Customer Reviews

Nancy Goes to Rio [VHS]

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This glittering musical is highlighted by dynamic performances. The Barklays are a three-generation musical theatre family--grandpa (Louis Calhern), his daughter (Ann Southern) and his granddaughter, Nancy.(Jane Powell)

After closing her current musical hit, Ann Southern decides to travel to Rio with grandpa to study for her new play set in Brazil. Nancy remains behind to fulfill committments in summer theatre activities. Ann's producer has promised to see Nancy in her summer stock production and he is so pleased with her performance that he decides to use her in the part he had planned for her mother. Thrilled and dazed, Nancy decides to take a cruise to Rio to join her mother, unaware that she was offered the part first.

Matters are further complicated on the cruise when Carmen Miranda mistakes Nancy for being in a family way and she asks her boss, Barry Sullivan, to take Nancy under his wing. Nancy mistakes his attention as romantic and falls head over heals for him--a fate shared later by her mother when they arrive in Rio. Riotous un-doings add to the delight of the film as mother and daughter vie for the same part and the same man.

The musical numbers are dazzling. Ann Southern leads out with the beautiful TIME AND TIME AGAIN. The Barklays join forces for a heartwarming SHINE ON HARVEST MOON. Miss Miranda gives us a rousing YIPSEE-I-O and CA-ROOM! PA-PA. Jane Powell sparkles in some of her finest screen work in MAGIC IS THE MOONLIGHT, the lovely MUSETTA'S WALTZ and the sensational finale LOVE IS LIKE THIS.

Highly recommended for an evening of fun and really good music.

The basic plot centers around the daughter (Jane Powell) going to Rio for a job and her mother, Ann Southern (who looks and behaves more like her sister), trying to thwart a "masher" whom she thinks is after her daughter. Carmen Miranda provies some wonderful scenes in her second of only two MGM movies. Watch for the umbrella number! It's simple over-the-top lavishness and downright craziness is what made her the highest-paid female star of the 40's! Basically, the movie is enjoyable, but the plot (and the scenery--the backdrop of Rio from the hotel room is hilarious to look at) are rather contrived, even for a musical.

The costumes and scenery are so brilliant and colorful in this film. It's a very entertaining musical. Jane Powell and Anne Southern are cast perfectly as mother daughter in it. It's feast for the eys to see.

A colour remake of "It's a Date", NANCY GOES TO RIO (1950) is a relatively minor entry in Jane Powell's cycle of sunny MGM musicals, but I've always found it to be a particular delight. Just like so many of her roles, Powell plays a young woman with showbiz dreams and a special knack for romantic complications.

Aching to follow her mother, legendary Broadway star Frances Elliott (Ann Sothern) in the "family business", Nancy Barklay (Powell) unexpectedly lands the lead role in a new musical that her mother is also considering. Sworn to secrecy, Nancy boards a cruiseliner to Rio to join her mother at their holiday house, but also to squeeze in some early preparation for her role. Complications arise when fellow passenger Paul Berton (Barry Sullivan) overhears Nancy reciting the part of an abandoned young wife and expectant mother...and believes the act! The plot spirals into high farce when Nancy assumes that Paul has proposed...but when he meets Nan's mother shortly after docking in Rio, promptly falls in love with HER!

Co-starring Carmen Miranda, Louis Calhern and Scotty Beckett, NANCY GOES TO RIO serves up much of the same fun and cast dynamics as Powell's earlier delight, "A Date with Judy". Powell is once again paired with Beckett as her ungainly but devoted boyfriend, and Carmen Miranda flashes across the screen with two colourful musical numbers. Ann Sothern charms as Powell's mother; looking every inch the glamorous Broadway diva in her Helen Rose costumes. Songs include "Shine On Harvest Moon", "Magic is the Moonlight", "Time and Time Again", "Yipsee-I-O", "Baião (Ca-Room' Pa Pa)", "Love Is Like This", "Embraceable You", "Musetta's Waltz", and "Nancy's Goin' to Rio".

Ann Sothern (Fame As Maisie Raiver In The Maisie Series) And Jane Powell(LAter In Time 7 Brides For 7 Brothers Fame), To Me, Are About Two Of The Sexiest Females In Hollywood Around This Era! I Found Out About This Film On The Web, And Told One Of My Girlfriends About It, And She Bought It For Me! I Fell In Love With Jane's Should Be Famous, Sassy Number, "Nancy Goes To Rio". The SASS To This Is "Keep Those Latins Guessin'" And "A Brazillian Millionaire!"
How Rude! Barry Sullivan Is The Man That Not Only Saves Nancy (Jane) From A "Masher", But Also Falls In Love With Her Mother Frances, And proposes marriage to her. Carmen Miranda Is Great As The One That Spices The Film's Dull Plot Up. Louis Calhern Is NAncy's Skirt-Chasin Grandpa. All In All, This Is A ALL_STAR SEXY FILM WITH ALL STARS!

Ann Sothern and Jane Powell had done a good job. They are good partners and singers!

i liked this flick a lot. i'm sorry for not doing the kids review. but all in all, it was good. i'm about to cry cuz i regret it