jhkp
Like many of Joe Pasternak's MGM musicals of the era, Holiday In Mexico offers something for almost everyone. For the teens, there's a cute love story with youngsters Jane Powell and Roddy McDowall. For the grownups, there's Jane's daddy, Walter Pidgeon, in love with luscious songbird Ilona Massey. For those who like the classics, Jane, Ilona, and pianist Jose Iturbi perform a good selection (with Iturbi demonstrating his boogie-woogie skills, as well). Then there's the orchestra of Xavier Cugat to offer some Latin American beats. They're sorely needed, because there's very little Latin flavor in the picture.Yes, Holiday in Mexico seems to offer something for everyone. Everyone, that is, except those expecting a holiday in Mexico. True, it takes place in Mexico, but the picture's setting is the US Embassy (Pidgeon plays the Ambassador), and while, understandably, there are a lot of international accents and cultures represented (French, English, Spanish, Russian, Hungarian), it's also a little disappointing. I wanted Mexican settings. Mexican costumes. Mexican performers. Mexican anything. Likewise, most of the music is decidedly non-Mexican (Rachmaninoff, Victor Herbert, Shubert, etc.) It's weird.So what are the pluses? Well, the cast. If you don't like Jane Powell or Walter Pidgeon, you will not like the film, since one or the other, or both, are in almost every scene. I do happen to like Miss Powell, and Mr. Pidgeon, and the rest of the cast (though Roddy McDowall is not at his best. Seems to be in an awkward phase of puberty, or something). The story is, to be charitable, weak, but the actors do what they can with it. It all goes on for 128 minutes, it's in gorgeous Technicolor, and the costumes and sets, the orchestrations and vocal arrangements, are all wonderful. The singers and musicians, from Powell on down, are first rate.
Neil Doyle
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.
w22nuschler
This is story of Walter Pidgeon the father, Jane Powell the daughter, and Roddy Mcdowall the boy after Jane. I love all three actors, but something is missing from this film. All three players take a Holiday in Mexico. Roddy Mcdowall is excellent and steals the film. He loves Jane Powell, but Jane is more interested in Jose Iturbi. Walter Pidgeon finds an old love from his past which causes Jane to be jealous. Every scene Roddy has is a delight, but many of the other scenes drag on too long. Walter and Jose talk about her crush and work out a plan to cure her crush. Walter has a real good scene with Jane in the end to help her get over her embarrassment for loving such an older man.
Rand-Al
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.
