Romance no Rio

Non stop puns. That and a whole lot of song and dance, tap dancing, and verbal sparring are what we get in "Thrill of Brazil." All in good natured fun, Steve (Keenan Wynn, Annie get your Gun ) and John ( Allyn Joslyn) are fighting over Vicki (Evelyn Keyes, Gone with the Wind, many others). Meanwhile, Ann Miller is caught up in the whirlwind as Linda Lorens, tries to sing and dance her way through the her entertainment numbers. Also some great music from Enric Madriguera and his orchestra, as well as Tito Guízar, all of whom actually did perform and record in public at the time. This film might have been even more hokey if the music and dance weren't so good. Filmed after the war, so the mood is very upbeat and happy. Ann Miller had been making movies for 10 years by now, but she still has the look and demeanor of a young, rookie, but this could just be good acting on her part. Interesting scene where Vicki captures some of the local downtown market scenes and fights in pencil drawings, to be used in their nightclub act later. Several sight gags have a vaudevillian feel, but it all works. Although she was a major starlet in her own right, Evelyn Keyes is also known for her marriages to the bigshots Artie Shaw, John Huston, Charles Vidor. Also look for Ludwig, played by the always funny Felix Bressart, who had made "Shop around the Corner" with J Stewart. Bressart and Wynn had just made "Without Love" together in 1945.

Among the widely divergent IMDb reviews of this film, I'm inclined toward the positive. Having missed seeing the credits, I thought I'd come upon an obscure but worthy MGM musical (Kennon Wynn was an MGM player, Ann Miller about to become one, the set's, choreography, musical arrangements were MGM caliber, so maybe they borrowed Evyln Keyes from Columbia. . .) Well in fact it was a Columbia picture.

The witty, fast paced dialog was better than that in most 1940's MGM musicals. The arty, sexy, and unusual choreography by Eugene Loring (Nick Castle is co-credited) is very similar to what he did in "Yolanda and the Thief" with Astaire and company at MGM the year before.

Evyln Keyes does an excellent job giving a Roz Russell performance with just the right comic tone, zest, facility with fast paced comic repartee. Keenon Wynn is the weak link, he's no Carry Grant, and seems to me loud, obnoxious, and hard to take. Ann Miller is genuinely sexy in this film, something I never thought she was at MGM.

While this move is entertaining has some good performances, much of the script pulled word for word from His Girl Friday. But having Keenan Wynn talk about his dimple is very different than Cary Grant. They changed the story from a newspaper setting to a show biz one. Most importantly, this version allows for scenes for Ann Miller to dance, and does not allow for the ad libs that Cary Grant and Rosalind Russel did in the original. While this movie has its moments, it does not hold a candle to the original. Not sure way they copied the script, other then to save money. However it is nice to see some normally supporting actors, like Wynn, in lead positions.

A goofy Columbia musical: let's remake Hawks' HIS GIRL Friday as a musical, only instead of Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell and Ralph Bellamy, we'll have Keenan Wynn, Evelyn Keyes and Allyn Joslyn, and instead of it being about newspapers and death, it will be about --- nightclub producers!

Sounds like a waste of time, doesn't it? Well, despite the undeniable talent of the people involved -- as well as that of director Sylvan Simon, yes it is. Except for the musical numbers and those are standouts. The songs aren't much, decent but forgettable, but dance director Nick Castle knew how to choreograph a dance number so well that they were lifting them five years later for MGM musicals. And then, of course, there's Ann Miller. When she starts tapping, the movie becomes not just good but great.

But there's too much time between the musical numbers. Worthwhile, but not great.