Nancy Goes To Rio (1950)

An actress mother (Ann Sothern) and her teen-aged daughter (Jane Powell), who also wants to become an actress, become rivals both professionally and romantically when they compete for the same part and the same man (Barry Sullivan). It's not as serious as it sounds, MILDRED PIERCE it's not, it's an engaging piece of MGM musical fluff in bright three strip Technicolor with Powell trilling away and Carmen Miranda doing the samba in platform shoes and gaudy outfits. Powell overdoes the perky naivete but fortunately there's Sothern and Louis Calhern as her lecherous grandfather to temper the saccharine. The bulk of the humor comes from a misunderstanding when everyone mistakenly thinks Powell is an unwed mother and once that's all cleared up there's not much left. There is one lovely song, Magic Is The Moonlight, but the remaining musical numbers are undistinguished. Directed by Robert Z. Leonard (THE GREAT ZIEGFELD) and with Glenn Anders (LADY FROM SHANGHAI), Scotty Beckett, Hans Conreid and Fortunio Bonanova.