Week-End in Havana

This movie doesn't lack talent; it's got the adorable Alice Faye, handsome Cesar Romero and John Payne, and fabulous Carmen Miranda. What it lacks is great songs. Made at a time when Cuba was still a glamorous destination for wealthy and famous Americans, the film cashes in on the contract between old New York in winter and the warmth of the Caribbean. It all seems like a bit fat cliché now, but in its time this kind of fun got people dancing and singing and appreciating the rhythms of Latin America. You'll hear all sorts of references in Miranda's rendering of the title song. Who cares if she was from Brazil? It's interesting to note that one of the themes of the film hinges on a cruise ship going aground-sound familiar? The scenes filmed in Havana are a delight. Note that some "Marquee 20th Century Box Musicals" DVDs of this film contain audio commentary by film historian Jeanine Basinger, which helps to explain the conventions, styles, and techniques of this movie. --from Musicals on the Silver Screen, American Library Association, 2013

Alice Faye knows more than she should about a cruise ship accident and gets herself a big vacation courtesy of the ship line in "Weekend in Havana," costarring John Payne, Carmen Miranda, and Cesar Romero. Alice plays a demanding young woman who insists on recompense for a long-planned vacation when handsome John Payne tries to convince her to sign a waiver. Payne escorts her to Havana where, anxious to get home for his wedding, he proves a dull escort. Faye soon hooks up with Romero, who thinks she's wealthy. He's on the lam from a casino proprietor to whom he owes money. Carmen Miranda, his girlfriend, is the jealous entertainer.

Everyone in the film is delightful. Having just seen Romero in "Captain from Castile," he is even more impressive in this light role. Miranda is always fun to watch. Faye is very pretty and sings well in her lush contralto. John Payne is easy on the eyes and makes an able leading man. Cobina Wright, as Payne's fiancée, is quite stunning.

I admit to liking Springtime in the Rockies and The Gang's All Here more, but "Weekend in Havana" makes for fun viewing.

Although none of the principal players set foot in Havana, Cuba for the production of Weekend in Havana, Darryl F. Zanuck sent a second unit crew down there to get enough background shots and longshots with doubles of the players to make one feel they were having a Weekend in Havana. Usually the studios just relied on newsreel footage so 20th Century Fox was spending more than most studios would at this time.

There are certain plot similarities to Paramount's Waikiki Wedding that starred Bing Crosby and Shirley Ross four years earlier. In fact George Barbier has the same kind of part in both, a business executive who wants to make sure a young woman has the time of her life on vacation be it Hawaii or Cuba.

In this case it's Alice Faye, a shopgirl who saved her money for a cruise and in this case the cruise ship ran aground on a reef on the Cuban coast. She just doesn't want to sign a waiver to get the company off the hook for a lawsuit. So John Payne who is about to become Barbier's son-in-law is sent to get that waiver by hook or crook.

What he ends up doing is trying to make sure Faye has a good time in Havana under his personal management. He even calls in a broke Cesar Romero in for a bit of romance when Faye doesn't take to him. Payne offers to pay Romero's debts to casino owner Sheldon Leonard and that doesn't sit too well with Carmen Miranda, Romero's girlfriend. And the whole business ain't sitting too well with Cobina Wright who is Payne's fiancé.

I'm sure you can figure out where this is going plot wise. In addition to those mentioned look for nice performances from Billy Gilbert as a club owner and Leonid Kinskey as an ever helpful bellhop.

Seeing Payne and Faye sing together once again confirms my thesis in that 20th Century Fox hired him to take the musical leads opposite their stars like Faye, Betty Grable, etc. He shows himself once again to be a singing Tyrone Power. Alice and he make lovely music, but of course the hit of the film is Carmen Miranda. As it was in any film she was in.

Another Latin American good will film. Interesting how we got our ideas about Latin America from films like these. Nice entertainment, but bad sociopolitics.

Fox makes ample use of their stock company players--ALICE FAYE, JOHN PAYNE, CARMEN MIRANDA, CESAR ROMERO, as well as a bevy of dependable supporting actors to make sure that their technicolor investment in WEEKEND IN HAVANA pays off. Unfortunately, it's a routine assignment for all concerned. The script is light, even for a Fox musical.

Faye had better musicals at the studio and is saddled with playing a rather pushy department store clerk who expects to get the royal treatment in Havana after her cruise is interrupted by a shipwreck. Naturally, a handsome corporate man (Payne) is assigned to take care of her "vacation" in Havana, and therein lies the nub of the plot. Everything that follows is quite predictable, including misunderstood romantic complications, but the end result is nevertheless entertaining.

Both Alice and Carmen Miranda have opportunities to demonstrate their prowess with a song and John Payne makes an attractive partner for Faye. Cesar Romero plays a Latin charmer with his usual confident air. It's all very pretty in Fox's typically garish technicolor but fails to stay in the memory as some of Faye's other films do since there's nothing especially memorable about either the plot or the music.

Alice Faye, John Payne, Carmen Miranda and Cesar Romero all fair better in this lively and funny musical romp, directed by Walter Lang and enlivened by Fox's shimmering Technicolor, gorgeous costumes, and some nice rollicking musical numbers.

Although "Week-End in Havana" is not as totally rapturous and frivolous as "Down Argentine Way" & "That Night in Rio", I was thoroughly entertained. The plot is kind of unremarkable but it offers subtantial showcase for its stars. Faye is the showgirl and tourist named Nan who gets a taste of Havana after her ship wrecks off the coast of Florida. Payne is Jay, the ship company representative who guides Nan in Havana and persuades the gambler Monte Blanca (Romero) to romance her in order to avoid legal battles. The gambler's girlfriend is the feisty Rosita Rivas (Miranda) who gets jealous of her man's coy romancing with the American tourist. Ultimately a romance blooms between Nan and Jay and the rest is history.

All of this romantic nonsense is enlivened by the some catchy, entertaining musical numbers and dances, including "Romance and Rhumba", "Tropical Magic", "The Man with the Lollypop", and "Week End in Havana".

Worth catching if you love this sort of fluff.