KnotMissPriceless Why so much hype?

Kidskycom It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

ThrillMessage There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

Senteur As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

drednm This is a totally misconceived musical fantasy that never knows what direction it's heading in. Parts of it are sticky-gooey religious drek with heiress Yolanda Aquaviva (Lucille Bremer) graduating from a convent to take her place at the head of the country's richest family. The other story thread concerns grifters (Fred Astaire and Frank Morgan) entering the country (it looks like Bolivia) to escape the American police. With assistance from an archangel (Leon Ames)the stories meet.Mildred Natwick, as the loony aunt, comes off best in a delightfully comic performance. Ames and Morgan have almost nothing to do. Astaire, with his worst toupee in a major film, seems bored. Bremer (of the twitchy eyes) has almost zero acting talent. The color cinematography and set decoration will knock your eyes out, but as the scenes run from obvious artsy sets to real back drops, there seems to be no consistency or authorial vision.Aside from a few comic moments (which belong to Natwick) the only things that saves this film from total failure is the musical number "Coffee Time." The set up is a carnival where Astaire and Bremer get pushed into doing a dance together. The oddly syncopated "Coffee Time" catches the viewer off guard because it's so damned good and quite arresting.The number is introduced by three girls who clap in counter beat to the slightly South American sounds of the main melody. Then swirls of dancers join in, also clapping their four-beat counter tempo. Finally Astaire and Bremer take the spotlight and for a few moments they both come alive as they dance across the amazingly psychedelic floor of black and white wavy streaks. This is a great song/number stuck in a lousy film.After the song, we resume the dreary narrative. I have no idea what director Vincente Minnelli was trying for, but nothing works. It's not a fantasy, it's not funny, and the religious angle is a total dud. Thank heaven for Mildred Natwick, the color cinematography, and "Coffee Time."

judith-mcgee1025 Vincente Minnelli's "Yolanda and the Thief" never fails to fascinate me; the Technicolor, extraordinary art direction, costume design, orchestration (unfortunately the Arthur Freed-Harry Warren songs are not up to the task) and the extraordinary photography of Charles Rosher are compelling and wonderful. In defense of Lucille Bremer, the role of Yolanda was probably an unplayable one and no matter how coached she couldn't quite pull it off. Could anybody have played this part? I don't think so. (Unfortunately it appears to have ended her career at MGM.) In the dream sequence, "Angel" and "Coffee Time" she is excellent; otherwise she struggles with the part and it shows. The more veteran performers - Astaire, Frank Morgan and Mildred Natwick shore up the enterprise. As with the equally baroque "The Pirate", "Yolanda and the Thief" pushed the limits of the film technology and audience sensibilities of the time and I think they were worth it thanks to Arthur Freed (producer) and Vincente Minnelli (director).

wglenn Fred Astaire and Frank Morgan play a couple of con artists trying to strike it big in the make-believe South American country of Patria. Lucille Bremmer plays Yolanda Aquaviva, who has just come out of a convent school and is suddenly heir to a vast fortune. Overwhelmed by her new responsibilities in the world, Yolanda prays to the statue of an angel for guidance, a prayer which Johnny Riggs (Astaire) overhears. He then pretends to be her guardian angel in order to cheat her out of her fortune. But there are complications, mostly of the falling-in-love kind.Yolanda and the Thief is a strange film, kind of a Catholic Technicolor fantasy, with very little dancing but lots of overly done (almost psychedelic) colors, and the obvious influence of Salvador Dali in one long dream sequence. Astaire and Morgan work well together, and Mildred Natwick provides some comic relief, but Lucille Bremmer's portrayal of the overly naive Yolanda makes for tough viewing. The "Coffee Time" dance scene has some energy and verve and is worth watching, despite- some absolutely terrible (beyond Kitsch!) costumes by Irene. But there's not much here for song-and-dance fans.The film is interesting because of Astaire and because of all the strange elements going on: the gaudy colors, the Baroque sets, the supernatural Catholic themes, bits of Surrealism, the hyper-unreal view of South America. I'm sure some graduate students could have a field day with "Patria" and its representation of Latin American society. Even compared to typical Hollywood portrayals of South America at the time, it's rather unusual and almost hallucinatory. There are llamas to help create the right exotic mood. Can't go wrong with a llama in a movie.And where was Carmen Miranda? She could have given this flick some zing.Astaire made 29 musicals between 1933 and 1957. This is not one of the better ones. As he said in his autobiography (_Steps in Time_), "We all tried hard and thought we had something, but as it turned out, we didn't." No, they didn't. But if you're in the right mood (drugs?), it might be worth watching. Mostly for serious Astaire fans. And maybe devout Catholics who long for Technicolor.

TxMike Fred Astaire established such a reputation as a "good guy" (i.e. "Daddy Longlegs"), it is a bit of a shock at first to see him playing a scoundrel. In "Yolanda and The Thief", Astaire (45) plays Johnny Riggs, a second rate con man. But he gets more than he bargained for in this light, formulaic romantic comedy with a nice twist at the end. I had not heard before of Lucille Bremer who plays Yolanda Aquaviva, just turning "of age" (probably 18 or 21, even though she was 28 here), and leaving the convent and orphanage run by the nuns, to travel to the fictitious Hispanic country where she was to assume oversight of her inheritance, land and a beautiful home with an old aunt and a full staff. As she was leaving the old Mother Superior gave her a talk, and warned of the "dishonest" people she might encounter. So sheltered and naive was Yolanda, she had a bit of trouble comprehending the idea of "dishonest" people. This movie came out in 1945, the year I was born. It was shot in color, and is very natural looking. Not a great movie, but a fun movie for fans of Astaire, and he does a couple of dance numbers with Bremer, who also was a gifted dancer and an adequate singer.The rest of my comments contain SPOILERS, BE WARNED. As Johnny and his sidekick Victor Trout (Frank Morgan, who earlier played the Wizard in Oz) were looking over a wall for an opportunity, he heard Yolanda praying in the garden to her guardian angel, for help managing the money and business of her estate. Johnny decided to play "Mr Brown", her guardian angel, meets her, she takes it all in, and agrees to sign papers to give Johnny power of attorney over all her wealth as her sign of trust in him. He and Victor plan to run away and cash out the $Million in bonds that they lifted from her residence, but keep running into Mr. Candle, who just won't get out of their way. Also, it seems that the custom in this small country is, signing over power of attorney is a sign that the two are getting married. As Johnny and Victor try to leave the country by train, Mr. Candle is there again. It turns out that Mr. Candle really is Yolanda's guardian angel, and insists that Johnny marry her, which he does, knowing that he had better treat her right, because Mr. Candle would always be watching!