Brazil (1944)

American writer “Nicky” (Virginia Bruce) arrives in Brazil on a fact-finding mission for her latest novel, only it's population of men are less than impressed with the assertions of her last critique on their manhood. Luckily, her ex-boyfriend “Rod” (Robert Livingston) is the local embassy official and so he offers to be her escort and show her the sights. First stop is a dancing establishment and some elegance from Veloz & Yolanda, but she wants to get her hands dirty. She intends to see the the real Brazilians in their own environment, so heads off to the travel agents and that’s where she meets the charming “Miguel” (Tito Guízar) who immediately takes a shine to her. He is a musician suffering from the most interminable mental constipation and thinking she is a sort of prettier version of Baedeker, offers to help her explore in the hope that she will at least revitalise his creative juices. He’d better hope so because his boss in coming in from the States expecting a completed number. With “Rod” still keen on her, “Miguel” (and/or his Portuguese speaking twin) falling for her too and now “Graham” (Richard Lane) demanding his song, the scene is set for a comedy romance that does have it’s moments, just not enough of them. It’s at it’s best when it focuses on the musical numbers. The remainder of the drama is all a bit dull and it probably didn’t help that I found Guizar’s thickly-accented crooning really quite hard on the ears. His “Rio de Janiero” maybe didn’t benefit so much from Ned Washington’s translation to English, but in any case it fell a bit flat as did most of the tunes bar the familiar and instantly recognisable refrain from the title. Bruce tries her best but there simply isn’t any chemistry between her and Guizar and I lost interest after the two-headed sibling made his brief appearance. It might have made for a decent distraction amidst the continuing War, but time has done it few favours.