This movie is appropriately titled, as it's hard to imagine a woman more breathtakingly beautiful than Rita Hayworth in the early 1940's. The fact that she was an accomplished dancer - reportedly Fred Astaire's favorite partner - only adds to her ethereal, otherworldly appeal. Their second and sadly last pairing in this lightweight 1942 confection hardly does justice to either star, but it's a pleasant enough romantic comedy highlighted by just two numbers where they dance together. Those moments are worth slogging through the silly plot co-penned by Michael Fessier, Ernest Pagano, and Delmer Daves.
Directed by studio journeyman William A. Seiter, the film has American hoofer Bob Davis in Buenos Aires losing his savings at the racetrack. Looking for work, he seeks a chance to audition for hotel owner Eduardo Acuna. Enlisting the help of bandleader Xavier Cugat (Charo's future husband) and his orchestra, he fails to impress Acuna. However, through various plot machinations including mistaken identity and parental scheming, Bob meets and becomes smitten with Acuna's headstrong daughter Maria, who has decided she will never marry. This upsets her two giggly younger sisters who cannot marry their respective sweethearts until Maria marries. The resolution to this dilemma is predictable, but it is all wrapped in a soundtrack that combines Latin rhythms and sonorous songs by Jerome Kern. One of the composer's best, the über-romantic "I'm Old-Fashioned", provides the film's unequivocal high point as Hayworth lip syncs the classic chestnut to Nan Wynn's dusky alto and moves into a graceful pas de deux with Astaire peppered with a Latin-flavored interlude.
On the other end of the spectrum is the be-bop delight, "Shorty George" where a bobby-socked Hayworth tap dances with impressive abandon as she matches Astaire step for step. Astaire's artistry goes without saying, although Bob is pretty much like every hapless character he played in all those movies with Ginger Rogers. At 24, Hayworth is such a serene object of desire as Maria that it's no wonder Astaire's character is rendered speechless and asks her to turn around to avoid further embarrassment. Adolphe Menjou is his usual pompous blowhard as Acuna though hardly believable as an Argentinean, while Cugat seems far more at ease with a baton than with a script. Compared with their 1941 film, "You'll Never Get Rich", this movie has a more fanciful tone without the wartime context, but the highlights are less frequent. This was Hayworth's favorite film, and apparently a fifteen-year-old Fidel Castro is among the extras. The 2004 DVD offers no additional features.
Directed by studio journeyman William A. Seiter, the film has American hoofer Bob Davis in Buenos Aires losing his savings at the racetrack. Looking for work, he seeks a chance to audition for hotel owner Eduardo Acuna. Enlisting the help of bandleader Xavier Cugat (Charo's future husband) and his orchestra, he fails to impress Acuna. However, through various plot machinations including mistaken identity and parental scheming, Bob meets and becomes smitten with Acuna's headstrong daughter Maria, who has decided she will never marry. This upsets her two giggly younger sisters who cannot marry their respective sweethearts until Maria marries. The resolution to this dilemma is predictable, but it is all wrapped in a soundtrack that combines Latin rhythms and sonorous songs by Jerome Kern. One of the composer's best, the über-romantic "I'm Old-Fashioned", provides the film's unequivocal high point as Hayworth lip syncs the classic chestnut to Nan Wynn's dusky alto and moves into a graceful pas de deux with Astaire peppered with a Latin-flavored interlude.
On the other end of the spectrum is the be-bop delight, "Shorty George" where a bobby-socked Hayworth tap dances with impressive abandon as she matches Astaire step for step. Astaire's artistry goes without saying, although Bob is pretty much like every hapless character he played in all those movies with Ginger Rogers. At 24, Hayworth is such a serene object of desire as Maria that it's no wonder Astaire's character is rendered speechless and asks her to turn around to avoid further embarrassment. Adolphe Menjou is his usual pompous blowhard as Acuna though hardly believable as an Argentinean, while Cugat seems far more at ease with a baton than with a script. Compared with their 1941 film, "You'll Never Get Rich", this movie has a more fanciful tone without the wartime context, but the highlights are less frequent. This was Hayworth's favorite film, and apparently a fifteen-year-old Fidel Castro is among the extras. The 2004 DVD offers no additional features.