There is "Magic in the Moonlight", as Ann Sothern and Jane Powell cast as mother and daughter is ingenious casting, just as Kay Francis and Deanna Durbin had been in the original version of this film, "It's a Date". Of course, the younger girl gets more focus here as far as story is concerned, and here, Nancy is a 17 year old drama student dying to follow in her mother's footsteps to become a musical star. Sothern starts off the film onstage in an extremely old fashioned operetta (very dated by 1950 standards) while Powell's finale is elaborate and seems a bit more up to date with its glamorous blue sets, bridges and beautiful fake trees sparkling onstage. They are both in love with the same man (Barry Sullivan) who believes that Powell is an unwed 19 year old expecting a baby. Of course, the complications are resolved in between musical numbers performed by Powell and the colorful Carmen Miranda, whose sole purpose here is to be Powell's confidante and flirt with Sothern's dashing widowed father (Louis Calhern).
Miranda has one number wearing a hat made entirely out of cocktail umbrellas, and another where she deals with an obnoxious drunk. Powell and Scotty Beckett lead a chorus of youngsters in the title song which includes some silly rhymes but features a wonderful rhythm. "Magic in the Moonlight" (heard earlier sung in Spanish in "Bathing Beauty") is a sweet melody, first sung by Powell on stage, and later reprised as a duet with mama Sothern. Calhern gets to dance a bit, doing a neat little soft shoe as Powell and Sothern sing "Shine on Harvest Moon".
While inconsequential as far as the MGM musicals go, it is colorful and diverting, and at times quite amusing. But it's nothing you haven't seen before, and basically harmless fun. It's most alive when the gorgeous ladies get to sing, nodding off a bit with the romantic plot which sometimes seems to be an afterthought around which the screenplay was written.
Miranda has one number wearing a hat made entirely out of cocktail umbrellas, and another where she deals with an obnoxious drunk. Powell and Scotty Beckett lead a chorus of youngsters in the title song which includes some silly rhymes but features a wonderful rhythm. "Magic in the Moonlight" (heard earlier sung in Spanish in "Bathing Beauty") is a sweet melody, first sung by Powell on stage, and later reprised as a duet with mama Sothern. Calhern gets to dance a bit, doing a neat little soft shoe as Powell and Sothern sing "Shine on Harvest Moon".
While inconsequential as far as the MGM musicals go, it is colorful and diverting, and at times quite amusing. But it's nothing you haven't seen before, and basically harmless fun. It's most alive when the gorgeous ladies get to sing, nodding off a bit with the romantic plot which sometimes seems to be an afterthought around which the screenplay was written.