User reviews

MGM musicals may have been more extravagant, but 20th Century Fox musicals are the most fun. In "That Night in Rio," in order to save a business deal, a look-alike actor (Don Ameche) is hired to impersonate a baron (Don Ameche) who is out of town trying to raise money. The Baron is married to Cecilia (Alice Faye) but in name only; they go their separate ways. When the actor takes over, with Faye's knowledge, he is extremely attentive, to the consternation of his girlfriend (Carmen Miranda).

This is a cute story, nothing new about it, but it is done in an amusing way. At one point, the Baron returns from his trip early, and the two Barons are in a room at the same time. They keep switching back and forth while talking to a businessman. The businessman, convinced someone else is in the room after hearing noises behind a screen and seeing the screen move, decides to continue the conversation in French. The actor, of course, can't speak it, so has to say oui, oui throughout. It's very funny. Also, the businessman searches behind the screen - the actor walks from behind the screen and into the room while the Baron goes the opposite way meets the businessman behind the screen and says, "See?" indicating there is no one there.

The cast is the typical Fox musical cast - by 1941, Tyrone Power was no longer doing musicals, so it's Ameche, Faye, and Carmen Miranda. Miranda is very funny and outlandishly dressed as usual; Faye sings well and looks lovely, although she seems stuffed into a gold gown.

There is plenty of music - in fact, the whole beginning is one number after another. Miranda sings a couple of her standards: "I, Yi, Yi, Yi, Yi (I Like You Very Much)," and "Chica Chica Boom Chic." Ameche and Faye sing "Boa Noite" and "They Met in Rio" - and there are plenty of production numbers.

Wonderfully entertaining.

This one is one of Foxs' best of this type of musical. While the plot is totally implausible, it's still lots of fun with the beautiful Alice Faye and the funny Carmem Miranda doing her best Carmen Miranda. Don Ameche acquits himself well in a double role. Lavish production numbers in a night club that could never really fit or be done in even the biggest night club in the world, are nice to see. Since this is "fantasy" all works well here, even the inane plot line. A little risqué for it's day with Faye not sure who she has slept with. All comes out well in the end, which is no surprise in any of the Fox musicals. The DVD transfer here is great. If you enjoy this little confection, be sure to rent ON THE RIVIERA with Danny Kaye. It's a very close remake of this with some of the dialog exactly the same. Danny Kaye is brilliant in this one and I enjoyed it more than THAT NIGHT IN RIO, but both have their charms. See them both, back to back.

Poor Don Ameche must have felt like something of a doormat. In her first film Carmen Miranda stole the film from him and Betty Grable in Down Argentina Way. Now Ameche with new co-star Alice Faye got upended again by Miranda in That Night In Rio. Don Ameche if nothing else was a gentleman and one of the classiest men in Hollywood. He got his licks in That Night In Rio playing a dual role.

If this plot seems familiar it was previously done as Folies Bergere with Maurice Chevalier and afterward by Danny Kaye in On The Double. Ameche is a prominent Brazilian financier who is married to Alice Faye and something of a cold fish. He's also a visiting American entertainer who is going out with Carmen Miranda and as part of his act does a dead on impersonation of the financier with a little more pizazz.

Circumstances have Curt Bois and S.Z. Sakall come to the entertainer to have him impersonate the financier for 24 hours while the financier goes out of town for some really delicate business negotiations. The entertainer succeeds in arousing the sleeping woman in Faye and the sleeping tiger in Miranda with the impersonation. I think you can figure the rest out.

Harry Warren and Mack Gordon wrote the score, but the songs that Faye and Ameche sing are barely noticeable. But I Yi Yi Yi I Like You Very Much and Chica-Boom-Chic became a staple of Carmen Miranda's nightclub act for the rest of her life. And the way she sings them, hey no one else has ever even tried to do those numbers, you can't possibly imitate that style.

For Carmen Miranda fans who are still legion, the world over.

This is one of my absolute favorite Fox musicals, photographed in the studio's idiosyncratic garish Technicolor, featuring Carmen Miranda in her second American appearance; Alice Faye and Don Ameche in their last pairing. Ameche is in a double role: playing a Rio nightclub entertainer Larry Martin and a rich airline businessman Baron Duarte.

"That Night in Rio" starts explosively with Miranda's entertainingly flashy number "Chicka Chicka Boom Chick" in Rio. Then Carmen's boyfriend Martin enters while riding a car. After hordes of couples dance to Carmen's colorful spectacle, Baron Duarte and his wife Baroness (Alice Faye) arrive. Martin announces he is going to impersonate the Baron. In a musical number, he does it brilliantly. The Baron is very impressed and goes off to backstage to meet him and Carmen. While he is in backstage, Martin courts the Baroness and does another fine Duarte impression. But Martin doesn't know the Baron is in real financial trouble. A few days after that night in Rio, the Baron leaves for Buenos Aires. Martin is secretly hired by the Baron's associates to replace him, so his rivals in the airline business won't notice his absence. Martin not only replaces the Baron, he again courts and romances the Baroness. Many funny and ingenious complications follow.

"That Night in Rio" continues the trend started in "Down Argentine Way" - pleasant romancing in exotic Latin locales, galvanized by Technicolor and Carmen Miranda. Alice Faye was supposed to star "Down Argentine Way" but due to illness, the lead role went to Betty Grable. Now, Faye got her lead in "That Night in Rio". I don't think it is near "Hello, Frisco, Hello" (my favorite Faye musical) but there are a lot to enjoy in "That night In Rio".

Miranda especially is very funny. Her quarrels with Ameche, her Brazilian accent ("You is a low down, no good ham!"), and her dance numbers (particularly "Ay, yai, yai, yai, yai, I like you very much") are entertaining & rapturous.

The one thing that has stood the test of time for "That Night In Rio" is the great Technicolor - it is quite outstanding. The story has been done to death many times, but probably not much better than this, and the cast are a lot of fun - Carmen Miranda was really the Brazilian Bombshell as the ads said, and had the best lines, and the best songs of the time (pretty terrible to listen to now!), Don Ameche was a charmer and his "Boa Noite" was very good, while Alice Faye looked decidedly overweight, but it may have been caused by all the jewellery she had to wear!! The supporting cast were as usual excellent, with all the old stagers in it - a quick glimpse of Maria Montez came as a bit of a surprise. All in all , very light entertainment, but harmless.

Don Ameche is wonderful in this surprisingly fun dual role as both American entertainer and impersonator Larry Martin and the Latin Baron Manuel Duarte. As Larry he has a fiery sweetheart, his fellow entertainer Carmen (played by Carmen Miranda) whose English seems to disappear when her temper is in charge...which happens a lot as she is very jealous. As The Baron, he has a lovely but somewhat estranged wife the Baroness Cecilia Duarte.

This is a bit of a mad farce...but it's story, actors and romance really hold it together and in the end brought me pleasure and take this from a watch and delete to a fun must see. The story involves the Baron and his two business partners seeing Larry's impersonation of the Barron and coming up with the inspired idea to have him impersonate the Barron for real as he desperately tries to save his airline business. Inadvertently, Larry ends up providing more that one kind of help to the Barron and everything ends as it should.

This is a wonderful feel good movie that was a bit of a surprise to me. Initially, I wasn't sure that I was going to enjoy this film but the romantic storyline really won me over. I recommend this to all those romantics out there like me and to classic film fans this is a colorful and real look at a time period when Americans and Hollywood had an interest in the "exotic" or Latin. Oh! And did I mention it also has S. Z. Sakall?

As I read the synopsis of "That Night in Rio", I immediately realized it was the same plot as the Danny Kaye film "On the Riviera"--which I've already seen. And, originally (back in 1935) it was "Folies Bergère de Paris"--which I've also seen! Apparently, the studio REALLY liked the plot and all these were filmed within 15 years!

Carmen Miranda was an odd phenomenon of the 1940s. Seen today, I am sure many folks wonder HOW she got to be a big star with 20th Century-Fox. She was, like Disco, something that made sense at the time. Today, you wonder how this odd rubber-faced Brazilian lady with fruit salad on her head got to be one of the highest paid ladies at the studio! This isn't meant as an insult--I liked her in some films (especially "Copacabana"). But she is a totally odd and unique personality that I just don't quite understand--and I am sure I'm not alone on this one! Miss Miranda was in this film--which makes sense as it's set in Brazil--though her presence in other Latin American locales did seem a bit more difficult to believe (such as Argentina and Cuba).

Don Ameche is the star of this film--and he's supported by both Miranda and Alice Faye. He plays dual roles--that of a nightclub entertainer (Larry Martin) and the Baron Duarte. Larry is called to impersonate the Baron--and this creates two problems. First, he's falling in love with the Baron's wife (Faye) and his girlfriend (Miranda) has gotten wind of this. You have to just go with this and accept the cliché of the identical stranger that was VERY common in Hollywood films--because if you think about it too much it will make your head explode! Although the film is a remake, it does have a few things going for it. First, the color print is very nice and the film obviously had a rahter high budget--so it LOOKS good. Second, Don Ameche does a great job in both roles--with a credible accent and it was great seeing him switch from a South American to an American so quickly. But, regardless, it STILL is a remake--and the plot is very, very creaky! Worth seeing and enjoyable (probably a bit more so than the two other versions) but far from a must-see.

Don Ameche is an entertainer who is working in Rio with lover Carmen Miranda. Part of his act is an imitation of a well known financier/industrialist, also played by by Ameche. When the industrialist has to fly out of the country to deal with a problem with his air line, his assistants hire the entertainer to imitate the industrialist. Complications, as they say, ensue, especially with the industrialist's estranged wife, Alice Faye.

In other words, the usual nonsense. It's based on a play by Rudolph Lothar and Hans Adler. Darryl F. Zanuck had financed it, and he soon turned it into a movie, FOLIES BERGERES DE PARIS starring Maurice Chevalier. A decade after the second version, Fox remade it as ON THE RIVIERA with Danny Kaye. This version is filled with songs by Harry Warren and Mack Gordon. Director Irving Cummings avoided the usual Fox Sunlight Technicolor look for a darker palette. Everyone works at the top of their forms. The result is a fluffy, silly movie that always entertains without causing the audience to think of anything more than perhaps the Good Neighbor Policy. With S. Z. Sakall, Leonid Kinskey, J. Carroll Naish, and Curt Bois.

During a nice night out with his wife, Cecilia (Alice Faye), Baron Manuel Duarte (Don Ameche) watches a performance by entertainer, Larry Martin (also played by Don Ameche), who impersonates him...and he does it very well. Impressed by the performance, the baron goes backstage to meet the young actor. Little does the baron know that the actor chats with is wife. When the baron is missing for work, his associates hire Larry to impersonate the baron (and has no idea what he's doing either). And the rest is history.

A comical 1940's film this is, also starring the one and only Carmen Miranda, who plays Larry's hot-tempered girlfriend, Carmen, who of course is also a singer at the club where Larry performs.

What I love about the old films from the 1940's is the old fashion Hollywood glamour with the fancy dresses and evening gowns, etc., and not to mention, the fine jewelry the women wear (i.e. the baronesses anniversary gift from her husband). But it's a far cry from what you see today: Lack of long term kissing, sex, violence, and of course, swearing. Lots of music and ditsy characters.

I found "That Night In Rio" quite delightful when I watched it on AMC. It was bubbly with a lot of really lighthearted music and comedy, and sophisticated fashions worn by Carmen Miranda and Alice Faye. I got a kick out of Carmen's hot-tempered character, who kept on throwing her shoes at Larry when he made her angry. Not to mention, Don Ameche was a brilliant actor who could play two different characters quite well, and can compare each of them onscreen. :)

Good film...enjoyable for anyone who likes old movies! :)

Larry Martin (Don Ameche) and his girlfriend Carmen (Carmen Miranda) are performers at the Casino Samba in Rio de Janeiro. When Baron Manuel Duarte (Don Ameche) and his wife Baroness Cecilia Duarte (Alice Faye) arrives in the audience, Larry decides to put on an impersonation of the womanizing Baron. Situation arises where Larry impersonates the Baron for real.

This is a Technicolor musical. Don Ameche does fine duo acting. Alice Faye is being beautiful. The colors and the sets are gaudy Technicolor. Carmen Miranda basically steals the movie whenever she appears. Her exotic energy rises above this sitcom screwball musical comedy. This is perfectly fine.

"That Night in Rio" is a good comedy musical with Don Ameche as an American entertainer who is a look-alike for a prominent Brazilian. When he does an impersonation of Baron Manuel Duarte at the nightclub, he sets the stage for a later engagement when the baron's associates will require a stand-in while the baron is away.

That's the gist of this story, but much of the film is filled with song and dance numbers, with Alice Faye, Carmen Miranda, and Ameche singing. Miranda's numbers often include short but elaborate choreographed routines with several dancers in costume. The comedy occurs on two fronts, but there isn't much of it. The first is in the lover's feuding between Ameche's Larry Martin and Carmen. The second is in Ameche's substitute role as the baron, with Alice Faye, the Baroness Cecilia Duarte, and a business rival of the baron's, Machado (played by J. Carrol Naish).

This may be a familiar theme to movie buffs - it was in "Folies Bergere de Paris" of 1935 with Maurice Chevalier and Merle Oberon, "On the Riviera" of 1951 with Danny Kaye and Gene Tierney, and "Let's Make Love" of 1960 with Yves Montand and Marilyn Monroe. The plot is essentially identical for all of these films but the last. And, the original was the best one going into 1951 when "On the Riviera" was made. That is by far and away the best of all of these. It received two Academy Award nominations, and Danny Kaye won the best actor Golden Globe for his performance.

While this film can't hold a candle to either the 1935 or 1951 versions, it is entertaining. Those who especially like the beat and rhythm of South American music should enjoy this film. That overpowers the comedy and takes up much of the story.

Here's the best line in this film. Arthur Penna (S. Z. Sakall) is watching Larry Martin as he's impersonating the baron with the baron's wife, played by Alice Faye. Penna says to Felicio (played by Curt Bois), "It's hard to tell when he leaves off and she begins."

With the success of "Down Argentine Way', came 'That Night in Rio',a better film. Historically, the US is wooing our neighbors to the South, who found some elective affinity with Europe fascism--especially the Argentina of Peron and the Brazil of Vargas. So, Hollywood armed with all the soft power it could command and came up with the time honored conceit of mistaken identity: Don Ameche plays Baron Durate the very rich banker man about town, skirt chaser who neglects his wife (Alice Faye) and the night club headliner Larry Holmes who has a hot tempered girl friend (Carmen Miranda). The film's opening number 'Chica, Chaca Boom Chic' explodes in the opening scenes with the vivacious Miranda, her alluring green eyes, her exotic hats and bare midriff and undulating hips. It sets the zest and good fun of the film. Jealous, suspicious that her man was cheating on her, she breaks out into rapid fire Portuguese that adds spice to the dialogue and enlivens a heavy handed script. Those blue bedroom eyes of Faye is as effective in conveying sexuality and emotion. And of course Ameche is in top form as the fashionable socialite Duarte and the crooner Holmes. CZ Sakail and the standard gold digger Leonid Kinsky and the old imitator of perceived accents of Latins J. Carroll Nash are on hand for laughs and dirty tricks. And if 'Chica, Chica Boom Chic' does set the toe taping there 'I Yi Yi Yi (I like you very very much) to set the body swaying or Cai Cai and Faye's plaintive song Boa Noite 'good night'. Like 'Down Argentine Way', in our age of incessant war and dumb down political despair, 'That Night in Rio' is a good temporary breath of mirth and merry making.

As a lifelong fan of musicals, and who tries to find merit in even the lesser/worst ones, 'That Night in Rio' is a more than worthwhile one. No classic, hardly a stinker, instead very entertaining.

Its weak point is the story, which is not much of one and is more an excuse to string along the songs and production numbers together. When there is signs of a story, there is a constant recycled feel and plausibility is cast to the wind and thrown out the window. People always argue about whether one should see musicals for the story, there are numerous times where it doesn't but it does depend on how well done everything else is.

There is actually very little to dislike about 'That Night in Rio' and everything else is done very well indeed, and more, but with so much effort put into everything else it was a shame that the effort doesn't really translate in the story and it sticks out like a sore thumb. SZ Sakall and J Carroll Naish, while still good, deserved more to do in quite limited and clichéd roles, Sakall especially is very close to wasted.

However, 'That Night in Rio' looks great, with beautiful production values and costumes, luminous photography and lavish colour. The sets are obviously back lot-bound and the lack of evocative Rio locations to lust after is somewhat of a disappointment, the good news is that the sets are still very handsomely constructed, colourful and pleasing. The songs are lively, full of energy and truly lovely to listen to, "Boa Nite" is a beautiful romantic song but Carmen Miranda's exuberant and riotous "I, Yi, Yi, Yi, Yi (I Like You Very Much)" and "Chica Chica Boom Chic" stand out the most.

Script-wise, 'That Night in Rio' is witty and the romantic aspects are adorable and charming, always on the right side of charm and sweetness without laying it on too thick with the sugar and sentiment. The film never loses its energy thanks to the songs, production numbers and the cast, despite the story threatening to grind things to a halt which luckily it never quite does.

Don Ameche plays his two roles with dashing charm, elegance and witty bravado, and Alice Faye has energy and substance. Shining brightest is none other than "The Brazilian Bombshell" or "The Chiquita Banana Girl" (the one and only) Carmen Miranda, whose delightful presence is the bees knees and makes the jaw drop.

All in all, a very worthwhile night in Rio especially for Miranda. 8/10 Bethany Cox

To really appreciate this movie, you have to know what Carmen Miranda was up against. Constantly reduced to a stereotype, she nevertheless, fruit on her head, delivered irresistible tunes that made every American want to rush off to Brazil. "Chica Chica Boom Chic" opens the movie and Don Ameche and Alice Faye then take over as the leads as Baron and Baroness Duarte, Ameche playing a look-alike who adds to the silliness and allows him to sing a forgettable song to a fashion parade of beautiful women. The confusion that ensues gets sillier, but in the mean time listen to a couple more of Miranda's best songs, "I Yi, Yi, Yi, Yi I Like You Very Much" and "Cai-Cai." ---from Musicals on the Silver Screen, American Library Association, 2013

In this musical, Larry Martin (Don Ameche) entertains the audience with his skillful imitation of the emperor of the airline, Baron Manuel Duarte (also Ameche). When Duarte and his wife visit Larry during his performance, they are also impressed - so much so that they hired him to imitate Duarte in order to save his airline and repel his competition. However, Laria is attracted to Duarte's wife, Baroness Cecilia (Alice Faye), to the great sorrow and confusion of his girlfriend (Carmen Miranda).