Masquerade in Mexico (1945)

An American singer stranded in Mexico is hired by a banker to distract a Mexican matador who is making a play for the banker's wife. They hatch a scheme whereby she pretends to be a Spanish countess.

Director:

Mitchell Leisen

Writers:

Karl Tunberg (screenplay), Edwin Justus Mayer (based on a story by),

Stars:

Dorothy Lamour, Arturo de Córdova, Patric Knowles

Cast

Cast overview:
Dorothy Lamour	...	Angel O'Reilly
Arturo de Córdova	...	Manolo Segovia
Patric Knowles	...	Thomas Grant
Ann Dvorak	...	Helen Grant
George Rigaud	...	Boris Cassall
Natalie Schafer	...	Irene Denny
Mikhail Rasumny	...	Paolo
Billy Daniel	...	Rico Fenway
The Guadalajara Trio	...	Spanish Singing Trio

Storyline

An American singer stranded in Mexico is hired by a banker to distract a Mexican matador who is making a play for the banker's wife. They hatch a scheme whereby she pretends to be a Spanish countess.

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Plot Keywords:

mexico | singer | remake

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 December 1945 (USA)

Also Known As:

Fantasia Mexicana

Filming Locations:

Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

One of over 700 Paramount Productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since.

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Connections

Remake of Midnight (1939)

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Soundtracks

"Adios Mariquita linda (Adios and Farewell My Lover)"
(uncredited)
Written by Marcos A. Jiménez
English Lyrics by Bernie Wayne

User Reviews

Limp forties Paramount comedy looks like a schedule filling exercise.

The decline in the output of Mitchell Liesen who was once the sharpest director of the Paramount house style comedies at their peak - "Midnight," "Easy Living" "Take a Letter Darling" - overwhelms this mid forties effort in which the mangled remains of the script for "Midnight" can be glimpsed.

Fanciful theories have been advanced for the fall from grace of Preston Sturges who got the recognition that should have been spread over the whole Paramount dialogue comedy cycle, but the truth is that, by the end of WW2, Hollywood had lost the feel for these fluffy entertainments. The work of Sturges, Leisen, Elliot Nugent and (better) George Marshall all faltered and changed direction.

"Masquerade in Mexico" reveals Leisen as the heaviest casualty with a leaden comedy which could as easily have featured any of the contract talent and remained the same picture - Betty Hutton and Brian Donlevy? Lamour is glamorously got up but no one seems to have any confidence in her, playing plot dialogue over her songs and keeping tha camera at a distance which shows off the decor and Edith Head costumes rather than performance.

Hard sledding this one.