Under the Pampas Moon

Yikes, this is a mess. We start with "Campo" (Warner Baxter) in a small town with his friends, flirting outrageously, before they all head off into the countryside en route to Buenos Aires where he is racing his horse. Not long into their trip they encounter an aircraft that's broken down and onboard is acclaimed Parisian chanteuse "Yvonne" (Ketti Gallian). Stopping off briefly in an hotel, she races ahead for a performance and he follows on for his race - only to discover that his horse has been pinched and is now racing under the colours of "Tito" (J. Carrol Naish). Of course, "Campo" can't prove anything and after a court tells him to get lost he alights on his own solution. Like her plane, this just doesn't fly. For the most part it seems to be an excuse to showcase some Gaucho singing, dancing and boozing whilst Baxter's accent gets thicker and the photography looks more like a series of outtakes from a "Zorro" serial. Will he get his gal and the horse? Well maybe she can sing while he eats the horse? Anyway - the dialogue is shocking and I'd just avoid, sorry.

Warner Baxter won the Best Actor Oscar in 1930 for the film "In Old Arizona" and he played the Cisco Kid in that movie. When seen today, Baxter's performance was a bit broad. Even more broad is his performance here in "Under the Pampas Moon" where he plays a South American gaucho who is also a bit of a rube when he goes to the big city. Why does he leave his home in the Pampas to go to the city? Well, he's smitten with a French singer and after meeting her when her plane was forced to make an emergency landing in his home town, he decides to follow her to the next performance. Unfortunately, he discovers that his beloved horse has been stolen and the guy who bought the hot horse is not about to return it...despite what he keeps telling the gaucho. What's next? Who cares, really.

For me, the performances are often a bit broad here and I wish they'd used more Hispanic actors for heightened realism. Additionally, the plot really meanders here and could have been tightened up a lot. On the plus side, and I saw few pluses, you do get to see Rita Cansino in her first movie...the woman who later was renamed 'Rita Hayworth'.