SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

SpecialsTarget Disturbing yet enthralling

Motompa Go in cold, and you're likely to emerge with your blood boiling. This has to be seen to be believed.

Skyler Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

TheLittleSongbird 'Down Argentine Way' is notable for being the American debut of Carmen Miranda and the film that made Betty Grable a star. This said, while the casting seemed unlikely initially (for example Alice Faye was intended for the character played by Betty Grable), they mostly come off well and 'Down Argentine Way' manages to entertain enormously.Sure, while there is so much to enjoy for many it is also to see why others won't connect with it. One says that one shouldn't see a musical for its story, which in a way can be seen as true seeing as even in the classic musicals the story tended to be not as good as the rest of the respective films. Here though the story is thin on the ground, feeling stretched and has its implausible stretches.The romance between Don Ameche and Betty Grable has many moments of endearing charm, but that Grable replaced an indisposed Alice Faye due to illness makes the chemistry not quite as natural as it could have been. This may have been that Ameche and Faye had worked together a few times before and Grable was in her film debut, so didn't know Ameche as well.Harry Stephenson on paper couldn't have been a more unlikely and dubious choice for his role and in the final product is for me quite badly miscast. He is not being remotely believable as a Argentinian, which did to me took away hugely from the rest of his performance, with an accent that is phoney at best and comes and goes quicker than one can down a can of fizzy drinks.On the other hand, 'Down Argentine Way' looks great, with gorgeous use of colour and lavish production design. The songs are lively and infectious, no standards but it's the quality of the music itself and the way it's used that matters more and 'Down Argentine Way' succeeds in those areas.'Down Argentine Way's' script crackles with wit, energy and charm and the film is rarely dull due to so much being so good. Ameche is as ever suave and charming and Grable's beguiling performance deservedly made her a star.With the exception of Stephenson the supporting cast work very well. Miranda is not in the film much and her scenes don't necessarily add much to the story and narratively may feel like padding, but she is absolute dynamite in her American debut and her two songs are two of the film's most catchy. J. Carroll Naish is amusing, the Nicholas Brothers dazzle with their athletic dancing and Leonid Kinsky succeeds in making buffoonery not annoying, but the best supporting turn comes from a note-perfect Charlotte Greenwood.In summary, not great but hugely entertaining, foibles and all. 7/10 Bethany Cox

writers_reign ... when it could just as soon have been called Down Upper Sandusky Way in terms of plot. What it was, of course, was at once a morale booster and a nod to its South American neighbours from the movie capital of North America if not the world. This was Carmen Miranda's first appearance outside the Latin American market and as such she has absolutely nothing to do with anything even faintly resembling a plot. C.Aubrey Smith lookalike Henry Stephenson is about as convincing as a South American horse-breeder as Michael Jackson would be as a gaucho but if things like this bother you then you're missing the point. Charlotte Greenwood weighs in with her trademark high kicks and there are more of the same from the Nicholas Brothers; leads Don Ameche and Betty Grable exhibit as much chemistry as an empty petri dish but score individually whilst Mack Gordon and Harry Warren turned in a score that was just about up to snuff. All in all a pleasant enough crowd-pleaser.

jotix100 Irving Cummings takes on a fun tour to Argentina. This is a happy musical that defies all logic as the writers Rian James and Ralph Spence appear to be telling us we're in Argentina, but taking us to Havana, by way of Rio de Janeiro. Talk about a confusion of styles!Once the viewer gets over the jet lag caused by the disorientation, we are introduced to the Crawford girls, Glenda and Binnie and the Quintana boys, Don Diego and Ricardo. Both these families have grown apart by something that happened long ago in Paris, when Glenda's father stole Don Diego's girlfriend. They're horse people and we are shown the Argentine estancia that looks more like a Mexican hacienda, but we go along for the ride. There's even a fiesta in the town where Binnie makes a splash dancing and being admired by the locals. There are the inevitable night club hopping scene where Carmen Miranda and the Nicholas Brothers are headlining. We see everyone dancing the craze of those years, a Cuban rhumba! Talk about a melange of styles!The costume designer Travis Burton dresses Ms. Grable and Ms. Greenwood in creations that might have been popular back home, but no sophisticated Argentine women would have been caught wearing them. Otherwise how can Mr. Burton show Betty Grable in that "American Flag" shmatte? How about the typical Cuban rhumba dancer dress at the end? The musical numbers are fine, but hello?, aren't we in Buenos Aires, a mild interpretation of a tango wouldn't have been out of place! Someone commented on Carmen Miranda's dancing, but in her two numbers she only shakes her hips and that's the extent of what she does. The amazing Nicholas Brothers fare better because they were the best in the business.Betty Grable and Don Ameche are fine playing with the material they were given. Charlotte Greenwood, Henry Stephenson, Leonard Kinskey and J. Carroll Naish seem to have a great deal of fun with their characters. As a curiosity, we get a glimpse of Elena Verdugo, who later became famous for her television work, just for a moment.The film is entertaining once we realize we have been taken for a mindless ride down the Argentine way.

Fasman Of its genre, one of the greatest musicals ever. Betty makes male hearts swoon (and that's not all)! Any questions as to why she was number one with our boys overseas? Carmen is a firecracker and the Nicholas Brothers have never been duplicated. This film was much more about the players than the meat of the film. Meat-wise just a bunch of fluff, but performance-wise and production-wise, excellent!