Panama Hattie

Ann Sothern is "Panama Hattie" in this 1942 film based on the Broadway musical starring Ethel Merman. Also starring are Dan Dailey, Red Skelton, Rags Ragland, Ben Blue, Virginia O'Brien (as Flo, originated on Broadway by Betty Hutton), Marsha Hunt, Lena Horne and the Berry Brothers. The story concerns a vivacious nightclub singer (Sothern) who falls in love with a man (Dailey) who has a young daughter, but she has competition from a socially prominent woman who warns Hattie that she's not of his class and won't make a good wife. There is a subplot concerning spies who are uncovered by three sailors (Skelton, Ragland and Blue).

This a very old-fashioned musical comedy plot with pleasant music, the highlight being "Just One of Those Things" as sung by the beautiful Lena Horne. The singing from Sothern and O'Brien is very good, and Sothern does well as the insecure, vulnerable and sometimes overdressed singer. The problem for me are the Three Stooges-like sailors - a little bit of that goes a long way.

Watch it for the singing and the patriotic "Good Neighbors" finale - it was wartime.

The Great Depression was over and its ending was celebrated in this gay, fun-loving, happy-go-lucky musical featuring soon to be TV stars, Red Skelton and Ann Sothern. It marked the debut of the magnificent Vincente Minelli, whose career was to span our greatest musicals and some of our finest melodramas. Metro was a powerhouse for musicals, with wonderful art direction from the staff of Cedric Gibbons and numbers staged for DP George Folsey. Supremely talented singer/actresses Virginia O'Brien and Lena Horne each get two numbers along with the amazing dances of The Berry Brothers. It's hard to be blue when everyone is having such a good time.

Even though Ethyl Merman originated the role on Broadway, she was not considered attractive enough to carry the starring top billing. I am a real fan of Cole Porter and will watch anything he is involved with. Unfortunately, a lot of his work is either not included in movies that tout "music by Cole Porter", or is thrown out because it may not be mainstream for the audience of the day. Good example is "Anything Goes."

This is a movie you watch for the musical performance and dancing, not the story. Dan Daily's role could have been played by anyone.

I pull out the DVD about twice a year and again visit Cole Porter and this innocent musical.

Lena Horne is outstanding.

After years of only reading a bit about this movie, I finally saw Panama Hattie on a DVD I borrowed from the library. Adapted from a Cole Porter musical comedy, this film version only retains 4 of his songs from it with another one he wrote called "Just One of Those Things" from another musical he wrote it for. Lena Horne sang that one and another song written by someone else which she performs with The Berry Brothers dancers who also have another number. The stars are Ann Sothern in the title role and Red Skelton as one of three sailors-the others being Rags Ragland and Ben Blue-who are involved in a plot to expose spies. Ms. Sothern has a romantic subplot involving her romance with Dan Dailey but really, it doesn't really go anywhere while the sailors/spies one at least has some good laughs. Oh, and since this was made during wartime, it ends with a number meant to get America cheering the eventual destruction of the Japs which while understandable for the time it was made sounds very politically incorrect today. But none of this is supposed to be taken seriously so on that note, Panama Hattie is worth a look for anyone interested in these vintage old movies.

I felt it my patriotic duty to write a comment, since this movie was commentless. So... A little background: I'm a big fan of Cole Porter, Ann Sothern, musicals, and 40's movies, and had been wanting to see this film for a while before I actually saw it this afternoon. Coming into it, though, I had my qualms. I saw another 30's Cole Porter musical turned into 40's movie, Dubarry Was a Lady. It was so horrible that I almost cried. Most of Porter's original songs had been scrapped for non-Porter crap songs. Lucille Ball's voice was dubbed. Red Skelton was an idiot. But... this is not a forum for how horrible Dubarry Was a Lady was. So, I entered with trepidation the world of Panama Hattie to realise that the script was quite witty, full of sight gags, yes, but tasteful sight gags, the non-Porter songs were not crap, Ann Sothern is a competent vocalist(Nothing compared to Merman, who originated the part, but really, who is anything compared to Merman?), and Lena Horne's in it. Any movie with two Lena Horne numbers is worth watching simply for Lena Horne. But, I suggest watching this movie for more than just Lena Horne. While she is the best songstress of the bunch, Virginia O'Brian is rather fun to watch with her deadpan singing. She was quite famous for that, as I vaguely recall watching a short of her doing a lavish production number with Jimmy Durante or someone similar. I found Red Skelton, whom I so loathed in Dubarry Was a Lady, to be extremely likeable, along with his sailor buddies. Rags Ragland was the funniest of the three, but I came away wanting to marry Ben Blue. Dan Dailey was also fun to see, but I thought it was very odd that he didn't get a musical number. Anyway, the plot is slim to none, but the movie really wasn't about plot, it was about fun and peddling war bonds.