JLRMovieReviews There are high notes aplenty in this Jane Powell musical comedy that concerns her trying to plan her own birthday party with Jose Iturbi and Xavier Cugat for entertainment. The film is a little on the long side, but for the most part it keeps your interest with father Walter Pidgeon finding Jane's mother, Ilona Massey, again. Roddy MacDowall costars and I have always liked him, but somehow he comes across as too sad for this upbeat little film. He was in "How Green was My Valley" with Walter Pidgeon and there his countenance worked to the film's advantage and fit in with the character of the workers' hard life in the country. But here Roddy comes across as too British and/or out of place. I would say more, but I would feel like I'm being indelicate, and I've pretty much said my point as succinctly and tactfully as I could. The music of the film is first rate and will appeal to those liking the entertainers. Carmen Miranda is always great! Just forget your troubles and enjoy a holiday in Mexico.

w22nuschler This is story of Walter Pidgeon the father, Jane Powell the daughter, and Roddy Mcdowall the boy after Jane. I love all three actors, but something is missing from this film. All three players take a Holiday in Mexico. Roddy Mcdowall is excellent and steals the film. He loves Jane Powell, but Jane is more interested in Jose Iturbi. Walter Pidgeon finds an old love from his past which causes Jane to be jealous. Every scene Roddy has is a delight, but many of the other scenes drag on too long. Walter and Jose talk about her crush and work out a plan to cure her crush. Walter has a real good scene with Jane in the end to help her get over her embarrassment for loving such an older man.

rberrong-1 This is basically a bad movie, one in which the sum of the parts is definitely less than the parts themselves. It throws together without ever fusing them into one coherent whole 1) José Iturbi, who plays a Hollywood version of Rachmaninoff's Second Concerto for piano and Chopin's Military Polonaise, 2) Xavier Cougat and his orchestra doing what they did, 3) Ilona Massey being very beautiful and singing into the bargain, and 4) Jane Powell. Powell evidently couldn't act - though this script doesn't really provide any opportunity to do so - but she could sing light classical music, and in this movie she was given music to sing that really showed off her voice (Bizet's Les filles de Cadiz, Herbert's Italian Street Song, etc.). It serves as something of an explanation of what went wrong subsequently, when MGM and then RKO put Powell into movies where she was asked to sing the popular music of the era. She never sounded particularly at ease with the popular music, and never did a particularly good job of singing it. Since she wasn't an actress, when what she was singing wasn't interesting, there was nothing to attract audiences. But this movie shows that, had Hollywood continued to give her music appropriate to her voice, her later movies might not have been so forgettable. As it is, this movie is like a vaudeville show: it presents a series of well-done musical numbers connected, feebly, by a script that is best forgotten. If you like Iturbi, or Massey, or Powell, you'll like their numbers. (Did anyone really like Xavier Cougat?) You can go make popcorn during the rest of it and not miss anything.

monkeyface_si If you have an hour and a half to kill and enjoy Jane Powell's singing and Walter Pidgeon's dashing good looks, this beats the heck out of watching this week's third installment of Dateline NBC. Seriously, the music is very good, the comedy is fast, and the sweetness is easy to take. Totally forgettable fluff, but an enjoyable way to pass time.