Nancy Goes to Rio

Musical comedy about mother-daughter rivalry. Problem is, neither the music nor the comedy is very good. The songs are mostly very ho-hum affairs. The highlights are the lively title song and a pair of numbers from Carmen Miranda. As for the humor, it revolves around a misunderstanding, one of my least favorite forms of comedy. It's just annoying and makes everyone look brainless. The film is pleasant and is graced with a lovely Technicolor sheen, but I couldn't give a hoot about the content.

Argh, Jane Powell movies... my only weakness...

If you have no patience for lightweight musical comedies, this is not for you. The plot is slight. What we do have here to boost this film are three great ladies of musical film in fine form and glorious Technicolor. Ann Sothern is classy and delightful. Carmen Miranda has 2 fun numbers. Jane Powell sparkles and lets her glorious soprano soar. You'll be humming the haunting "Magic is the Moonlight" for some time after seeing this.

A colorful fluff piece. We can't have Carmen Miranda appear in anything else, can we? There is a tiny story in there, but it's really all about the show numbers. You even have aging Louis Calhern dance to a tune, which put a big smile on my face. That's usually not how you saw that guy. Serious Barry Sullivan looked awkward in this non-serious environment, which also made it kinda fun. And on top of that you had Ann Sothern & Jane Powell doing their sweet things. Entertaining.