Moon Over Miami (1941)

In the days before regular air travel, people didn't go to Disney World every year - or much of anywhere, unless they had a lot of money. Two weeks in the mountains or the nearby seashore was about it. That's one reason why movie "escapism" was once so popular, with the films of Betty Grable, Alice Faye, and Esther Williams often set in scenic or exotic locales. A picture like this was like a mini-vacation, with humor, music, and colorful locations, not to mention lovely fashions for the ladies in the audience to enjoy.The costumes here are by the great Travis Banton, late of Paramount Pictures and the man who clothed Dietrich, Lombard, Mae West, Sylvia Sidney and Claudette Colbert in many of those shimmery flicks of the 30's. He only worked at Fox for two years, by the way.If you listen to the music in this picture you may notice that it doesn't have a hot swing sound but more of the "sweet" swing flavor of such bands as Ozzie Nelson, or Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians. It seems to go with the millionaires-yachts-nightclubs atmosphere.The songs are good and all the cast performs them, including Bob Cummings, who didn't usually sing in pictures. "You Started Something" is a catchy little number and is repeated a few times to great effect. The dance number set to this tune, performed by Grable and a brother dance team is a highlight.Many of the Fox musicals were so light on plot that I find myself bored despite the musical numbers that interrupt the story often. What saves most of them is the humor. Down Argentine Way is a good comedy as well as a musical, for example. This one has some cute comedy but for my money there's a bit too much romance, of the sort that probably appealed most to the teenage girl fans. Anyhow it's well-produced, solid entertainment, with first class production values.

If the plot of Moon Over Miami sounds very familiar, it was a remake of Loretta Young's 1938 film Three Blind Mice, which was also remade as Three Little Girls in Blue in 1947. Then, in 1953, elements of Three Blind Mice and the Joan Blondell 1932 comedy The Greeks Had a Word for Them were combined for the Betty Grable and Marilyn Monroe film How to Marry a Millionaire. The film is pleasantly packaged, but the script is too clichéd. If you are content to be dazzled by Betty Grable's and Carole Landis' beauty, then you might find the film a pleasant way to spend an evening. Moon Over Miami is a rather weak movie musical, and, in most instances, the songs are not particularly memorable or plot relevant. It is merely escapist entertainment.

This is one of my favorite movies, with the singing and dancing of one of my favorites, Charlotte Greenwood, and the Nicholas Brothers, also favorites of mine. The story is light and fluffy, and that's why I like watching movies; I want to be entertained, not so much to think! It's a little zany with the bellman and the plot to snare a rich hubby, and the sister posing as the secretary really in love with the rich guy, and the sister who's supposed to marry the rich guy really loving the ne'er do well friend. This story has a happy ending, just the way I like it! cosie3

Fox believed in remakes and this one was used again in THREE LITTLE GIRLS IN BLUE and HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE--three girls in search of a millionaire husband. While the plot is a flimsy one, it does give Betty Grable fans a chance to glimpse her in a fluffy technicolor musical (with location photography in Florida), engaged in romantic shenanigans with two leading men (Don Ameche and Robert Cummings), and supported by pros like Jack Haley, Charlotte Greenwood, Carole Landis and Minor Watson.It's a typical Fox musical made to order for Grable fans and photographed in some scenic Florida locales serving as Miami. Robert Cummings and Don Ameche are impeccably clad and flashing the kind of smiles that belong in a toothpaste ad--thus serving as perfect foils for Betty's curvaceous blonde charms.Some of the specialty numbers are good--especially those by the Condo Brothers--and Betty herself gets to do a couple of sprightly tap dance routines. None of the music is memorable but it's easy to see why Grable was so popular at the box-office in escapist films of this nature at a time when war weary audiences craved this kind of entertainment at the start of World War II. Her modest talents are on full display here--and Ameche and Cummings show that they had a definite flair for this kind of romantic comedy--especially Cummings who was always better in lighter assignments as opposed to dramatic roles--contrary to what another commentator says.Carole Landis can do little with her role as Betty's sister (posing as her maid). She is very prettily photographed but walks through the role in an aloof manner that makes her almost invisible.