Fun, silly, colourful 20th Century Fox musical which must have seemed just the thing after a hard day at the munition factory. It's set in Rio (well, Fox's Rio - a world of nightcubs and studio apartments) where entertainer Don Ameche is asked to impersonate a rich local (also played by Ameche) - much to the consternation of his girlfriend, Carmen Miranda, and the wife of the real guy, Alice Faye.
The three leads are in fine form, particularly Ameche, who is really the star (I had no idea he had such a good singing voice). Miranda makes a splashy impression, sings lots of songs and has a great old time, but doesn't drive the action. Alice Faye doesn't have much to do - she's passive for most of the running time, constantly playing catch up; she doesn't have many songs or much of a character, either: I got a strong sense of who Miranda was meant to be and the two Ameches, but not her.
The story also drags in the last third, with Ameche hopping from room to room. There's no real stakes in the impersonation because there's no baddie, or urgency; because Faye is married to the rich Ameche, she's not going to genuinely fall in love with the fake Ameche so there is no genuine emotion underpinning things. (It would have been better had Faye and real Ameche not been married and so she falls in love with fake Ameche). At the end the two couples who begin the film wind up with each other - and you're left thinking "so what"?
Still, plenty of colour and songs plus SZ Sakall, Leo Carillo and other character actors doing their thing. Maria Montez appears briefly.
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