The Cuban Love Song

If you like opera, you may enjoy the performance from Met Opera star Lawrence Tibbett in the musical numbers better than I did, but to me it was overwrought and weirdly out of place. Worse yet though, he's so oafish, lacking screen presence and charm, and I was put off by the pawing and annoying aggressiveness of his overtures to Lupe Vélez - which of course inexplicably win her over.

The whole thing is white male fantasy. His girlfriend back in America is Karen Morley, who tells him she fully expects him to sow his wild oats in the Marines before getting married, and waits patiently for him for years without hearing from him. His cringe-inducing persistence works with the "exotic island girl", and when she wants to get married to him and he balks at that, she just smiles and tells him that's quite all right, that they can just live an idyllic life together on a beach. When he later admits his indiscretion to Morley, she hasn't the slightest care in the world. It's difficult to like this guy or care about him given the treatment he gets, and so even when the story has a couple of touching moments, it's hard to feel anything.

The only reason to watch the film is for Vélez. There are times the script has her doing stereotypical things, and other times when she's a delight. When she's off-screen, the film had little interest for me. Jimmy Durante's character is a waste, and the first 25 minutes are humorless and completely skippable. The film only gets interesting when we see Vélez dancing at a celebration, though it's far too brief. It's a shame that even paired with director W.S. Van Dyke, this wasn't a better vehicle for her.