Carmen Miranda Movies

Joan Collins is the host of these outtakes and clips deleted from 20th Century-Fox productions of decades past. Entertaining song selections in the compilation include Betty Grable sequences from Footlight Serenade (1942) and Pin Up Girl (1944), Carmen Miranda wearing a lighthouse on her head while essaying True to the Navy for Doll Face (1945), and Shirley Temple doing a Jimmy Durante impersonation while dueting with him for Little Miss Broadway (1938). Alice Faye's delightful I'm Always Chasing Rainbows, and an Al Jolson medley were both deleted from Rose of Washington Square (1939). Faye and Grable teamed in Tin Pan Alley (1940). The fascinating footage features miscues on pre-recorded tunes and other assorted bloopers in addition to awkward attempts at musical performances by such actors as Don Ameche, Clark Gable, and Victor Mature. Hidden Hollywood first aired November 18, 1997 on American Movie Classics. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

This nostalgic video uses five short films to look back at Hollywood's efforts to bolster both overseas G.I.s and the folks back home during WW II. Each of the five shorts features an all-star cast doing things to cheer people up during a difficult time. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Ann Sothern closed out her MGM contract with the Technicolor musical Nancy Goes to Rio. As Frances Elliot, Sothern is billed second to Jane Powell, who plays Nancy Barklay. A popular Broadway star, Frances heads to Rio for R&R before starting her next production. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Frances, her daughter Nancy is hired to appear in her mother's starring vehicle. This would seem to be enough to sustain a plot, but the screenwriters contrive to have Frances mistakenly believe that Nancy is about to become an out-of-wedlock mother. In addition, both ladies vie for the romantic attentions of leading man Paul Berten (Barry Sullivan). Also appearing is Carmen Miranda, just to remind us that the film takes place in Brazil. Producer Joe Pasternak handles the material with the same tastefulness that he'd applied to his Deanna Durbin pictures at Universal: in fact, Nancy Goes to Rio is a remake of Durbin's 1940 vehicle It's a Date. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Groucho Marx made his first solo film appearance away from his brothers in the musical comedy Copacabana. Groucho plays two-bit theatrical agent Lionel Q. Devereaux, whose favorite client--indeed, his only client--is fireball Brazilian entertainer Carmen Novarro (Carmen Miranda). Hoping for a double commission, Devereaux gets Carmen two different singing jobs at the Copacabana nightclub, through the simple expedient of having Carmen wear a veil and pose as a French chanteuse. Steve Hunt (Steve Cochran), manager of the Copa, falls in love with one of the Carmens, much to the dismay of pretty bookkeeper Anne (Gloria Jean). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The second of Perry Como's two starring vehicles for 20th Century-Fox, If I'm Lucky is an easygoing remake of 1937's Thanks a Million. Como plays the old Dick Powell role as Allan Clark, an entertainer who is maneuvered into politics by conniving manager Wally (Phil Silvers, in the role originated by Fred Allen). It all begins when Clark, hired to appear at a political rally for bibulous gubernatorial candidate Magonnagie (Edgar Buchanan), wins the hearts of the voters. One thing leads to another, and before long Clark himself is on the way to the governor's chair. With a newly acquired set of scruples, the singer-politico publicly reveals that his backers are crooks, but wins the election all the same! Though the satirical edge of Thanks a Million is muted in the remake, the musical numbers by Perry Como and costar Vivian Blaine help to take up the slack. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Cole Porter Broadway musical Something for the Boys was brought to the screen by 20th Century Fox with three new non-Porter tunes thrown in. The dated libretto (by Herbert and Dorothy Fields) involves a crumbling Southern plantation which is converted into a home for servicemen's wives. Running the operation are three cousins: Michael O'Shea, Vivian Blaine, and, from the South American branch of the family, Carmen Miranda. When money runs out, the threesome contrive to put on a fundraising show -- which of course looks far too expensive to break even, but since Carmen Miranda's in the picture, who knows. Perry Como makes his movie debut in Something for the Boys singing a handful of pleasant songs, while Judy Holliday shows up in a funny bit as a defense-plant welder with peculiar dental problems. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Sgt. Andy Mason Jr. (James Ellison) is on the eve of shipping out from New York with his unit -- he's the son of Andrew Mason Sr. (Eugene Pallette), a wealthy, blustery Wall Street financier. While paying respects to his father and the latter's business partner, dithering fuss-budget Peyton Potter (Edward Everett Horton), at the Club New Yorker, he spots chorus girl Eadie Allen (Alice Faye) and turns on the charm and all of the allure that the ne'er-do-well son of a Wall Street millionaire can muster. That, however, doesn't impress Eadie, who ignores his invitation so she can do her patriotic bit helping servicemen at the Stage Door Canteen (or, as it's called here, the "Broadway Canteen"). Realizing how down to earth and genuine she is -- exactly the kind of girl who doesn't care about his money or social position -- Andy shows a bit of the boyish innocence he has hidden beneath the arrogance that comes from his background of wealth and privilege, and also some humility, hiding that background and his real name. Before the night and their "date" on the Staten Island Ferry are over, they're genuinely in love with each other, but that presents a problem -- since age 12, Andy has been unofficially "engaged" to Potter's daughter Vivian (Sheila Ryan), who expects to marry him, and he can't quite bring himself to hurt Vivian by telling her that he's met someone else.

Flash forward a few months, and Andy is on his way home on leave, a hero in the Pacific, and his father is so proud that he has to do something special to honor him, trying to rent out the Club New Yorker for a party but discovering that it's closed for rehearsals of a new production. Suddenly, his fatherly devotion, patriotism, and Wall Street experience all click together -- he brings the entire performing company, plus Benny Goodman's band, up to his and Potter's adjoining estates in Westchester to stage their act for his upscale neighbors and friends as part of the biggest War Bond rally ever seen (minimum admission a new 5,000-dollar War Bond), and in the process giving his son the biggest party he's ever seen. This leads to more comic turns for Horton's Potter, as a man who would make coffee nervous -- especially around show people -- but delights his ex-dancer wife (Charlotte Greenwood). That's also how Eadie and Vivian end up at the Potter mansion together, comparing notes on their remarkably similar respective fiancés. When the show's star, Dorita (Carmen Miranda), lets the cat out of the bag, it looks like Andy may lose Eadie, who can't bear to lose Andy but also won't even try to take him away from Vivian, who loves him too, but has loved him a lot longer. But while they sort out their romance, the show must go on, and go on it does. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

That Night in Rio is a musical remake of 1934's Folies Bergère. Don Ameche plays a dual role as a middle-aged Brazilian industrialist, and a young Rio de Janeiro cabaret performer who looks just like him. The highlight of the entertainer's act is an imitation of the industrialist, which impresses the latter's associates. When the industrialist is unable to attend an important business conference, his lieutenants persuade the entertainer to take his place. The entertainer falls in love with the industrialist's wife (Alice Faye), treating her so gallantly that when the real husband returns, he decides to be more attentive to and appreciative of his spouse. Carmen Miranda is supposed to be playing the entertainer's jealous girlfriend, but she's really around just to let loose with such below-the-Equator hits as "Chica, Chica, Boom Chic." The Rudolph Lothar/Hans Adler play on which That Night in Rio was based was given a third go round in 1951 as the Danny Kaye vehicle On the Riviera. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Hollywood's handful of Technicolor cameras got a real workout on 20th Century-Fox's Down Argentine Way. Don Ameche stars as Ricardo Quintana, the charming son of a less charming Argentine horse breeder (Henry Stephenson). Betty Grable is vacationing American heiress Glenda Crawford, who "collects" horses as a hobby. Separated by a family feud, Ricard and Glenda must endure all sorts of setbacks and misunderstandings before crossing the romantic finish line. Filmed on location, Down Argentine Way served to introduce Brazilian bombshell Carmen Miranda, performing a variety of sizzling South American numbers with her own band. Also on hand are the Nicholas Brothers, whose show-stopping dance number has been spotlighted innumerable times in various "best of Hollywood musicals" compilations. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide