betrothed couple who secretly have fallen in love with other people. The young man loves a nightclub chanteuse, while the woman wants a handsome coffee-buyer. Now they must somehow let their constantly bickering parents know. Songs include: "Qui Pi Pia," "I'll Know It's Love," "Another Night Like This," "Mi Vida, Costa Rica," and "Rhumba Bomba." ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Starring:: Dick Haymes, Vera-Ellen, (more)

Escape Me Never: 1947

Based on a play and novel by Margaret Kennedy, Escape Me Never is a remake of the same-named 1935 British film. Largely set in Italy, the story concerns the relationship between poverty-stricken musician Sebastian Dunbrok (Errol Flynn) and unwed mother Gemma Smith (Ida Lupino). Suspecting that her fiancé, Caryl (Gig Young), Sebastian's brother, is the father of Gemma's child, young heiress Fennella McLean (Eleanor Parker) retreats to the Italian Alps. Attempting to straighten out the situation, Sebastian finds himself falling in love with Fennella. For his brother's sake, Sebastian breaks off the relationship and marries Gemma, but while awaiting the birth of her child, he writes a heartfelt ballet score dedicated to Fennella. However, when Gemma's baby dies, the conscience-stricken Sebastian changes the dedication to his wife, whom he has learned to genuinely love. The main redeeming feature of this treacly soap opera is the stirring musical score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Starring:: Errol Flynn, Albert Basserman, (more)

The Spanish Main: 1945

RKO Radio's first film in the three-color Technicolor process was the standard-issue swashbuckler The Spanish Main. Paul Henried is his usual stoic self as Laurent Van Horn, a Dutch sea captain shipwrecked on the coast of Cartagena, a Spanish-held island. Sentenced to be hanged, Van Horn and his crew escape from jail and take up piracy as revenge against Spain. Soon afterward, they capture a ship carrying Francisca (Maureen O'Hara), the fiance of Cartagena's corrupt governor Don Alvarado (Walter Slezak). Van Horn vengefully forces Francisca to marry him instead, which causes dissension at the Pirate colony of Tortuga. Naturally, Van Horn and Francisca eventually fall in love with each other, but the bad guys must be vanquished before a happy ending can be realized. Binnie Barnes steals the show as feisty female buccaneer Anne Bonney (who in real life looked less like Barnes and more like Walter Slezak!) The script is a cynical melange of pirate-movie cliches and the performances are generally routine, but The Spanish Main pleased the crowd in 1945, posting a profit of nearly $1.5 million and encouraging future Technicolor adventure films from RKO. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Starring:: Paul Henreid, Maureen O'Hara, (more)

The River: 1928

This Fox part-talkie reunited Charlie Farrell and Frank Borzage, respectively the star and director of the enormously successful Seventh Heaven. Farrell is cast as virile outdoorsman Allen John Pender, while Mary Duncan co-stars as Pender's haughty society sweetheart Rosalee. At first, Rosalee is resistant to Pender's Spartan lifestyle, but he wins her over by singing a thrilling romantic ballad. The title is somewhat allegorical -- "love is like a river," and all that -- while the plot is inconsequential, merely an excuse to display the cinematic expertise of "schmaltz" expert Borzage. The River was based on a novel by Tristam Tupper. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Starring:: Charles Farrell, Mary Duncan, (more)

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