Fernando Lamas Movies
Billy Crystal notwithstanding, Argentine actor Fernando Lamas did not spend his entire career saying "You...look...MAHHHHvelous". A well-established film star in his native Buenos Aires, Lamas was brought to Hollywood in 1950 with an MGM contract. He went on to play several variations on the standard "Latin Lover" type, with occasional opportunities to display his well-trained singing voice. Beginning with the 1961 Spanish film The Magic Fountain, Lamas entered a whole new phase of his career as a director. In this respect, he was busiest on television, directing episodes of such series as Mannix, Alias Smith and Jones, Gavilan, and Falcon Crest. This last-named series starred Lorenzo Lamas, the son of Fernando and his third wife Arlene Dahl. At the time of his death, Fernando Lamas was married to wife number four, aquatic film star Esther Williams. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1954
In this adventure, four explorers search for a vast treasure in the Amazon jungle. One of the explorers is a woman who got involved after she traveled from California to marry her fiance whom she hasn't seen in two years. Another man tries to convince her that her fiance has become an alcoholic idealist obsessed with finding gold in the jungle. Another takes her into the jungle to find her love. En route he falls in love with her. Later they learn that her fiance has been killed by the Jivaro headhunters. The other man, who went in before them is also attacked, but the woman's guide saves his life. This film did not use stock footage. Much of it was actually filmed in the jungle to provide the backgrounds. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fernando Lamas, Rhonda Fleming, (more)
- 1954
1954's Rose Marie is the third film version of the 1924 Otto Harbach-Oscar Hammerstein-Rudolph Frinl operetta of the same name. Though not a completely faithful adaptation, this version is closer to the original than the (admittedly enjoyable) Nelson Eddy-Jeanette MacDonald version of 1936. Ann Blyth stars as Rose Marie Lemaitre, a hoydenish French-Canadian lass who is "tamed" by cheerful mountie Mike Malone (Howard Keel). At first, Mike is only interested in using Rose Marie to capture her sweetheart, renegade trapper Duval (Fernando Lamas), but eventually he falls in love with her, and she with him. Counterpointing the romantic main plot are the comic antics of Bert Lahr, who elucidates his sorry lot in life with the song "I'm the Mountie Who Never Gets His Man." The original Rudy Friml score is well in evidence, along with several new Friml compositions and a few extra tunes penned by Georgie Stoll and Herbert Baker. There's also a remarkable "Indian sacrifice" production number spotlighting a young Rita Moreno. Original Cinemascope prints of Rose Marie included a nine-minute prologue, wherein conductor Alfred Wallenstein led the MGM orchestra in a rendition of "Poet and Peasant Overture" (this was evidently inspired by the similar symphonic prologue which opened 20th Century Fox's How to Marry a Millionaire). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ann Blyth, Howard Keel, (more)
- 1953
Esther Williams stars in this button-cute musical about a health-conscious family of swimmers who fall in with con man Windy Weebe (Jack Carson). The Higgins family decides to swim the English Channel in order to raise money to purchase a prize bull for their Arkansas farm. As she practices for the English Channel swim, Katie Higgins (Esther Williams) gets lost in the fog and is rescued by wealthy wine merchant Andre Lanet (Fernando Lamas), and she falls for him hard. The film is distinguished by a climactic English Channel swim and an animated underwater cartoon sequence with Williams and animated MGM contract players Tom and Jerry reprising the Arthur Schwartz and Johnny Mercer tune "In My Wildest Dreams." ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Esther Williams, Fernando Lamas, (more)
- 1953
Filmed in 3-D, Sangaree is a satisfactory swashbuckler adapted from a novel by Frank G. Slaughter. Fernando Lamas portrays the son of an 18th century slave whose fortunes take a radical turn when he inherits a huge cotton plantation in the American colonies. Arlene Dahl (later Mrs. Fernando Lamas) is the haughty aristocrat whom the rough-hewn Lamas tames, while Francis L. Sullivan is a pirate chieftain who plans to sack Lamas' property. Best unintentional laugh: Two different villains, in two separate scenes, say "I've waited this long...I can wait a little longer." Sangaree enjoyed its widest distribution when released "flat," thereby rendering pointless the various 3-D stunt effects. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fernando Lamas, Arlene Dahl, (more)
- 1953
A good man tries to warn his daughter away from a bad man who has stolen her heart in this melodrama. Steve Latimer (William Powell) is a successful defense attorney who has gone out of his way to give his daughter Jean (Elizabeth Taylor) every advantage in life. However, Steve's generosity and open minded attitude begin to backfire on him when Jean decides to throw off her boyfriend, the solid and sensible Vance Court (Gig Young), in favor of Victor Ramondi (Fernando Lamas), a handsome but dangerous man with criminal connections whom Steve is representing. Steve tries to warn Jean away from Victor, but she remains undeterred, and accepts his proposal of marriage, even as the authorities tighten their grip on Victor and his crime syndicate. The Girl Who Had Everything was a remake of the 1931 Norma Shearer vehicle A Free Soul. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elizabeth Taylor, Fernando Lamas, (more)
- 1953
Fernando Lamas and Arlene Dahl were still husband and wife at the time The Diamond Queen was filmed (the result of that union, of course, was little Lorenzo Lamas). Lamas plays Frenchman Jean Tavernier, who in the company of Baron de Cabannes (Gilbert Roland) journeys to India, there to search for a fabulous diamond on behalf of King Louis XIV. They not only find the gem, but also Maya (Arlene Dahl), Queen of Nepal, in the bargain. Now it is up to Tavernier, the Baron and Maya to escape the clutches of the Great Mogul (Sheldon Leonard), the film's all-purpose villain. One suspects that no one took this thing too seriously while it was being made, which only adds to the film's enjoyment. Produced independently, Diamond Queen was distributed by Warner Bros. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fernando Lamas, Arlene Dahl, (more)
- 1952
Based on an operetta by Franz Lehar, this remake of the 1934 original finds a wealthy widow (Lana Turner) returning to her husband's native land to dedicate a memorial to him. The king (Thomas Gomez) of the country, deep in debt, tries to convince her to stay by offering a young count (Fernando Lamas) for her to marry. The film earned Oscar nominations for Best Art Direction/Set Decoration and Best Costumes. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lana Turner, Fernando Lamas, (more)
- 1951
Rich, Young and Pretty succinctly describes Jane Powell, the heroine of this frothy MGM musical. Vacationing in Paris with her father, Jim Stauton Rogers (Wendell Corey) -- a cattle baron-turned-politician, Elizabeth Rogers (Powell) falls in love with handsome Andre Milan (Vic Damone, in his film debut). She also learns to her surprise that her Gallic mother, Marie (Danielle Darrieux), is not dead as she's been led to believe, but very much alive and very much involved with suave South American Paul Sarnac (Fernando Lamas). The plot is merely there to provide breathing space for the film's ten -- count 'em, ten -- musical numbers. If Rich, Young and Pretty resembles a Deanna Durbin picture at times, it may because it was produced by Durbin's discoverer, Joseph Pasternak. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jane Powell, Danielle Darrieux, (more)
- 1951
The Law and the Lady is the third film version of the venerable Frederick Lonsdale stage play The Last of Mrs. Cheyney. Greer Garson follows in the footsteps of Norma Shearer and Joan Crawford as a beautiful confidence trickster, working in concert with a suave jewel thief (Michael Wilding). Jane Hoskins (Garson) inveigles herself into the household of San Francisco dowager Warton (Marjorie Main), where she and her accomplice intend to take their feisty hostess for everything she's got. Thanks to censorial intervention, many of the sharper satirical edges of the Lonsdale original have been dulled by sentiment and pathos. Still, any film that offers Greer Garson as a not-so-nice lady is well worth having. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Greer Garson, Michael Wilding, Sr., (more)
- 1950
Filmed in Argentina, Republic's The Avengers stars John Carroll as a handsome adventurer known as Don Careless. Our Hero hopes to save heroine Maria Moreno (Adele Mara) from a forced marriage to a ruthless revolutionary (Roberto Airaldi). Both Carroll and supporting actor Vincente Padula play dual roles, for reasons that the film makes clear (even though the official studio resumé does not). Billed tenth, Fernando Lamas is given "and introducing" billing in the credits, and never mind that he'd been in films since 1942. The Avengers is based on a novel by Rex Beach. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Carroll, Adele Mara, (more)
Daisy Kenyon stars Joan Crawford as the eponymous heroine, a Manhattan commercial artist. Daisy is torn between two men: a handsome, married attorney (Dana Andrews) and an unmarried Henry Fonda. Deciding to do the "right thing", Daisy marries Fonda, but carries a torch for the dashing Andrews. When the lawyer divorces his wife, he calls upon Daisy and tries to win her back. She is very nearly won over, but her husband isn't about to give up so easily. Both men argue over Daisy, who is so distraught by the experience that she nearly has a fatal automobile accident. In the end, Daisy realizes that she truly loves Fonda, and gives Andrews his walking papers. Daisy Kenyon is given a contemporary slant with a subplot about child abuse (in a Joan Crawford film!); and, in one scene set at New York's Stork Club, several celebrities (Walter Winchell, Leonard Lyons, John Garfield) make unbilled cameo appearances. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Crawford, Art Baker, (more)
- 1943
Stella is based on the popular novel by Cesar Duyan. Argentine film favorite Zully Moreno plays the orphaned daughter of a famed explorer, who goes to work as the secretary of her wealthy uncle (Florinda Ferrario). She soon becomes aware that her cousins have been depleting her uncle's financial resources, but she can do nothing to prevent it. If she blows the whistle on the cousins, she'll lose her job, which is the only source of revenue for herself and her crippled younger sister (Stella Rio). How she handles this dilemma and finds lasting happiness and contentment is elucidated in the final two reels. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Zully Moreno, Florinda Ferrario, (more)
