Down Argentine Way
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Movie Reviews of Down Argentine Way
Movie Review: Grable and Company Can't Lose
Summary: 5 Stars
How can you go wrong with this shinning star??? Can't wipe the smile off your face from watching Ms. Grable.Movie Review: Great Old Movie
Summary: 5 Stars
One of the classics. Fun, happy, timeless.
A great film for the whole family.
Movie Review: They don't make them like this anymore!
Summary: 4 Stars
Watching "Down Argentine Way" is to watch a genre of film that sadly is no more;and we are all the lesser for it.
These musicals/comedies/romancers have all but vanished from the Hollywood landscape.Moreover it serves to also remind us of what talents once roamed the studio landscapes and were at the beck and call of the producers.
His career was revived later in his life by Ron Howard who put him in his successful "Cocoon" pictures,but many later generations don't know that in the late 30s and 40s Don Ameche was one of the biggest stars in Hollywood.As serious and good an actor as any his acting AND musical talents were amply showcased in pictures like this and others,like "One Night in Rio" or "Moon over Miami".And Ameche makes the most of every moment he has on screen.
Along with Ameche we have up and coming pin up queen Betty Grable.Already an established actress but with her star very much in ascendance here,Grable excelled in such musical diversions as this and her dancing and her pleasing vocals are all in their best form and shown off to great effect.
Along with the two main stars is a new South American talent from Brazil making her Hollywood screen debut,the vivacious Portugal born Carmen Miranda.Appearing in the smash Broadway production of "The Streets of Paris"(also her first appearance in the U.S. courtesy of theatre empressario Lee Schubert) and a local club simultaneously,she allotted what precious little time she had between performances,to appear in this film.Three of the songs she sang in "Streets","South American Way"(pronounced 'Souse' by Carmen),"Mamae eu Quero"(I want my Mama) and "Bambo de Bambu" were re-performed in the film for a broader and larger film going public.Carmens' powerful screen presence with those undulating hips,the alluring eyes and arm movements and her beautiful baiana(Bahian inspired costume),captivated the movie going public.Carmen performs two numbers almost back to back but what has always seemed strange to me is at the end of the film when all the main players come out for a small encore but Carmen is conspicuously absent.This would thanfully be corrected in the future.
50 years young stage and screen veteran Charlotte Greenwood also makes a grand appearance here.She was a real trooper,with much talent and known for her lithe long legs and eccentric high kicking,the latter seen briefly here towards the end of the picture.She does have a nice little musical spot though and she showed she could sing with the best of them.
Finally no 20th Century picture could ever be complete without an appearance by the incredible Nicholas Brothers dance team.The two terpsichorian terrors were just parachuted in whenever the producers of a picture felt that things needed spicing up;and what spicing! These two men perform the most jaw dropping dance routines,or should I say acrobatic turns,I have ever seen.Their standing flips and perilous looking splits never cease to amaze one when watching them.They gave new meaning to the words "show stoppers"!
With this new DVD release Fox has provided us with a wonderful print and transfer.The colours here are all crisp and very clean,with the contrast just right.Included is a photo gallery,audio commentary,the /95 A&E program "Betty Grable:Behind the Pin Up" and last but not least some 4 1/2"x6" Lobby cards from the movie.
All in all I recommend this fast paced,wonderfully acted and performed comedy/musical/romance to everyone.The plot involves race horses with Betty Grable falling in love with Don Ameche;a loosely based Romeo and Juliet story but with a much happier ending.But the plot is immaterial.What counts is the steller talents its' stars and supporting cast bring to the table;and what talent their is for ones eyes and ears to feast on.There is no better 88 minutes to spend than to spend it with this wonderful musical treat!
Movie Review: splashy musical delight!
Summary: 4 Stars
Alice Faye's loss was Betty Grable's gain when the resident female musical star at Fox took ill shortly before filming was due to start on DOWN ARGENTINE WAY. The unknown young chorus girl took on the lead role in Fox's lavish Technicolor treat, one of the most successful box office attractions in 1940, and cemented her position as the new face of Fox musicals.
Co-starring regular players of the period like Charlotte Greenwood, Don Ameche and Carmen Miranda (in her American film debut), the plot merely acts as an excuse for some of the most enjoyable musical sequences ever committed to film. Carmen Miranda performs "Bambu Bambu", "Mamãe Eu Quero", and "South American Way" (her numbers were actually filmed in New York where she was starring on Broadway in "The Streets of Paris").
Even in this earliest of American movie roles she's a complete joy, with her fractured English and infectious screen persona. Betty Grable proves herself admirably in her first starring role, singing and dancing with Don Ameche to "Two Dreams Met (Dos Sueños)". Technicolor bathes the 'exotic' locales in grand fashion--the film was primarily shot on the Fox backlot.
Betty Grable rocketed to fame following her breakout performance in DOWN ARGENTINE WAY. Alice Faye--with a young family--was beginning to wind down her career at this point, having earned raves for "Lillian Russell" in 1940, and with only a handful of films ("That Night in Rio", "The Great American Broadcast", "Week-End in Havana", "Hello, Frisco, Hello", "Four Jills in a Jeep", "The Gang's All Here") remaining on her Fox contract before she officially retired in 1944. It was Betty Grable's rapid rise to fame at Fox which largely caused her to walk away from the spotlight. Fox tried to groom the glamorous red-headed nightclub singer Vivian Blaine as a possible replacement for Faye, and starred her opposite Carmen Miranda in some musicals which replicated the typical Alice Faye plots (although most were in black-and-white), but she never quite clicked with audiences, who preferred Grable's Technicolor treats "Moon Over Miami", "Pin-Up Girl" and "The Dolly Sisters" over Ms Blaine's relatively obscure "Greenwich Village", "If I'm Lucky" and "Doll Face".
Splashy musical fun for the whole family.
Movie Review: An important though slight but very entertaining musical
Summary: 4 Stars
"Down Argentine way" was an important release in 1940 for 20th Century Fox. It created a number of firsts:
- it was the first of the studio's "exotic" technicolour musicals
- it launched Betty Grable to superstardom
- it launched Carmen Miranda's North American film career
- it was the first attempt, albeit an unsuccessful one, to tackle the Good Neighbour Policy between North and South America
- it was an attempt to open new markets with the outbreak of war and the loss of European distribution.
The film is the slight story of a family feud and horse breeding in Argentina, a loose adaption of "Kentucky", a Loretta Young film of 1938. What matters is the spectacular colour and the sheer entertainment values. Grable is bright and pretty. Don Ameche is suave in his best style. Charlotte Greenwood has some good comic lines. The Nicholas Brothers and Carmen Miranda are on hand to perform specialties. It is no wonder that Fox hit on a winning formula here. The film is superbly made and excellent light entertainment.
The DVD print preserves the bright technicolour which became a trademark for the Fox wartime Grable musical. The commentary included is strange. There are a lot of errors and the commentator diverts into a history lesson about Eva Peron but the information about why the film offended the Argentinians is interesting. Also there are a series of stills from the film set including one from the later film "Greenwich Village" - the same for one of the lobby cards. The trailers for Grables's films are not perfect either. The one for "The Dolly Sisters" is in black and white and looks very odd. It is a pity that Fox did not spend a little more time to correct so many of these irritating faults in the package. The only extra to come through unscathed is the excellent documentary on Grable from the Biography Series.