User reviews

If you have an hour and a half to kill and enjoy Jane Powell's singing and Walter Pidgeon's dashing good looks, this beats the heck out of watching this week's third installment of Dateline NBC. Seriously, the music is very good, the comedy is fast, and the sweetness is easy to take. Totally forgettable fluff, but an enjoyable way to pass time.

I'm a bit late to this discussion, but the reviewer who kept harping on Powell not being an actress makes no sense. She carries herself quite well; of course she can act. Geez--she's charming and handles the role well. Someone who can't act would come across as a clueless amateur. Powell did just fine here and elsewhere. Look at SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS.

Oh yeah, and ROYAL WEDDING. Powell did well opposite many a Hollywood star.

Anyway, even though this movie is hardly among the classics, it's a fine showcase for Powell.

'Holiday in Mexico' may not be a great film, but it is good at what it set out to do, doesn't try to be any more than it is and knows exactly what it wants to be.

Its weak link is the thin and insipid story, the first half being almost plot less, which also suffers from draggy pacing that is especially uninteresting in the scenes between Roddy McDowell and Jane Powell that dominate too much of the second half. The overlong length, not unusual in George Sidney's 1940s films. McDowell has an annoying caricature character, and not only does he do little with it but he does grate somewhat.

There is so much to enjoy about 'Holiday in Mexico' on the other hand. Even with not much authentic Mexico in sight, being on the most part more Culver City soundstage than Mexico, it is a lovely looking film, being beautifully shot in rich colour and handsomely produced. The music is similarly great, with a mix of pleasant songs and the divine piano music of Chopin and Rachmaninov masterfully played by Jose Iturbi, in every film he appeared in his piano playing was some of the finest on film.

Scripting is not exceptional, but sweet and amusing and nowhere near as trite as the story. The bittersweet romance between Ilona Massey and Walter Pidgeon has been criticised, to me it had a lot of affecting charm. Other great things are the knockout piano choreography and the clever animated title sequence, courtesy of Hanna-Barbera, that is the most evocative of Mexico that 'Holiday in Mexico' gets.

Powell is very charming and sings beautifully, and while Massey is not as natural an actress she is still likable enough. Iturbi and Xavier Cugat add enormously to the film and Pidgeon is similarly likable. Sidney directs with competence.

All in all, lots of fun and charm though not without its flaws. 7/10 Bethany Cox

My husband and I had the pleasure of attending Jose Iturbi's concerts in San Antonio and Austin, Texas; also, my husband was fortunate to hear sister Ampara Iturbi while stationed on Trinidad during WWII, so I always rewatch these old films with great nostalgia. As an amateur pianist I did so enjoy all the music in this film. Calypso, boogie woogie, and classical...something for anyone who enjoys music. Yes, the plots of these old movies were always simplistic, but they make such good clean time-passers, particularly amid the sleaze presented to us on TV and in film today. I am so glad they have been preserved and that we have channels devoted to them. They take me back to happy times.

Randall Brandt is exactly right. This is a "Holiday in Mexico"? Produced by MGM at the height of its power, glory, not to mention financial resources, and yet the darned thing never gets outside a Culver City sound stage? Couldn't they at least have sent a camera crew to Mexico City to film some establishing shots in the major thoroughfares, parks, museums, etc.? Very disappointing.

This might just as well have been titled "Holiday in Burbank."

As to the story, it's flimsy at best. In its favor is the rich Technicolor photography which has never been equaled, plus some good musical numbers. The cast is good, with Walter Pidgeon in his most ambassadorial form as the father of the spunky young Jane Powell. Jose Iturbi and his sister play some great piano, as well!

Worth viewing, though at 128 minutes it's a bit long. "Holiday in Mexico" is an example of how Hollywood used to view (or didn't view) other countries.

HOLIDAY IN Mexico is filmed in bright and lush MGM Technicolor, but looks as though the filming never strayed far from the Culver City lot. It's the trite story of a teen-ager (JANE POWELL) with a crush on a much older man (JOSE ITURBI), and having frequent heart-to-heart talks with her sophisticated father (WALTER PIDGEON).

The first half of the film at least gets away from the trite plotting with a bunch of musical numbers that are attractively staged and presented in the way MGM always managed to do. Iturbi, ILONA MASSEY and others get a chance to shine. But the second half spends too much time straightening out the problems of RODDY McDOWALL and Jane, as they deal with the central problem--Jane's crush on Iturbi which has to be cured before the final reel.

It's a chore sitting through some of the syrupy scenes between Jane and Walter Pidgeon, but at least there's a good song for the finale--Schubert's "Ave Maria" which Powell sings beautifully. Didn't Deanna Durbin's IT'S A DATE wind up with the same Schubert song?

Pidgeon shows a good flair for comedy in some of his scenes, but none of the film seems to have an air of reality about it. You watch actors go through their paces and that's it.

It's strictly fluff for fans of Powell and Pidgeon, nothing more, saved by a few choice musical numbers, and the running time is too long.

Like many of Joe Pasternak's MGM musicals of the era, Holiday In Mexico offers something for almost everyone. For the teens, Jane Powell and Roddy McDowall. For the grownups, Walter Pidgeon and Ilona Massey. For classical piano fans, Jose Iturbi. There's Xavier Cugat to offer some Latin American beats.

There's something for everyone except, perhaps, people expecting a holiday in Mexico. There's just not much Mexican atmosphere here. Yes it takes place in Mexico, but the setting is the US Embassy (Pidgeon plays the Ambassador). There aren't any actual Mexican songs or performers, and there sure isn't any location photography.

So the positive aspects are the cast, the songs, and that rich, MGM Technicolor. If you don't like Jane Powell or Walter Pidgeon, you won't like the film, since, alone or together, they're in almost every scene. Roddy McDowall isn't particularly good; he seems to be going through an awkward phase. The story is, to be charitable, weak, but the actors do what they can with it. The production values are top of the line and it all goes on for 128 minutes.

This movie is burdened mostly by poor pacing. The first half of the film is a long string of diverse musical numbers connected by a few lines of dialog. Then the director seemed to realize that some kind of plot development was necessary, so the musical numbers are few and far between in the second half of the movie, which is dedicated to getting the flimsy plot moving. Then there's the grand finale with Jane Powell delivering a beautiful rendition of "Ave Maria."

Not once did I feel like I was in Mexico City. Believe it or not, you will see more keffiyehs than sombreros in this movie! Maybe the director thought it was Holiday in Morocco. However, some of the costumes are beautiful - especially some of Jane Powell's dresses.

Walter Pidgeon, who I usually like, is only fair in his role as the US Ambassador to Mexico and an all-wise, empathetic and loving, but somewhat condescending father. Jane Powell has a beautiful voice, but her acting is erratic and bordering on manic in some of the early scenes. Jose Iturbi never was an actor, but had a film career based solely on his being an excellent pianist. Ilona Massey is, likewise, not a great actress, but she is beautiful and hot. Roddy MacDowell has such a high-pitched, soft voice, it is hard for me to ever find him very convincing as a serious love-interest, even as a teenager. At the end of the day, every minute of this film seems like it is populated not by real people, but by actors playing roles.

If you like a fairly wide range of music, then the first part of this movie will delight you. I personally wanted to come up for more air between musical numbers. The two best scenes are in the second half. The funniest scene is between Pidgeon and the parents of one of his daughter's girlfriends. It is the cleverest plot device in a plot riddled with every cinematic cliché of the era, and it is quite ironic, with Pidgeon discovering he is the object of the affections of the young daughter of one of his ambassadorial colleagues.

The penultimate scene in which Pidgeon talks frankly with Powell, his daughter, about facing up to life after you've made a fool of yourself is worth wading through the trite plot, clichés and front-loaded music. And her response, as depicted in the climactic scene is suitably uplifting.

Spreading the musical numbers more evenly throughout the film, and developing the plot in a more even manner, too, would have improved this film quite a bit. As it is, it is more like sitting through two performances - first, a short concert, followed by a short film.

Louis B. Mayer's latest soprano Jane Powell made her debut in a fluffy technicolor musical Holiday In Mexico where Jane is the daughter of US Ambassador Walter Pidgeon and getting into Deanna Durbin like situations, all of which are solved by a few high notes.

I will say that MGM gave us a good variety of types of artists in Holiday In Mexico. Jose Iturbi and sister Amparo on the classical piano with a bit of boogie woogie, Ilona Massey with some Hungarian schmaltz, and Xavier Cugat's Latin Rhythms.

It's all romance here, Jane conceives a crush on Iturbi with her love of classical music. While that's going on Walter Pidgeon gets something going with an old flame Ilona Massey he met before World War II. Jane's resentful of a new stepmother and Pidgeon has to proceed softly.

Roddy McDowall is in the cast also as the British Ambassador's son and he takes the part that later would be filled by Scotty Beckett in Powell's films, the geeky brother or suitor. He and Jane dressed to the nines in top hat, white tie, and tails for him and a gown and borrowed mink coat for her to sneak into a nightclub is the high point for McDowall.

It's all good clean G-rated fun and you come for the music in any event. Powell got off to a good start at MGM with this one.

This is my favorite all time Hollywood musical. I saw it in 1946 at the age of 15 and was stunned by the talent of newcomer Jane Powell. MGM knew how to create a star and they pulled out all the stops in this film. From the opening scene where Jane sings "Italian Street Song," you knew this was a unique talent. Young, attractive, bubbly with a golden voice. When she sings "Ava Maria" in the final scene, you knew MGM had a new star. The musical selections were excellent throughout. They utilized Jose Iturbi perfectly by having him play two of the most popular piano classics: Rachmaninoff's 2nd Piano Concerto and Chopin's Polonaise. Beautiful Ilona Massey sang the familiar Hungarian Czardas. Walter Pigeon was perfect as Jane's father and Roddy McDowell was her poor confused beau. The plot was trite and dragged at times but it was the music that made it all worth while. Jane also sang "I Think of You" which was adapted from the same Rachmaninoff concerto. This film made me a lifelong fan of Jane Powell and I lament the fact that Hollywood no longer makes musicals like that. There is one current performer who reminds me of Jane Powell and that is Kristin Chenowith. Unfortunately, Hollywood doesn't make films anymore that would showcase her talent.

Christine (Jane Powell) is the loving daughter to Jeffrey Evans (Walter Pidgeon), the American ambassador to Mexico. His friend Stanley Owen (Roddy McDowall) asks her to be his girl, but she doesn't have the time. Instead, she is taken with 50 year old concert pianist. Meanwhile her father falls in with an old love.

Teenager Jane Powell is playing with puppy crush and her daddy's love. It remains innocent and the movie stays in that zone. Roddy McDowall is also great in the that space. Jane gets to sing a bit and there is some fun like the silly little diddy Yo Te Amo Much. It is rather long at over two hours. The light fun does wear thin.

"Holiday in Mexico" is a film that hasn't aged very well. While it might have been seen as a musical with a cute story back in 1946...today it just seems weird and really creepy! After all, the story is about a teenager who seems to be madly in love with her father!

Christine Evans (Jane Powell) is the very precocious daughter of an American diplomat serving in Mexico (Walter Pidgeon). Christine has two passions in life...singing and her father. In fact, her whole life seems to revolve around him...as if, in a way, she's playing the role of her deceased mother! Creepy! And, when her father begins to romance an old flame, Christine seems genuinely jealous of the 'other woman' and vows to teach her father a lesson by chasing after José Iturbi....a noted (and MUCH older) musician! All the while, her idiot friend (Roddy McDowell) seems to come in and out of the story as comic relief.

As you might expect from a Jane Powell film, she does a LOT of singing....and mostly operatic style pieces which would likely be difficult to find an audience for today. This, combined with the creepy Electra Complex, make the story a difficult one to love. Additionally, early in her career, Powell made several very similar films, such as "Luxury Liner" and "Three Daring Daughters". Watchable but hardly one of Powell's best. The only really nice thing about the film is that it was filmed in color.

I could never understood why Ilona Massey didn't make it big as some other stars of that era...The closeup of her in technicolor singing "You, so its you"..was mesmerizing. ..outstanding blond beauty. The beauty mark, even sexier...I read where in her starlet days, MGM roomed her with another unknown beauty, a brunette, you have heard of her...Hedy lamarr. Both, trying to learn English in order to succeed in American movies...well Hedy won, hands down, and deservedly so. BTW, the irony of this statement, is that Hedy was originally set to play the part that Ilona got in this movie. In those days, Hedy was known to turn down parts that just wanted to accentuate her beauty, and she wisely turned this down. Ilona was then cast opposite MGM's king baritone, Nelson Eddy in "Balalaika", which was a flop...and MGM lost interest in her and ended her contract...Results? Her next movie was in Universal's horror movies, mainly because of her accent..What a shame.

Xavier cugat and josé iturbi ! Jeff evans is ambassador to mexico. And right at the start, his daughter christine sings something so high it almost hurts. That's sixteen year old jane powell, in her third film role. Eighteen year old brit roddy mcdowall is stanley, who thinks he's in love with christine. But she doesn't have time for such things. There's something weird about stanley's voice... it sounds like it's been dubbed by a five year old. Maybe his british accent was too strong and needed to be replaced. The awesome grady sutton is in here as iturbi's personal assistant. Christine is throwing a party, and wants everything to go just right. It's pretty good. Most of the story is silly, but it's fun to see iturbi and cugat perform in their prime! Mcdowall and powell went on to become pretty big hollywood stars. Pidgeon was nominated for two oscars...for mrs. Miniver and mrs. Curie. And check out that cool giraffe piano iturbi plays at 87 minutes, while christine sings! More on it in the trivia section and in wikipedia. Although wikipedia credits it to someone else, a few years later. Directed by george sidney. All in living technicolor.

Imagine a mainstream contemporary film that features a pianist playing Rachmaninoff and Chopin; imagine that same film featuring a Mariachi Band that can play Hungarian folk melodies at the snap of a finger. The same film even features a talking Chihuahua (long before Taco Bell). Now toss in a tale centering on a love-sick teenage soprano who falls in love with a man old enough to be her grandfather-and add another lovesick girl, just for fun, that does exactly the same, only with the first girl's father. It sounds a bit incestuous, but with MGM it's all good, clean, if occasionally draggy, fun.

Unlikely fare for the 2020's, but a huge hit for MGM in postwar America, 1946, Holiday in Mexico is set in several mythical South of the Border homes, brilliantly unreal but presented in irresistible Technicolor (with lots of those wonderful period lime-green pastels and electric pinks). If you are in the mood for absolute escapism and willing to suspect disbelief entirely, this immersion in teen angst features the first MGM appearance of young absolutely ravishing blue-eyed Jane Powell warbling a little bit of everything from opera to Ave Maria, sometimes accompanying her love object, Jose Iturbi, a popular semi-classical pianist, whose truncated version of Rachmaninoff's Concerto #3 may put your teeth on edge. But the man does have incredible power and technique, and like Liberace, it's up the keyboard, down the keyboard, bang, bang, bang! And Jose's actual grandchildren appear in the movie and hide under his piano in mouse masks!

This all hints at only a few treats available to those able to cheerfully immerse themselves in another fairly empty-headed but richly lavish presentation from MGM. Jane's Dad is played by a suave Walter Pidgeon, who gives some fatherly advice to Jane's awkward thwarted swain, Roddy McDowell, a few years removed from his superb sentimental triumphs in Lassie and How Green Was My Valley, here having some post-pubescent problem. Contributing to the Mexican Atmosphere is a glorious glittering production number with Xavier Cugat and as a guest star from Hungary (interesting how the script digs her into the plot) the radiantly glowing Ilona Massey (rhymes with "Lassie"), who only is allowed to radiate her continental charm with a single song. In short, 127 minutes of teen angst alleviated with ample music and the riches of MGM at its peak is on offer here; Singin' In The Rain it ain't, but what else is?

Good music doesn't make a great movie. Much too long and too studio bound. A good half hour could be cut. Jane Powell is perky for the most part but her role is ill conceived. The less said about the effete Roddy McDowell the better. Story of young love doesn't work, and seems like bad taste to have a youngster to be interested a man who could be her father. Story just doesn't jive, and Walter Pigeon is as wooden as ever. This is NOT one of Powell's best and certainly not one of MGM's best musicals. Again, some of the music and numbers are worth seeing.

This is basically a bad movie, one in which the sum of the parts is definitely less than the parts themselves. It throws together without ever fusing them into one coherent whole 1) José Iturbi, who plays a Hollywood version of Rachmaninoff's Second Concerto for piano and Chopin's Military Polonaise, 2) Xavier Cougat and his orchestra doing what they did, 3) Ilona Massey being very beautiful and singing into the bargain, and 4) Jane Powell. Powell evidently couldn't act - though this script doesn't really provide any opportunity to do so - but she could sing light classical music, and in this movie she was given music to sing that really showed off her voice (Bizet's Les filles de Cadiz, Herbert's Italian Street Song, etc.). It serves as something of an explanation of what went wrong subsequently, when MGM and then RKO put Powell into movies where she was asked to sing the popular music of the era. She never sounded particularly at ease with the popular music, and never did a particularly good job of singing it. Since she wasn't an actress, when what she was singing wasn't interesting, there was nothing to attract audiences. But this movie shows that, had Hollywood continued to give her music appropriate to her voice, her later movies might not have been so forgettable. As it is, this movie is like a vaudeville show: it presents a series of well-done musical numbers connected, feebly, by a script that is best forgotten. If you like Iturbi, or Massey, or Powell, you'll like their numbers. (Did anyone really like Xavier Cougat?) You can go make popcorn during the rest of it and not miss anything.

This film is so good that I want to own it. Jane Powell was 16 when she hit MGM with this bomb shell performance as the daughter of the Ambassador of the USA to Mexico in Mexico City. Just compare this to the current crop of films about teen agers of this year, 2006.

Her delivery of crystal clear singing in a slightly opera trained voice is beautiful like a carillon tower's bells. Jose Iturbi's piano is an added treat. No nude scenes, no profanity, no miserable bed room scenes misdirected and miscast and massacred just great comedy and very classy acting all around.

The 16 year old Jane has the prettiest blue eyes seen in a long time. I saw this movie with my mom back in the 40's and now in the 21st Century it is even better. This is one you won't be afraid to show your kids and it will bring back a lot of long forgotten memories.

Now we know where Taco Bell got its idea for a talking chihuahua! During one of the overblown musical numbers by Xavier Cugat and His Orchestra, Cugat's chihuahua gets to look into the camera and speak his own lines -- in Spanish and English! Supposedly set in Mexico City, the film displays a marked lack of local color.

"Holiday In Mexico" (1946 MGM starring Jane Powell and Walter Pidgeon, and also Illona Massey, Xavier Cugat, and Jose Iturbi was in important movie in 1946, the high water mark year for movie house attendance in the USA (average person went to movies 2x weekly that year), before TV and the Draconian 1948 "Supreme Court Consent Decree" which ended movie studio ownership of movie houses kicked in.

The color in this movie.....even on a small TV screen....is unforgettable.

So is the acting, the glamor, and the sensuous sexiness of the main actresses, including then 17 year old (playing a 15 year old) Jane Powell, the lead actress always seducing and laying implied sexual claims to her dear old US Ambassador To Mexico Dad, wonderful low key, high class, brilliant actor Walter Pidgeon (see him in "Forbidden Planet" in the 1950's and in "Funny Girl" in the late 1960's....the man never gets old, always plays "Dad" to young adult women).

The movies made from the end of WWII to 1948 by MGM are gaudy, colorful, and noisy, always wonderful and edifying, and "Holiday In Mexico" (1946 MGM) is an example.

It's a "wow" movie, for sure.

Entertainers and musical artists on the MGM payroll of those times included concert pianist Jose Iturbi and band leader, Xaviar Cugat and his trademark Chihuahua dog (that dog gets an ECU closeup and talks human words in this movie!).

Wonderful, wonderful music in this movie include Jane Powell singing snippets of Jeanette MacDonald's great 30's movie solo songs, and also wonderful piano concert music with great visuals part of the Jose Iturbi segment.

Compare the more famous, but not necessarily better "Date With Judy" (1948 MGM) and "American In Paris" (1951 MGM) movies, which also had Jane Powell ("Judy") and solo wonderful visuals during great piano concert music ("American in Paris").

"Holiday In Mexico" is a winner.

For me, the appearance of classy lassie Illona Massey from Hungary as the love interest of Walter Pidgeon is a high point of the movie....whatta woman......where are these types now, when guys like me need them (guys like me always needed them!)? Beautiful, intelligent, sexy, available, user-friendly, highly educated and cultured, well dressed, available, not pushy, wonderful in ways I can't count, and nobody can.....an ideal woman in the movies...often tried, never done as well as Illona did it.

Plays a Countess in this movie, and acts like one...a good one, a virtuous and worthy one!

Teen ager Roddy McDowell plays Jane Powell's neglected boyfriend and is terrible in this movie.

He has the Mickey Rooney role, and blows it totally.

Well, nobody is perfect and no movie is perfect.

Roddy kept this movie from being perfect.

The pitch of his forever exasperated voice is higher than Jane Powell's his supposed girlfriend in the movie.

Scotty Beckett did a great job with the Mickey Rooney role in "A Date With Judy" (1948 MGM) two years later, with Jane Powell playing the same role as the pushy, saddle shoe wearing "modern teen age woman" with a concert singer's voice (we never saw Jane's great dance abilities until "Royal Wedding" and "Seven Brides For Seven Brothers" after she got old enough to vote!).

See "Holiday In Mexico" (1946 MGM). You won't be sorry!

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Written by Tex Allen, SAG-AFTRA movie actor and movie history teacher at the college level.

....Tex Allen's email address is [email protected].

See Tes Allen Movie Credits, Biography, and 2012 photos at WWW.IMDb.Me/TexAllen. See other Tex Allen written movie reviews....almost 100 titles.... at: "http://imdb.com/user/ur15279309/comments"

There are high notes aplenty in this Jane Powell musical comedy that concerns her trying to plan her own birthday party with Jose Iturbi and Xavier Cugat for entertainment. The film is a little on the long side, but for the most part it keeps your interest with father Walter Pidgeon finding Jane's mother, Ilona Massey, again. Roddy MacDowall costars and I have always liked him, but somehow he comes across as too sad for this upbeat little film. He was in "How Green was My Valley" with Walter Pidgeon and there his countenance worked to the film's advantage and fit in with the character of the workers' hard life in the country. But here Roddy comes across as too British and/or out of place. I would say more, but I would feel like I'm being indelicate, and I've pretty much said my point as succinctly and tactfully as I could. The music of the film is first rate and will appeal to those liking the entertainers. Carmen Miranda is always great! Just forget your troubles and enjoy a holiday in Mexico.

Featuring a very young Jane Powell and the great orchestra leader Jose Iturbi and band leader Xavier Cugat, this film has so many great musical moments it's difficult to pick the best. The combination of classical music and Latin tunes plays through the story of a young girl's struggles with coming of age. Often underrated and seldom on the radar of lovers of musicals, it's time to bring this one out for family viewing time. The 17-year-old Powell singing "Ave Maria" with a full orchestra is as good as movie music gets. ---from Musicals on the Silver Screen, American Library Association, 2013