A famous matador raises his son to be a bullfighter like him but the boy would rather be a musician. The son's twin sister, however, enjoys bullfighting and becomes quite good at it. Eventually the son grows tired of his pushy father and abandons the ring, which leaves his sister to save the family's honor by pretending to be her brother and fighting bulls herself.
Middling semi-musical with Esther Williams and Ricardo Montalban as the unlikeliest pair of twins you'll ever see. I'm really not sure what MGM was thinking with this one. I can only assume they were hoping it would help make Ricardo Montalban a star. He does a fine job with what he's given. Esther is certainly nice to look at and plays her part well. They do manage to find a way to put Esther in a bathing suit for one scene, which I appreciated but thought amusing given how it was shoehorned in there. She also looks very cute in her matador outfit. Corny John Carroll plays Esther's boyfriend, a character named Pepe. There's a rather creepy subtext to the story as both Esther and Ricardo's love interests openly complain about the siblings' attentions toward each other. Fortunio Bonanova does well as the dad. Nice support from Mary Astor, Akim Tamaroff, and Cyd Charisse.
The most interesting part of this film's plot is that it has a woman proving herself capable of being as good as a man in a masculine "sport" at a time when such a thing was not common in movies. Yeah they cop out a little in the end but it's still pretty forward-thinking for its time. The production was a very troubled one and, unfortunately, some of the bulls were actually killed during the making of this film. Despite some lovely Technicolor and solid MGM production values, it's just such a forgettable movie that I wouldn't bother unless you were an Esther Williams completist.
Middling semi-musical with Esther Williams and Ricardo Montalban as the unlikeliest pair of twins you'll ever see. I'm really not sure what MGM was thinking with this one. I can only assume they were hoping it would help make Ricardo Montalban a star. He does a fine job with what he's given. Esther is certainly nice to look at and plays her part well. They do manage to find a way to put Esther in a bathing suit for one scene, which I appreciated but thought amusing given how it was shoehorned in there. She also looks very cute in her matador outfit. Corny John Carroll plays Esther's boyfriend, a character named Pepe. There's a rather creepy subtext to the story as both Esther and Ricardo's love interests openly complain about the siblings' attentions toward each other. Fortunio Bonanova does well as the dad. Nice support from Mary Astor, Akim Tamaroff, and Cyd Charisse.
The most interesting part of this film's plot is that it has a woman proving herself capable of being as good as a man in a masculine "sport" at a time when such a thing was not common in movies. Yeah they cop out a little in the end but it's still pretty forward-thinking for its time. The production was a very troubled one and, unfortunately, some of the bulls were actually killed during the making of this film. Despite some lovely Technicolor and solid MGM production values, it's just such a forgettable movie that I wouldn't bother unless you were an Esther Williams completist.