Themes: Actor's Life, Mothers and Daughters, Love Triangles
Main Cast: Jane Powell, Ann Sothern, Barry Sullivan, Carmen Miranda, Louis Calhern
Release Year: 1950
Country: US
Run Time: 99 minutes
Plot
Ann Sothern closed out her MGM contract with the Technicolor musical Nancy Goes to Rio. As Frances Elliot, Sothern is billed second to Jane Powell, who plays Nancy Barklay. A popular Broadway star, Frances heads to Rio for R&R before starting her next production. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Frances, her daughter Nancy is hired to appear in her mother's starring vehicle. This would seem to be enough to sustain a plot, but the screenwriters contrive to have Frances mistakenly believe that Nancy is about to become an out-of-wedlock mother. In addition, both ladies vie for the romantic attentions of leading man Paul Berten (Barry Sullivan). Also appearing is Carmen Miranda, just to remind us that the film takes place in Brazil. Producer Joe Pasternak handles the material with the same tastefulness that he'd applied to his Deanna Durbin pictures at Universal: in fact, Nancy Goes to Rio is a remake of Durbin's 1940 vehicle It's a Date. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Nancy Goes to Rio is a musical so slight that five minutes after one has watched it, it's hard to remember anything about it. The plot is hokey and contrived, and character development is left more to the costume designer than to any of the screenwriters. The title aside, don't expect any gorgeous location shooting -- the film rarely gets any closer to Rio than South Burbank. Still, Nancy is pleasant if silly, and it's helped by a cast that doesn't seem too concerned that the script they are working from is not exactly Shakespeare. Ann Sothern has a definite way with a wisecrack and a song, doing especially well with "Time and Time Again." Both Jane Powell's trills and her perky demeanor are an acquired taste, but they're appropriate for the character, and she's quite good in "Love is Like This" and "Magic is the Moonlight." Carmen Miranda doesn't have either the material or the staging to make her appearance here a career highlight, but she's entertaining as always. Powell would do better the next year with Royal Wedding. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
This film features some delightful numbers by the "Brazilian bombshell", Carmen Miranda. Despite the title and some colorful second unit footage, the film was filmed mostly on MGM's soundstages. The production makes use of lavish, elegant "New Look" gowns and colorful sets, typical of the top-notch MGM standards.
This was the final film of Ann Sothern's MGM contract; she soon became popular on a series of television situation comedies. It has been regularly featured on Turner Classic Movies and has been released on home video.
Plot
This has mother and daughter (Sothern and Powell) competing over the same singing role and, unbeknownst to each other, the same man (Sullivan).
The Silent Command •Heritage •Judge Not; or The Woman of Mona Diggings •Secret Love •The Crippled Hand •The Love Girl •Little Eve Edgarton •The Plow Girl •The Eagle's Wing (with Rufus Steele) •On Record •A Mormon Maid •The Primrose Ring •At First Sight •Princess Virtue •Face Value •The Bride's Awakening •Her Body in Bond •Modern Love •Danger, Go Slow •The Scarlet Shadow •The Delicious Little Devil •What Am I Bid? •Big Little Person •The Way of a Woman •The Miracle of Love
