He Loved an Actress (II) (1938)
5/10
Introducing Lupe as "Cattle Queen of South America"
17 September 2014
Warning: Spoilers
American stars go British in this light-hearted musical comedy that is barely mentioned in the history of musical films, mainly because it wasn't American, even though most of its cast was. What comes off as looking cheap because most prints aren't restored is actually pretty lavish as far as the sets, costumes and musical numbers go. One musical number is set aboard a rocket ship where a bunch of earthly sophisticates discover chorus girls singing and dancing on a star. It reminded me of the zanier musical numbers of the early days of sound film, particularly the wacky costume ball aboard a zeppelin number from "Madam Satan".

The slim story focuses on Velez's attempt to fool the public into thinking she's the heiress to a cattle ranch and her involvement in a movie producer's attempts to raise money for his next film. It's all light-hearted and innocuous, but once those big musical numbers come on, it becomes absolutely amazing to watch. Velez comes off at first a bit more gentle than her usual "Mexican Spitfire" character, but has a few explosive moments that are quite funny. She also proves herself to be a very talented dancer, something she did a few times in those RKO programmers which soon followed this brief foray into British cinema. The rest of the cast (with the exception of silent comic Harry Langdon in a small role) is pretty forgettable when matched up against her.
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