This musical marked the MGM debut of Jane Powell, "The Sweet Little Songbird," TCM showed the musical during Summer Of The Stars a cpl of yrs ago and itt was the first film I ever watched on TCM. I've been fan of both ever since.
It's a musical comedy about a widowed ambassador's 15 yr old daughter (Powell) who pretty much serves as mother, daughter, and secretary for her beloved father. More specifically; it's about the love life of the two while on holiday in Mexico. Jane's 15 yr old character thinks she's fallen for her MUCH older piano teacher b/c a new "love" in her father's life appears to move her out of the way in a very Freudian like manner -- really quite racy, even by today's standards. It's a story about love, relationships, and the many forms they take -- the love in a widowed daddy-daughter relationship; trans generational romance; and the sometimes up hill-battle of a younger man trying to pursue a young lady who's a bit more on the "up and up" and matured than he. The five of them (six if you count the 16 yr old local interested in Jane's father) get caught up in a he said-she said case of misinterpreted meanings, which provides some nice comedic moments. And I'm a huge classical music fan and this one is sprinkled with Jane's performances of hits from the Baroque age such as this one:
Jane Powell performs Ave Maria in: Holiday In Mexico http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ApGVdhZ1Po Jane is the GOLDEN epicenter in this grandiose conclusion and rendition of the Schubert classic. It's as if you're listening and viewing a Teutonic maiden from another time and period, she's really just quite out of this world.
(Jane Powell is of course now married to fellow child star, Dick Powell - the marriage came very late in their lives and the name similarity is coincidental, of course. Dickie has the dubious title of being Shirley Temple's first film kiss.)
It's a story about love, relationships, and the many forms they take -- the love in a widowed daddy-daughter relationship; trans generational romance; and the sometimes up hill-battle of a younger man trying to pursue a young lady who's a bit more on the "up and up" and matured than he. The five of them (six if you count the 16 yr old local interested in Jane's father) get caught up in a he said-she said case of misinterpreted meanings, which provides some nice comedic moments. And I'm a huge classical music fan and this one is sprinkled with Jane's performances of hits from the Baroque age such as this one:
