Nancy Goes to Rio (1950)

Director:

Robert Z. Leonard

Writers:

Ralph Block (writer)
Jane Hall (writer)

Release Date:

10 March 1950 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical

Plot:

Mother and daughter (Sothern and Powell) compete over same singing role and, unbeknownst to each other, the same man. |

Plot Keywords:

Beautiful Woman | Remake | Character Name In Title | Actor Shares First Name With Character

Cast

Ann Sothern	...	Frances Elliott
Jane Powell	...	Nancy Barklay
Barry Sullivan	...	Paul Berten
Carmen Miranda	...	Marina Rodrigues
Louis Calhern	...	Gregory Elliott
Scotty Beckett	...	Scotty Sheridan
Fortunio Bonanova	...	Ricardo Domingos
Glenn Anders	...	Arthur Barrett
Nella Walker	...	Mrs. Harrison
Hans Conried	...	Alfredo
Frank Fontaine	...	The Masher
Bando da Lua	...	Themselves
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Pierre Watkin	...	Michael (unconfirmed)

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Canada:PG (Ontario) | Australia:G | Finland:S

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

In the marketplace, both MGM Records and Decca released versions of Carmen Miranda's pair of frolicsome movie songs, "Yipsee-I-O" (music and lyrics by Ray Gilbert) and "Ca-Room-Pa-Pa" (music and lyrics by Luiz Gonzaga, Humberto Teixeira and Gilbert). The MGM soundtrack album contained the prerecordings. For her last Decca session, Carmen was matched with The Andrews Sisters on each side of the single.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Nancy returns to her room after the shipboard dinner, it is late at night, but whenever we see the ocean behind her, it is bright day.

Movie Connections:

Featured in That's Entertainment! III (1994)

Soundtrack:

Ca-Boom Pa Pa

Pleasant and Enjoyable

Pleasant is a good word for this film. While not one of the top-five musicals, it is well made and enjoyable. Ann Sothern and Jane Powell play mother and daughter who fall for the same man while in South America (No location shoots here. The furthest south anybody working on this movie traveled was probably Long Beach). There are some interesting numbers here, in great part because some of the songs and styles included were rare by the time this movie was made. "Shine On Harvest Moon," an old song, is sung and danced by Sothern, Powell, and amazingly enough, Louis Calhern. "Time and Time Again" is a Nelson Eddy-Jeanette McDonald type number which features Sothern and is probably one of the last of that style to be filmed. The bulk of the musical numbers feature Jane Powell who sings well, as always. Yet, for me, the high point of the film is the number featuring Carmen Miranda. I think it's one of her best. This was Carmen Miranda's next-to-last film and also the last musical for Ann Sothern.