In Caliente

Glenda Farrell has a business of breach-of-promise suit against men. Her latest incipient victim is magazine publisher Pat O'Brian. So editorial assistant catches him while he's drunk and takes him to Agua Caliente -- with location shooting -- and contracts with Leo Carillo to have niece Dolores Del Rio steal him.

All of which is an excuse for misunderstandings, jokes, and two Busby Berkeley numbers: Wini Shaw singing "The Lady In Red", with Judy Canova doing a yodeling reprise; and Phil Regan singing "Muchacha", with many surprising rhymes. I much prefer the former song, although the self-mocking vignette for the latter makes it my new favorite Berkleley piece.

It's all typical musical nonsense, and doubtless was promoted as a working holiday for the cast and crew south of the border at the popular resort. Its success was promoted during the silent era by the legality of drinking. Afterwards, by gambling. A few months after this movie cam out,t he Mexican government outlawed the gambling.

A typical fast paced Pat O'Brien movie that includes the alluring Deloris De Rio, the normally befuddled Edward Everett Horton, Leo Carrillo - popular 1930s talent, and much music and dancing. Watch for Judy Canova doing a great scene as "the Lady in Red" with Edward Everett Horton!!

One error that is repeated in both the IMDb cast listing and a number of viewer comments, is that the "Sally" De Marco in this film is actually "Renee" De Marco (Tony's second wife/dancing partner). Sally didn't start dancing with Tony until 1941, this film was made in 1935! Also, Sally and Renee had very different dancing styles, with Sally always having a most exciting and polished performance. I suspect because Sally had been a ballet dancer and had a very intense stage presence – plus she was quite beautiful. Renee was a good solid dancer, but typical smooth Ballroom dancer, not flashy but very, very smooth. Sally's performances, in comparison, would cause you to watch in awe.

All in all a very entertaining, albeit sort of "whacky", movie to watch!! Don't miss it!

What a nice little surprise this was, and great showcase for Dolores del Río. The premise of a magazine critic (Pat O'Brien) being taken to Mexico while drunk by his business partner (Edward Everett Horton) to avoid being married (to Glenda Farrell) is a little silly, not unlike other screwball comedies. It's made interesting by Horton trying to set O'Brien up with del Río in order that he forget Farrell, not remembering that O'Brien once panned del Río in a review and she'd like to get even with him. The little cat and mouse game she plays, assisted by her shrewd manager (Leo Carrillo) who regularly takes advantage of foreigners, is entertaining, and director Michael Curtiz moves things along well.

We also get the incomparable Busby Berkeley and a couple of entertaining musical numbers in the second half of the film. The first of these, 'The Lady in Red' includes wonderful vocals from Wini Shaw, sexy shimmying from the chorus, and an extended ballroom dance routine by Tony De Marco and Sally Craven (later his third wife), who were nearly as good as Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, if not on a par with them. It's definitely one to watch. The second, "Muchacha' is also pretty wild, with horses prancing up a staircase in addition to del Río singing and dancing.

del Río is charming throughout the film, and it's refreshing that her character is intelligent, erudite, and elegant. She's a beauty in her evening gowns and the two-piece bathing suit that she helped pioneer, which we see plenty of in a long scene at the pool. She was on her way out of Hollywood a few years later which is a shame, though it really makes me want to check out her Mexican films from the 1940's. I may be rounding up a bit because of her and Berkeley, but they made the film for me.

IN CALIENTE (First National, 1935), directed by Lloyd Bacon, is a musical tribute to a then popular Mexican resort town south of the border from San Diego, California, most noted for its horse racing and gambling. It stars hot tamale Mexican-born actress Dolores Del Rio in a lightweight story with an overly familiar plot redeemed by a good score and fine choreography by Busby Berkeley. With Berkeley on hand, instead of focusing on his trademark dance numbers of geometric patterns and overhead camera shots, he leans heavily on the current trend of ballroom dancing popularized by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. The dancers in question for IN CALIENTE are the now obscure names of DeMarcos, Tony and Sally.

The story centers upon Larry MacArthur (Pat O'Brien), president, critic and editor of New York City's smartest magazine, Manhattan Madness, who has a habit of writing bad reviews without ever seeing a performance. Harold Brandon (Edward Everett Horton), vice president, wants to break up Larry's engagement to Clara Thorne (Glenda Farrell), a gold digger who not only prefers to get married on a Thursday, but has had won three previous breach of promise suits. Knowing the upcoming marriage will be a mistake, Harold succeeds in getting Larry drunk enough to take him unconscious from both his job and Clara via airplane to Aqua Caliente, a Mexican resort. While there, the conscious Larry at first demands to be returned to New York, but once he meets up with Rita Gomez (Dolores Del Rio), he decides to have his holiday in Mexico and remain, unaware that Rita, a concert dancer, was one of the performers he criticized in his review. Recognizing Larry as the man who had given her a bad write-up, Rita plots on humiliating him, with the help of Jose Gomez (Leo Carrillo), her uncle and manager who pleasures in cheating "suckers" at cards. More problems arise when Clara arrives to claim Larry.

On the musical program, songs include: "Mexicando/In Caliente" (several reprises, mostly sung by Mariachis); "To Call You My Own" (sung by Phil Regan, danced by Dolores Del Rio and unidentified partner); "The Lady in Red" (sung by Winifred Shaw, chorus, Judy Canova), by Mort Dixon and Allie Wrubel; and "Muchacha" by Harry Warren and Al Dubin (sung by Phil Regan, Dolores Del Rio, and chorus).

Long on story and comedy, with songs spread apart while the two Berkeley production numbers are saved for the near conclusion. Of the songs presented, only "The Lady in Red" is notable. While introduced in IN CALIENTE by Winifred Shaw, and given the reprise "hillbilly treatment" by comedienne Judy Canova, it's best remembered as a dance number sung and performed by Desi Arnaz in one of the classic episodes to the 1950s TV comedy series, I LOVE LUCY (CBS, 1951-1957) starring Lucille Ball. Phil Regan, an Irish tenor, playing the role of Pat Casey, but acting the part as Pedro Casinova, is the male vocalist. He heads the grand finale of "Muchacha" opposite Del Rio, in a rare opportunity in which she sings (briefly) on film. Her vocalization is adequate, but at times sounds more like the singing of Kitty Carlisle from two Bing Crosby musicals, HERE IS MY HEART and SHE LOVES ME NOT (Paramount, 1934). Carlisle, however, is best noted for her performance opposite The Marx Brothers in A NIGHT AT THE OPERA (MGM, 1935).

While this is essentially a showcase for Dolores Del Rio and Pat O'Brien, Edward Everett Horton not only comes close in stealing his many scenes in his overly familiar performance from his leading actor, concluding the story with a funny fadeout. Another plus is the location filming at Agua Caliente. Chris Pin-Martin, as one of the mariachis, recites the catch phrase, "English not so very good looking." IN CALIENTE is typical yet manages to be entertaining as 1930s movies go. For more enjoyment with this south of the border musical comedy, watch IN CALIENTE whenever it plays on Turner Classic Movies. (***).

Several characters in this film make it difficult to like. The worst of these is the leading man (Pat O'Brien). He is very abrasive, rather mean-spirited, fast-talking and an alcoholic! In fact, there's really little to recommend this guy. Additionally, Leo Carillo plays a guy who is a cheat and a thief. With characters like these, it's hard to understand what was going through the writer's mind when they created this bizarro film.

"In Caliente" begins in New York. Larry McArthur (O'Brien) is awakening from a bender and this friend and business partner Harold (Edward Everett Horton) marvels that the drunk writes his theater reviews without even going to see the performances! You assume it's because he's an alcoholic jerk and soon he's drunk again--dead to the world after drinking a bottle of whiskey. Harold is concerned about Larry's self-destructive life as well as his upcoming wedding to a gold-digger (Glenda Farrell) he barely knows, so he whisks the unconscious Larry to a resort town in Mexico, Caliente, to dry him out and get him away from this girl. Unfortunately, Rita Gomez (Delores Del Rio) is there performing--and Larry savaged her some time ago in one of his reviews. Naturally, he also never saw her in person and he truly deserves her to destroy him--which she plans on doing. However, over time they start to fall in love with each other--though I have no idea why. Why would he love her--she's not a whiskey bottle! And, he is just nasty and a drunk--and what sane woman would want that?! For comic relief, we have Horton, though he isn't really used well here. His role is more serious than usual. Also, Leo Carillo plays Rita's uncle. As I mentioned above, he's pretty much a thief and this alone is supposed to make him funny--it didn't.

In addition to the romance and comedy, there is a lot of music and dancing--particularly later in the film. These production numbers are the typical Busby Berkeley sort of thing--where the dance numbers are too large for a stadium, let alone a nightclub! One number in particular is notable. "The Lady in Red" is a shockingly risqué number--with very sexily clad ladies who look much more Pre-Code than what you'd expect in 1935 when things were SUPPOSED to be much more sanitized. Oddly, however, the sexiness and beauty of this routine is pretty much ruined when Judy Canova inexplicably enters and begins singing like a slow-witted hillbilly....in Mexico! Huh?! Interestingly, the song morphed into a HUGE and very long production number that lasted a whopping 20 minutes--too long, much too long for my taste.

So, we have unlikable characters, alcoholism, musical numbers that are too long and comedy that isn't very funny. Overall, a complete misfire and waste of talent. See it if you must, I think pretty much everyone in the film did better films than this.