Down Argentine Way (1940)

 

Director: Irving Cummings

Screenplay: Darrell Ware and Karl Tunberg

Cast: Don Ameche as Ricardo Quintana; Betty Grable as Glenda Crawford; Charlotte Greenwood as Binnie Crawford; J. Carrol Naish as Casiano; Henry Stephenson as Don Diego Quintana; Kay Aldridge as Helen Carson; Leonid Kinskey as Tito Acuna; Chris-Pin Martin as Esteban; Robert Conway as Jimmy Blake; Gregory Gaye as Sebastian; Bobby Stone as Panchito; Charles Judels as Dr. Arturo Padilla

Ephemeral Waves 

Get in...you beautiful brat.

I had hoped this review would lead to something distinct to cover, as shot in Technicolor and made in the cusp of a new decade, this 20th Century Fox production original influenced by World War II. If Europe was no longer a viable place to sell their films to¹, then the studios looked to South America. It also has political notions beyond this, as this is connected to President Franklin D. Roosevelt's "Good Neighbour Policy" toward Latin America, with the concern of a growing German influence within the region leading to the United States finding ways to bring about a harmonious relationship between them. So we have American actors playing Argentineans (like Don Ameche), and the film a musical which plans to introduce Latin musicians and singers onto the screen.

We follow Ricardo (Don Ameche), a horse trader who, with a father who was once a famous breeder of race horses until he moved of show jumping, is sent to the United States. Selling horses over a pretty face, and five thousand and a Martini together, is a flaw of Ricardo's, leading him to encounter Glenda Crawford (Betty Grable). Glenda, becoming obsessed with him, goes to Argentina under the guise of wanting to acquire a real horse, but it is not helped she is a relative of someone his father hated as far back as college.

There is a promise for at least a light hearted piece of fluff at the get-go, and I will not hide this review stems as much, alongside wanting to see the film, from wishing to see anything from 20th Century Fox before the House of Mouse will probably bury them. It has promise of a romantic comedy, one with some very catty one-liners to add some appropriate use of salt to this cinematic.  

I came to this expecting stereotypes mind as well. No one in this film for the most part is actually Latin American or of Latin heritage, the one real exception being Chris-Pin Martin, who is of Mexican descent, and even in terms of hiring Latin American singers and dancers that could be of suspect as well. To their credit, they at least try in terms of things like lyrics not being in English, but the production is not exactly one with authenticity, so much in fact it was actually banned in Argentina due to its lack of cultural accuracy. Regardless of my final opinion or this fact though, there are many things to admire in terms of the music, finding highlights such as the Nicolas Brothers.  Fayard and Harold Nicholas, real African American brothers who made their name in their dancing, are a standout and it is great to know there is a lot of their work still out there to see, and even with their home movies preserved as historically important; looking almost like identical twins here (despite Fayard being older) their great synchronised dances in their few scenes were a stand-out.

This film's other distinct feature is the first appearance in a Hollywood film for Carmen Miranda, the legendary Brazilian dancer and singer whose cultural image, even over her work, has lasted for a considerable amount of time. Her work here does show something very enticing for me, though it is surprising how small her filmography was, due to how sadly short her life actually was. Contrary to the advertising however, which promotes her on the cover, she is in only one scene so that does dampen the experience a little.

It has its charm as a film. In another film, a character like Tito would be a stereotypical con artist. Here, able to be charming and able to be with clients happy to pay to see all the best music of Argentina, he can be a good con artist with his extensive family contacts, helped because actor Leonid Kinskey can make the character interesting. There is also the aunt of Glenda, played by a singer/dancer too, who says she is young and whose last birthday was "thirty one", or the chauffer who sleeps at the wheel of the car when un-required. There is enough here, in characters like this, to win you over with a playfulness.

What happens however is a film that is slight, suddenly turning into the premise of a nineties family film, which is not bad until it dwindles into a dull narrative rather than be a fun musical, about a horse being taught to race again against the will of Ricardo's father. This is where Down Argentine Way stopped being a promise for an enticing review but something exceptionally bland for me. The historical context is more fascinating. Betty Grable, as the lead, gained as a result of this film in terms of ongoing success as an actress, able to develop legacy with musicals alongside a legendary 1943 pin-up photo.  The fact this was meant to be a way of good neighbourly interaction with South America, ordained by the government, is inherently fascinating, especially as this idea of Hollywood trying to sale their films to other countries has been with us long before their interest with China in the 2010s. That includes all the complications to be found, this particular film completely failing in its goals even if it was included in the National Film Registry and nominated for three Oscars, for Best Cinematography, Best Original Song and for Best Art Direction. As for the film itself, maybe I was hoping for something else, better or deeply kitsch, but even with its revealed problematic ideas of Argentina it could have been something greater. Instead, it is not even vanilla for me, unfair to that ice cream flavour to ever use that metaphor, but eventually really average.

 

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1) And even then, it was not an immediate reduction of films being distributed to Nazi Germany but only until a later point, so it was not necessarily for noble reasons for most of the studios when they stopped.