Jane Powell is Judy, a teenager in Santa Barbara, California who can sing like a lark, but for some reason, hasn't been discovered by MGM yet. Elizabeth Taylor is her best friend, a beauty jealous of the fact that Judy croons like a garland of flowers while she sounds like a cat on a hot tin roof. Taylor, the daughter of the wealthiest man in town, is spoiled yet neglected emotionally by her widowed father (Leon Ames, the dad in "Meet Me in St. Louis" starring another Judy), while Powell's pop, Wallace Beery, is a hands-on dad whom Taylor adores.
Powell wants to make sure that it remains "hands off" for rumba teacher Carmen Miranda and Beery who wants to surprise his wife Selena Royle by learning how to rumba for their anniversary. The two gal pals vie for the affections of the college aged Robert Stack (who was college aged nine years before when he gave Deanna Durbin her first screen kiss). Powell is also courted by Powell's more appropriately aged brother (Scotty Beckett) although their comical duet "Strictly on the Corny Side" is far from romantic. Powell takes on Kathryn Grayson's "The Kissing Bandit" aria "Love is Where You Find It", while Miranda's "Quanto Me Gusta" is a camp classic. Several renditions of "A Most Unusual Day" are heard throughout the film, which is probably the least heavy handed of Joseph Pasternak's MGM musicals. Everybody gets a chance to stand out, and the visual of hefty Beery doing a rumba with sultry Miranda is comical in itself. Miranda's hat made out of cocktail umbrellas may be small when compared to her "Lady With the Tootie Fruity Hat" chapot, but sometimes the best camp only has a few tents!
Powell wants to make sure that it remains "hands off" for rumba teacher Carmen Miranda and Beery who wants to surprise his wife Selena Royle by learning how to rumba for their anniversary. The two gal pals vie for the affections of the college aged Robert Stack (who was college aged nine years before when he gave Deanna Durbin her first screen kiss). Powell is also courted by Powell's more appropriately aged brother (Scotty Beckett) although their comical duet "Strictly on the Corny Side" is far from romantic. Powell takes on Kathryn Grayson's "The Kissing Bandit" aria "Love is Where You Find It", while Miranda's "Quanto Me Gusta" is a camp classic. Several renditions of "A Most Unusual Day" are heard throughout the film, which is probably the least heavy handed of Joseph Pasternak's MGM musicals. Everybody gets a chance to stand out, and the visual of hefty Beery doing a rumba with sultry Miranda is comical in itself. Miranda's hat made out of cocktail umbrellas may be small when compared to her "Lady With the Tootie Fruity Hat" chapot, but sometimes the best camp only has a few tents!