Yolanda and the Thief (1945)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Vincente Minnelli

Writers:

Jacques Théry (story) and
Ludwig Bemelmans (story) ...

Release Date:

23 April 1946 (Sweden)

Genre:

Fantasy | Musical | Romance

Tagline:

M.G.M.'s magic musical in Technicolor

Plot:

Johnny Riggs, a con man on the lam, finds himself in a Latin-American country named Patria. There, he...

Plot Keywords:

Angel | Con Man | Guardian Angel | Fiesta | Harp

Cast

Fred Astaire	...	Johnny Parkson Riggs
Lucille Bremer	...	Yolanda
Frank Morgan	...	Victor Budlow Trout
Mildred Natwick	...	Aunt Amarilla
Mary Nash	...	Duenna
Leon Ames	...	Mr. Candle
Ludwig Stössel	...	School Teacher (as Ludwig Stossel)
Jane Green	...	Mother Superior
Remo Bufano	...	Puppeteer
Francis Pierlot	...	Padre
Leon Belasco	...	Taxi Driver
Gigi Perreau	...	Gigi (as Ghislaine Perreau)
Charles La Torre	...	Police Lieutenant
Michael Visaroff	...	Major Domo

Runtime:

108 min | Argentina:110 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:G | Argentina:Atp | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | USA:Approved (PCA #10928)

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Quotes:

Yolanda Aquaviva: Mr. Brown doesn't dance... except, perhaps, on the head of a pin.
Aunt Amarilla: Oh, I should like to see that.

Movie Connections:

Featured in That's Entertainment! III (1994)

Soundtrack:

Coffee Time

Astaire Down South America Way

Fred Astaire and Frank Morgan play a couple of con artists trying to strike it big in the make-believe South American country of Patria. Lucille Bremmer plays Yolanda Aquaviva, who has just come out of a convent school and is suddenly heir to a vast fortune. Overwhelmed by her new responsibilities in the world, Yolanda prays to the statue of an angel for guidance, a prayer which Johnny Riggs (Astaire) overhears. He then pretends to be her guardian angel in order to cheat her out of her fortune. But there are complications, mostly of the falling-in-love kind.

Yolanda and the Thief is a strange film, kind of a Catholic Technicolor fantasy, with very little dancing but lots of overly done (almost psychedelic) colors, and the obvious influence of Salvador Dali in one long dream sequence. Astaire and Morgan work well together, and Mildred Natwick provides some comic relief, but Lucille Bremmer's portrayal of the overly naive Yolanda makes for tough viewing. The "Coffee Time" dance scene has some energy and verve and is worth watching, despite- some absolutely terrible (beyond Kitsch!) costumes by Irene. But there's not much here for song-and-dance fans.

The film is interesting because of Astaire and because of all the strange elements going on: the gaudy colors, the Baroque sets, the supernatural Catholic themes, bits of Surrealism, the hyper-unreal view of South America. I'm sure some graduate students could have a field day with "Patria" and its representation of Latin American society. Even compared to typical Hollywood portrayals of South America at the time, it's rather unusual and almost hallucinatory. There are llamas to help create the right exotic mood. Can't go wrong with a llama in a movie.

And where was Carmen Miranda? She could have given this flick some zing.

Astaire made 29 musicals between 1933 and 1957. This is not one of the better ones. As he said in his autobiography (_Steps in Time_), "We all tried hard and thought we had something, but as it turned out, we didn't." No, they didn't. But if you're in the right mood (drugs?), it might be worth watching. Mostly for serious Astaire fans. And maybe devout Catholics who long for Technicolor.