Review of Brazil

Brazil (I) (1944)
6/10
Everyone Dance The Samba!
4 April 2024
Sometimes songwriter Virginia Bruce arrives in Brazil with a cloud hanging over her: she has written a best-selling book telling people that Latins are lousy lovers, and all of South America hates her. Nonetheless, she and Brazilian songwriter Tito Guizar hit it off, although for the purposes of the plot, he pretends to be twins with the same name. Stuff ensues with a lot of samba music.

To make sure this was a hit, Roy Roger shows up on tour and sings a song at the end. Edward Everett Horton is present also, although he seems grouchier than usual.

I'm sure director Joseph Santley was amused when he was told that Guizar was to play a Brasilian. Guizar was actually Mexican, but to the management at Republic, that must have counted as a difference without a distinction. Still, they refer to the local language as Portugese, and everyone says "obrigado" sooner or later. No one takes the story very seriously, and there are some nice production numbers under the choreography of Billy Daniel,. Nique to a wartime musical, there is no flag-waving finale. Although the country had been at war with Germany since 1942, the Brazilian flag would have confused the US audience.
0 out of 0 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Recently Viewed