Change Your Image
jcochran-1
Reviews
Luxury Liner (1948)
Fine ex. of the genre known as the "Xavier Cugat Musical"
This movie is pap, but it's pleasant enough pap and offers some wonderful musical moments. The plot is a sit-com all about a girl (Jane Powell) who stows away on the luxury ocean liner her daddy (George Brent, in his second outing in a film with this title!) just happens to captain. Havoc ensues, of course -- the details are beside the point. The real point is that Xavier Cugat is on board with his orchestra -- and lots of surprise musical guests. Audiences in the 40s knew quite well what to expect from this sort of thing -- The Xavier Cugat/Jose Iturbi Musical -- lots of "Latin-style" fun, eye-dazzling Technicolor, and tunes galore. This one is no worse than any of them, and for a few reasons may actually be a bit better. Here's the really great thing about this pic: One of the musical "surprises" on the ship turns out to be operatic tenor Lauritz Melchior! Melchior's voice was one of the finest of his era, and his Wagnerian outing here ("Winter Storms," from Die Walküre) gives a hint of just what a pleasure he was in his prime. His performs duets with Powell from the Viennese repertoire, but she's no match for his power and finesse. Also, Marina Koshetz sings a FAAAAAABulous rendition of Cole Porter's "I've Got You Under My Skin."
All in all, worth the time it takes to watch.
Montana Moon (1930)
Pleasant Dish of Cornpone
High society gal Crawford falls for aw-shucks ranch-hand Brown in a somewhat predictable, but well-played, romance-cum-morality play. Crawford even sings a Broadway-flavored trail ballad, and while she is certainly no Jeanette Macdonald (one was enough!), she does a creditable job with the material she has to work with. She and Brown both play their roles to their respective hilts, and provide intriguing insights into America's pre-Code morals as depicted by Hollywood. Not to be missed: excellent comedy cameos by Cliff Edwards (later famed as the voice of Jiminy Cricket in Disney's animated classic "Pinocchio") and Benny Rubin (a teasingly fey Yiddish fella). Well worth a look-see!