Moon Over Miami

• Director: Walter Lang
• AMG Rating:
• Genre: Musical
• Movie Type: Romantic Comedy, Musical Comedy
• Themes: Assumed Identities, Cons and Scams
• Main Cast: Don Ameche, Betty Grable, Robert Cummings, Charlotte Greenwood, Jack Haley
• Release Year: 1941
• Country: US
• Run Time: 91 minutes

Plot

The first of several remakes of 1938's Three Blind Mice, the Technicolor musical Moon Over Miami stars Betty Grable and Carole Landis as Kay and Susan Latimer, two Texas carhops who journey to Florida in search of a rich husband. The plan is to have Kay pose as a millionairess, while Barbara and the girls' Aunt Susan (Charlotte Greenwood) pretend to be Kay's domestic staff. The two most likely matrimonial candidates are Miami playboys Phil O'Neil (Don Ameche) and Jeffrey Bolton (Robert Cummings), but when Kay finds out Phil is broke, she reluctantly throws him over for Jeff. Happily, romance wins out over greed, and Kay is reunited with Phil-not that Jeff ends up empty-handed (guess who he gets?). The musical highlights include the hit tune "You Started Something" and an energetic dance specialty by the Condos Brothers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Review

With a war in Europe casting evermore threatening shadows, American movie audiences were happy to take a breather and watch Betty Grable and Carole Landis in Technicolor, probably the best way to escape both the global worries and the heat in that uneasy summer of 1941. A more sober modern viewer, however, may demand a little more of their entertainment than the spectacle of Landis removing her dowdy secretarial glasses to become, well, Carole Landis; and although Florida's Cypress Gardens never looked more breathtaking, the plot about a couple of blondes attempting to trap vacationing millionaires has been done better elsewhere. Happily, Moon Over Miami also features a couple of good songs by Leo Robin and Ralph Rainger, plus the comedy of Jack Haley and Charlotte Greenwood. The latter, especially, remains some kind of flexible marvel, all legs, arms, and wisecracks. Itself a musical version of Loretta Young's Three Blind Mice (1938), Moon Over Miami was remade as Three Little Girls in Blue (1946) with the equally flaxen-haired June Haver replacing Betty Grable. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Cast

• Don Ameche - Phil O'Neil
• Betty Grable - Kay Latimer
• Robert Cummings - Jeff Bolton
• Charlotte Greenwood - Aunt Susie Latimer
• Jack Haley - Jack O'Hara

Carole Landis - Barbara Latimer; Cobina Wright, Jr. - Connie Fentress; Lynne Roberts - Jennie May; Roberl Conway - Mr. Lester; George Lessey - William Bolton; The Condos Brothers - Themselves; Robert Greig - Brearley; Minor Watson - Reynolds; Fortunio Bonanova - Mr. Pretto; George Humbert - Drive-In Owner; Spencer Charters - Mailman; Mel Ruick - Band Leader; Leyland Hodgson - Victor the Waiter; Larry McGrath - Bartender; Hermes Pan - Specialty dancer

Credit

Richard Day - Art Director, Wiard Ihnen - Art Director, Hermes Pan - Choreography, Travis Banton - Costume Designer, Walter Lang - Director, Walter Thompson - Editor, Mack Gordon - Composer (Music Score), Alfred Newman - Composer (Music Score), Harry Warren - Composer (Music Score), Alfred Newman - Musical Direction/Supervision, Allen M. Davey - Cinematographer, J. Peverell Marley - Cinematographer, Leon Shamroy - Cinematographer, Harry Joe Brown - Producer, Thomas K. Little - Set Designer, Roger Heman - Sound/Sound Designer, Arthur VonKirbach - Sound/Sound Designer, Brown Holmes - Screenwriter, Vincent Lawrence - Screenwriter, George Seaton - Screenwriter, Lynn Starling - Screenwriter, Stephan Powys - Play Author

Similar Movies

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes; How to Marry a Millionaire; The Greeks Had a Word for Them; Three Blind Mice; Three Little Girls in Blue

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