Moviecut—Down Argentine Way

source: Down Argentine Way

Down Argentine Way

Having heard about this iconic movie for years, I finally watched this just now with Mom. We both enjoyed the music numbers and many of the acting performances though the story was pretty silly for what it was. Still, it made Betty Grable a star after years of struggling in the movies starting from when a teen perhaps because of her stunning beauty as well as her adequate singing and dancing skills. Don Ameche made a fine leading man, Charlotte Greenwood and Leonid Kinskey were amusing for support, and the Nicholas Brothers tap dances up a storm during their numbers. But perhaps the highlight of the movie was Carmen Miranda, here in her American film debut, due to her costumes, her dances, and especially her fast-singing patter in her native language. It made her quite a force in her period she was working for 20th Century-Fox during this time, that's for sure! So on that note, Down Argentine Way is slight entertainment made memorable by Betty Grable and Carmen Miranda.

Ricardo Quintana (Don Ameche) is the son of a successful racehorse owner in Argentina. His father is sending their horses on a tour of New York when he gets a telegram from Binnie Crawford. She wants to buy his horses and he grows angry. He pulls the horses off the ship, but Ricardo is able to get him to reconsider. Ricardo promises his father to never sell the horses to that woman. Glenda Crawford (Betty Grable) is excited for Ricardo's winning horse and buys her. He's smitten, but then he finds out that she's Binnie's niece. The main story and the main characters are almost secondary in importance. This introduced Carmen Miranda to most Americans. The movie has plenty of traditional South American song and dance. That's its main strength. There's nothing wrong with Ameche and Grable. They are a fine pairing.

I thought this film, Betty Grable's first big star part, was surprisingly flat, probably because there wasn't enough tension between her and Don Ameche before the inevitable happy ending. Betty looks great in a couple of her costumes but it's clear that no one realized her talents as a comedienne yet and so she doesn't get to act out as she would in subsequent films. If you want to see Grable and Ameche together, go with "Moon Over Miami" first. Also, it's Carmen Miranda's first U.S. picture, but she just performs two songs and doesn't interact with any of the other stars. Her hat isn't even very big!

The plot is slight- but it doesn't really matter. Don Ameche is charming, the songs, for the most part, are fun, and Carmen Miranda steals the film from Betty Grable. Certainly a lesser musical- but fun for fans of the genre.

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!

... 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.

The singing and dancing are great. The plot is weak here with Argentinian, Don Ameche, with an authentic Spanish accent, romances Bette Grable. For some foolish reason, Ameche's father, an engaging Henry Stephenson, has it in for the Crawford family for an incident that took place long ago between him and Grable's father. Charlotte Greenwood portrays Grable's aunt to perfection. The only thing she will admit to is being 31. She really kicks up her heels as does the rest of the cast. Carmen Miranda portrays herself briefly in two dancing scenes. We can really say that she is wasted here. There is another gem of a performance by J. Carrol Naish, as a Spanish worker for Stephenson.