Yolanda and the Thief (1945)

Vincente Minnelli's "Yolanda and the Thief" never fails to fascinate me; the Technicolor, extraordinary art direction, costume design, orchestration (unfortunately the Arthur Freed-Harry Warren songs are not up to the task) and the extraordinary photography of Charles Rosher are compelling and wonderful. In defense of Lucille Bremer, the role of Yolanda was probably an unplayable one and no matter how coached she couldn't quite pull it off. Could anybody have played this part? I don't think so. (Unfortunately it appears to have ended her career at MGM.) In the dream sequence, "Angel" and "Coffee Time" she is excellent; otherwise she struggles with the part and it shows. The more veteran performers - Astaire, Frank Morgan and Mildred Natwick shore up the enterprise. As with the equally baroque "The Pirate", "Yolanda and the Thief" pushed the limits of the film technology and audience sensibilities of the time and I think they were worth it thanks to Arthur Freed (producer) and Vincente Minnelli (director).

This film is vastly underrated. It is by no means the usual MGM Freed tune fest. But if you can happily suspend disbelief for a couple of hours and indulge all your fairy tale fantasies, watch this film. I saw it on a DVD made from an old VHS (recorded from TV I suspect). I hope someone will have the sense to release a remastered copy on DVD so modern audiences get the chance to forget about their cynical and worldly cares and wrap themselves up in the warm blanket of this Technicolour fantasy.I wonder if the reason this film is largely forgotten is because it does not easily fit into any category. OK it was made by the Freed unit at MGM, but it is not a typical musical. Think of it as a visual fairy tale for grown ups.

Canned magic from MGM and director Vincente Minnelli. Lushly-produced, if studio-bound musical about convent-school graduate who unknowingly inherits family fortune, and the con-artist who tries duping her out of it. Certainly an eyeful, "Yolanda" is tuneful and colorful yet aloof, never quite achieving its ambitions to be a romantic musical-comedy. The awkward prologue featuring South American schoolchildren gets the picture off to a clumsy start, although director Vincente Minnelli stages some beautiful production numbers. Fred Astaire and Lucille Bremer are not magnificent together, but they are charming, and their "Coffee Time" number is glorious. Mildred Natwick is hilarious as Bremer's batty aunt and there's a humdinger of a fiesta sequence. The colorful costumes are knockouts, but the film's finale seems truncated, tampered with (the plot threads are tied up off-screen). The cinematographer was Charles Rosher, whose beautiful colors evoke the best parts of "The Wizard Of Oz". Unfortunately for him and everyone else, the confines of the studio are in evidence throughout and one feels boxed in by the wall-to-wall whimsy. ** from ****

Fred Astaire established such a reputation as a "good guy" (i.e. "Daddy Longlegs"), it is a bit of a shock at first to see him playing a scoundrel. In "Yolanda and The Thief", Astaire (45) plays Johnny Riggs, a second rate con man. But he gets more than he bargained for in this light, formulaic romantic comedy with a nice twist at the end. I had not heard before of Lucille Bremer who plays Yolanda Aquaviva, just turning "of age" (probably 18 or 21, even though she was 28 here), and leaving the convent and orphanage run by the nuns, to travel to the fictitious Hispanic country where she was to assume oversight of her inheritance, land and a beautiful home with an old aunt and a full staff. As she was leaving the old Mother Superior gave her a talk, and warned of the "dishonest" people she might encounter. So sheltered and naive was Yolanda, she had a bit of trouble comprehending the idea of "dishonest" people. This movie came out in 1945, the year I was born. It was shot in color, and is very natural looking. Not a great movie, but a fun movie for fans of Astaire, and he does a couple of dance numbers with Bremer, who also was a gifted dancer and an adequate singer.The rest of my comments contain SPOILERS, BE WARNED. As Johnny and his sidekick Victor Trout (Frank Morgan, who earlier played the Wizard in Oz) were looking over a wall for an opportunity, he heard Yolanda praying in the garden to her guardian angel, for help managing the money and business of her estate. Johnny decided to play "Mr Brown", her guardian angel, meets her, she takes it all in, and agrees to sign papers to give Johnny power of attorney over all her wealth as her sign of trust in him. He and Victor plan to run away and cash out the $Million in bonds that they lifted from her residence, but keep running into Mr. Candle, who just won't get out of their way. Also, it seems that the custom in this small country is, signing over power of attorney is a sign that the two are getting married. As Johnny and Victor try to leave the country by train, Mr. Candle is there again. It turns out that Mr. Candle really is Yolanda's guardian angel, and insists that Johnny marry her, which he does, knowing that he had better treat her right, because Mr. Candle would always be watching!