This has the stamp of MGM's fabled dream factory all over it—big houses with dutiful servants, spiffy clothes right off the rack, families with perfect diction and manners, and a world where the biggest complication is a date for the prom. Okay, I'm no fan of the dream factory, but then this is a musical, so most any kind of fantasy world is permitted.
The trouble is that this musical has too little music, too few chuckles, and too much repetition. Powell and Taylor are good to look at, and for that matter, so is Stack. But whether the 30- year old Stack will end up with the 19-year old Powell or the 16-year old Taylor does get tiresome. It might have worked had director Thorpe gotten some bounce or sparkle into the proceedings. However, things pretty much plod along, that is, until that Brazilian firecracker Carmen Miranda arrives to literally shake things up.
I expect the slender material was stretched in order to show off the budding Powell and Taylor. Too bad it also had to show off Hollywood's biggest slice of slobbering ham, Wallace Beery. However, I'm still marveling over how Taylor at 16 can look and act like a gorgeous 35-year old. Amazing.
Anyway, this rather flat 113-minutes is a long way from MGM's tradition of lively colorbox musicals. In my book, MGM did manage a couple of sparkling little song & dance features during this same period, also with youthful stars—I Love Melvin (1953) and The Affairs of Dobie Gillis (1953), both with a bubbly young Debbie Reynolds. Catch up with these little gems if you can. Meantime, this one's for those wanting a peek at an idealized time when teenagers were named "Oogie".