Carnival in Costa Rica (1947)

Two pairs of lovers try to thwart an arranged marriage at Costa Rican fiesta time.

Director:

Gregory Ratoff

Writers:

Samuel Hoffenstein, John Larkin,

Stars:

Dick Haymes, Vera-Ellen, Cesar Romero

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Dick Haymes	...	Jeff Stephens
Vera-Ellen	...	Luisa Molina
Cesar Romero	...	Pepe Castro
Celeste Holm	...	Celeste
Anne Revere	...	Mama Elsa Molina
J. Carrol Naish	...	Papa Rico Molina
Pedro de Cordoba	...	Papa Castro
Barbara Whiting	...	Maria Molina
Nestor Paiva	...	Padre Rafael
Fritz Feld	...	Hotel Clerk
Tommy Ivo	...	Juan Molina
Mimi Aguglia	...	Mama Castro

Storyline

Pepe Castro and Luisa Molina return to Costa Rica from U.S. schools to find that their parents have arranged their marriage. Pepe has brought his new sweetheart Celeste with him from the USA, but can't get a word in edgewise with his father. Then Luisa meets American coffee buyer Jeff Stephens at the fiesta. Meanwhile, the obtuse parents continue to plan the wrong marriage...

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Taglines:

MAGNIFICO! TERRIFICO! (original print media ad - all caps)

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Genres:

Musical

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 May 1947 (Sweden)

Also Known As:

Karneval i Costa Rica

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

During Louisa's dream wedding sequence, her sister Maria disappears and then reappears from the background.

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Connections

Referenced in The Monkees: Monkees Marooned (1967)

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Soundtracks

"COSTA RICA"
Music by Ernesto Lecuona
Lyrics by Harry Ruby, Sunny Skylar, and Albert Stillman
Sung by chorus, Dick Haymes, Celeste Holm

User Reviews

Worth seeing because of the great dancer Leonide Massine.

I saw this movie in 1947 when it first was released. Mainly because I was a young dance student at that time and I wanted to see the great Leonide Massine, famous because of his discovery by Serge Diaghilev and the Ballet Russe. He replaced the great Vaslav Nijinsky. He appeared in this film during his latter years, but even so you can see what a great dancer he was.

Unfortunately, the producers of this film did not really understand or appreciate his fame and greatness, or give him proper credit. He could have been just another studio dancer. Vera Ellen had a hard time keeping up with him during their only dance sequence.

Interesting that Massine, who came from Moscow and was a Russian trained in the Russina ballet, became such a wonderful Spanish dancer.

This seems to have been his forte and shows well in this film. A pity that I was too young to ever have seen him on the stage. But his choreography is continually revived by ballet companies the world over.