Vincent Minnelli was coming off his success as director of the very popular musical "Meet me in St. Louis", of the previous year. Since then, he had directed some of numbers in the musical variety "Ziegfeld follies", which was a moderate success with audiences. His first musical: the all black "Cabin in the Sky", of 2 years previous, was also a critical and financial success. However, his luck would run out with present film and with the subsequent "The Pirate". In more recent times, "The Pirate" has risen in popularity. However, the same cannot be said of the present film. It remains much the least popular of his musicals, with a IMDB rating of 6.0. Does this mean that you should skip this film? Not necessarily.
In case you aren't familiar with Lucille Bremer, who plays the virtual princess : Yolanda, I will give you some background. She was a beautiful blue-eyed redhead, made for Technicolor, discovered by Arthur Freed, as a dancer in a nightclub. She was cast in 4 major MGM musicals from 1944-46. However, the present film is the only one where she was the leading lady in a non-variety musical. Actually, she had previously been paired with Fred Astaire in 2 dances in "Ziegfeld Follies", both directed by Minnelli. The one : "Limehouse Blues" is an example of Minelli's penchant for avant guarde dance productions(It's just plain bazaar!) One of the two dance productions in this film I would also classify as avant guarde, parts of it being weird. Fred doesn't cut any new ground in his dancing in this film. His dancing with Lucille was designed to emphasize her strengths, with lots of spins. However, they certainly, were a handsome dancing couple.
The film begins with a group of schoolboys singing the national anthem for the mythical South American country of Patria(Since llamas are plentiful and some women wear the traditional derby hats, we can assume that that Partria is located in the Peruvian or Bolivian Andes). The boy's singing is taken over by the girls of a nearby convent, where Yolanda: strangely much taller than the other girls, is graduating today, this being her 18th birthday. She is very nervous about her new role as the head of the vast Aquaviva financial empire, which owns practically every industry in this country worth owning. She looks to a guardian angel, represented by a statue in her courtyard, to guide her.
Incidentally, Patria, in Spanish, means fatherland or native country. It can also mean heaven, as the birthplace of all souls. Since the film emphasizes guardian angels, and the surroundings are heavenly, I think we can interpret its meaning either way. ............I should also mention that aquaviva, in Italian, means lively waters, or spring. And Yolanda, in Spanish, means violet or purple flower. Purple is generally regarded as the color of royalty. And since Yolanda is essentially a princess, that name fits.
Meanwhile, a pair of American con men : Johnny Riggs(Fred Astaire) and Victor Trout(Frank Morgan, of "The Wizard of Oz) are on a train to Patria, which has the advantage of not having an extradition treaty with the US. They read about Yolanda taking over administration of Aquaviva, and size her up as a sitting duck for exploitation. When they get to Yolanda's palace-like mansion, Fred overhears Yolanda praying to the angel statue. This gives him the idea of masquerading as the human form of this angel. Amazingly, he carries this off, gaining her confidence, so that she signs a paper giving him the power of attorney over her! More incredible, she opens the safe, and lets him gather all the securities, which he puts in his briefcase, ready to flee. Unfortunately, the briefcase is lost for a while. Until they see an American : Candle, carrying it, and claim it as their own, which they secure with a coin flip, and find all the securities still present. Based upon subsequent events, I'm sure the name Candle has symbolic significance as lighting the way in the darkness that Johnny and Victor soon find themselves in. .........Yolanda admits that she would be willing to marry Johnny if he weren't her guardian angel, which would be sacrilegious. Johnny agrees, and buys 2 train tickets out of the country. But, that's not the end of the story! However, I will stop my summary here, and let you discover the subsequent unexpected events.
The music composers were the very well established Harry Warren and Arthur Freed. The songs are mostly decent, although none would be regarded as 'keepers'. Lucille was known as a dancer, but not as a singer. Therefore, her singing was dubbed. Her 2 songs are : "Angel", which she sings while in a bubble bath, and "Will You Marry Me?" which is part of the first dance production, which, near the end, has her and Fred walking down the aisle, she in a wedding dress, with a tiara(mini-crown). Fred soon discovered that the whole dance production was a dream, he waking up in a sweat. I don't know why he would be afraid of marrying her, and thus legitimately becoming a rich man? But, as long as he claimed to be her guardian angel, he couldn't do that, and if he admitted that he actually was a thief, she wouldn't marry him either.......... Astaire only has one short song "Yolanda", which he sings while playing it on a harp. The other songs : the afore mentioned national anthem, "This Day for Love", and "Coffee Time", are all sung by various groups. Fred and Lucille dance to the last song, on a bizarrely decorated floor, with alternating black and white undulating stripes, giving a psychedelic feeling. Yep, that's Minnelli for you!
