Une nuit à Rio

Poor Don Ameche must have felt like something of a doormat. In her first film Carmen Miranda stole the film from him and Betty Grable in Down Argentina Way. Now Ameche with new co-star Alice Faye got upended again by Miranda in That Night In Rio. Don Ameche if nothing else was a gentleman and one of the classiest men in Hollywood. He got his licks in That Night In Rio playing a dual role.

If this plot seems familiar it was previously done as Folies Bergere with Maurice Chevalier and afterward by Danny Kaye in On The Double. Ameche is a prominent Brazilian financier who is married to Alice Faye and something of a cold fish. He's also a visiting American entertainer who is going out with Carmen Miranda and as part of his act does a dead on impersonation of the financier with a little more pizazz.

Circumstances have Curt Bois and S.Z. Sakall come to the entertainer to have him impersonate the financier for 24 hours while the financier goes out of town for some really delicate business negotiations. The entertainer succeeds in arousing the sleeping woman in Faye and the sleeping tiger in Miranda with the impersonation. I think you can figure the rest out.

Harry Warren and Mack Gordon wrote the score, but the songs that Faye and Ameche sing are barely noticeable. But I Yi Yi Yi I Like You Very Much and Chica-Boom-Chic became a staple of Carmen Miranda's nightclub act for the rest of her life. And the way she sings them, hey no one else has ever even tried to do those numbers, you can't possibly imitate that style.

For Carmen Miranda fans who are still legion, the world over.

With the success of "Down Argentine Way', came 'That Night in Rio',a better film. Historically, the US is wooing our neighbors to the South, who found some elective affinity with Europe fascism--especially the Argentina of Peron and the Brazil of Vargas. So, Hollywood armed with all the soft power it could command and came up with the time honored conceit of mistaken identity: Don Ameche plays Baron Durate the very rich banker man about town, skirt chaser who neglects his wife (Alice Faye) and the night club headliner Larry Holmes who has a hot tempered girl friend (Carmen Miranda). The film's opening number 'Chica, Chaca Boom Chic' explodes in the opening scenes with the vivacious Miranda, her alluring green eyes, her exotic hats and bare midriff and undulating hips. It sets the zest and good fun of the film. Jealous, suspicious that her man was cheating on her, she breaks out into rapid fire Portuguese that adds spice to the dialogue and enlivens a heavy handed script. Those blue bedroom eyes of Faye is as effective in conveying sexuality and emotion. And of course Ameche is in top form as the fashionable socialite Duarte and the crooner Holmes. CZ Sakail and the standard gold digger Leonid Kinsky and the old imitator of perceived accents of Latins J. Carroll Nash are on hand for laughs and dirty tricks. And if 'Chica, Chica Boom Chic' does set the toe taping there 'I Yi Yi Yi (I like you very very much) to set the body swaying or Cai Cai and Faye's plaintive song Boa Noite 'good night'. Like 'Down Argentine Way', in our age of incessant war and dumb down political despair, 'That Night in Rio' is a good temporary breath of mirth and merry making.

The one thing that has stood the test of time for "That Night In Rio" is the great Technicolor - it is quite outstanding. The story has been done to death many times, but probably not much better than this, and the cast are a lot of fun - Carmen Miranda was really the Brazilian Bombshell as the ads said, and had the best lines, and the best songs of the time (pretty terrible to listen to now!), Don Ameche was a charmer and his "Boa Noite" was very good, while Alice Faye looked decidedly overweight, but it may have been caused by all the jewellery she had to wear!! The supporting cast were as usual excellent, with all the old stagers in it - a quick glimpse of Maria Montez came as a bit of a surprise. All in all , very light entertainment, but harmless.

This is one of my absolute favorite Fox musicals, photographed in the studio's idiosyncratic garish Technicolor, featuring Carmen Miranda in her second American appearance; Alice Faye and Don Ameche in their last pairing. Ameche is in a double role: playing a Rio nightclub entertainer Larry Martin and a rich airline businessman Baron Duarte.

"That Night in Rio" starts explosively with Miranda's entertainingly flashy number "Chicka Chicka Boom Chick" in Rio. Then Carmen's boyfriend Martin enters while riding a car. After hordes of couples dance to Carmen's colorful spectacle, Baron Duarte and his wife Baroness (Alice Faye) arrive. Martin announces he is going to impersonate the Baron. In a musical number, he does it brilliantly. The Baron is very impressed and goes off to backstage to meet him and Carmen. While he is in backstage, Martin courts the Baroness and does another fine Duarte impression. But Martin doesn't know the Baron is in real financial trouble. A few days after that night in Rio, the Baron leaves for Buenos Aires. Martin is secretly hired by the Baron's associates to replace him, so his rivals in the airline business won't notice his absence. Martin not only replaces the Baron, he again courts and romances the Baroness. Many funny and ingenious complications follow.

"That Night in Rio" continues the trend started in "Down Argentine Way" - pleasant romancing in exotic Latin locales, galvanized by Technicolor and Carmen Miranda. Alice Faye was supposed to star "Down Argentine Way" but due to illness, the lead role went to Betty Grable. Now, Faye got her lead in "That Night in Rio". I don't think it is near "Hello, Frisco, Hello" (my favorite Faye musical) but there are a lot to enjoy in "That night In Rio".

Miranda especially is very funny. Her quarrels with Ameche, her Brazilian accent ("You is a low down, no good ham!"), and her dance numbers (particularly "Ay, yai, yai, yai, yai, I like you very much") are entertaining & rapturous.

MGM musicals may have been more extravagant, but 20th Century Fox musicals are the most fun. In "That Night in Rio," in order to save a business deal, a look-alike actor (Don Ameche) is hired to impersonate a baron (Don Ameche) who is out of town trying to raise money. The Baron is married to Cecilia (Alice Faye) but in name only; they go their separate ways. When the actor takes over, with Faye's knowledge, he is extremely attentive, to the consternation of his girlfriend (Carmen Miranda).

This is a cute story, nothing new about it, but it is done in an amusing way. At one point, the Baron returns from his trip early, and the two Barons are in a room at the same time. They keep switching back and forth while talking to a businessman. The businessman, convinced someone else is in the room after hearing noises behind a screen and seeing the screen move, decides to continue the conversation in French. The actor, of course, can't speak it, so has to say oui, oui throughout. It's very funny. Also, the businessman searches behind the screen - the actor walks from behind the screen and into the room while the Baron goes the opposite way meets the businessman behind the screen and says, "See?" indicating there is no one there.

The cast is the typical Fox musical cast - by 1941, Tyrone Power was no longer doing musicals, so it's Ameche, Faye, and Carmen Miranda. Miranda is very funny and outlandishly dressed as usual; Faye sings well and looks lovely, although she seems stuffed into a gold gown.

There is plenty of music - in fact, the whole beginning is one number after another. Miranda sings a couple of her standards: "I, Yi, Yi, Yi, Yi (I Like You Very Much)," and "Chica Chica Boom Chic." Ameche and Faye sing "Boa Noite" and "They Met in Rio" - and there are plenty of production numbers.

Wonderfully entertaining.