They Met in Argentina | |
---|---|
Directed by | Leslie Goodwins Jack Hively |
Written by | Jerome Cady |
Story by | Lou Brock |
Produced by | Lou Brock |
Starring | Maureen O'Hara James Ellison |
Cinematography | J. Roy Hunt |
Edited by | Desmond Marquette |
Music by | Rodgers and Hart |
Production company | |
Release date |
|
Running time | 77 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $500,000 [2] |
They Met in Argentina is a 1941 American film directed by Leslie Goodwins and Jack Hively for RKO Pictures. Hively had to come in and finish the picture after Goodwins was hospitalized for pneumonia. Maureen O'Hara plays an Argentinian who falls in love with a Texan (James Ellison), who is attempting to buy a racehorse from her father. It was one of a number of Hollywood films from the 1940s produced to reflect America's "Good Neighbor policy" towards Latin American countries. They Met in Argentina was not well received by audiences, critics, or the Argentine government.
Tim Kelly (James Ellison) is a Texan in the oil business who travels to Argentina to bid for some land. When his bid is unsuccessful, he teams up with colleague Duke Ferrell (Buddy Ebsen) to buy their employer a successful racehorse, Lucero, in the hope that this will compensate for the failed bid. Tim falls in love with Lolita O'Shea (Maureen O'Hara), the daughter of the racehorse's owner, Don Enrique (Robert Barrat). Don Enrique is against selling Lucero, but when he realises his daughter is in love with Tim, he offers him the racehorse on the condition that he immediately returns to the USA. When Lolita realises Tim has left, she pursues him on horseback. [3]
In the early 1940s, Hollywood studios produced a number of films which reflected America's "Good Neighbor policy" towards Latin America; They Met in Argentina was one of RKO Pictures' contributions. With these films set in Latin American countries, the studios hoped to both attract an audience in Latin America and to increase popular interest in the region among a North American audience. Other films of this nature included the Twentieth-Century Fox productions Down Argentine Way (1940) and Blood and Sand (1941). [4]
They Met in Argentina was based on a story by Lou Brock, who was also the film's producer. Brock approached Rodgers and Hart to score the production. The pair wrote 12 songs in total, although only 7 of them were included in the final cut. [5] The songs featured in the soundtrack are "You've Got the Best of Me", "North America Meets South America", "Amarillo", "Lolita", "Cutting the Cane", "Never Go To Argentina" and "Simpatica". [6] The dance sequences were choreographed by Frank Veloz. [7]
When Goodwins was hospitalized for pneumonia during production, RKO brought in veteran director Jack Hively to replace him and finish the film. [1]
The film fared poorly in cinemas, and made a loss of $270,000. [2]
The film received negative reviews from critics, with Robert Dana in the New York Herald Tribune describing it as "an American musical at its worst". [5] Film critic Leonard Maltin later described it as a "dismal musical". [3] The Argentine government spoke out against the distribution of the film in Latin America. [8]
Buddy Ebsen, also known as Frank "Buddy" Ebsen, was an American actor and dancer, whose career spanned seven decades. One of his most famous roles was as Jed Clampett in the CBS television sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies (1962–1971); afterwards he starred as the title character in the television detective drama Barnaby Jones (1973–1980).
Maureen O'Hara was an Irish-born naturalized American actress and singer, who became successful in Hollywood from the 1940s through to the 1960s. She was a natural redhead who was known for playing passionate but sensible heroines, often in Westerns and adventure films. She worked with director John Ford and long-time friend John Wayne on numerous projects.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a 1939 American romantic drama film starring Charles Laughton and Maureen O'Hara. Directed by William Dieterle and produced by Pandro S. Berman, the film is based on Victor Hugo's 1831 novel. The film is also noted for being the first film ever shown at the Cannes Film Festival before the festival was postponed due to World War II.
Robert Harriot Barrat was an American stage, motion picture, and television character actor.
The Spanish Main is a 1945 American adventure film starring Paul Henreid, Maureen O'Hara, Walter Slezak and Binnie Barnes, and directed by Frank Borzage. It was RKO's first all-Technicolor film since Becky Sharp ten years before.
Sinbad the Sailor is a 1947 American Technicolor fantasy film directed by Richard Wallace and starring Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Maureen O'Hara, Walter Slezak, Anthony Quinn, and Mike Mazurki. It tells the tale of the "eighth" voyage of Sinbad, wherein he discovers the lost treasure of Alexander the Great.
The Deadly Companions is a 1961 American Western and war film directed by Sam Peckinpah and starring Maureen O'Hara, Brian Keith, Steve Cochran, and Chill Wills. Based on the novel of the same name by A. S. Fleischman, the film is about an ex-army soldier who accidentally kills a woman's son, and tries to make up for it by escorting the funeral procession through dangerous Indian territory. The Deadly Companions was Sam Peckinpah's motion picture directorial debut.
Parachute Battalion is a 1941 war film directed by Leslie Goodwins and stars Robert Preston and Nancy Kelly. The supporting cast includes Edmond O'Brien, Harry Carey, and Buddy Ebsen.
Dance, Girl, Dance is a 1940 American comedy-drama film directed by Dorothy Arzner and starring Maureen O'Hara, Louis Hayward, Lucille Ball, and Ralph Bellamy. The film follows two dancers who strive to preserve their own integrity while fighting for their place in the spotlight and for the affections of a wealthy young suitor.
Tycoon is a 1947 American Technicolor romance film directed by Richard Wallace and starring John Wayne. It is based on the 1934 novel of the same name by C.E. Scoggins.
Lady of Burlesque is a 1943 American musical comedy-mystery film, produced by RKO Pictures and directed by William A. Wellman and starring Barbara Stanwyck and Michael O'Shea. It is a faithful, if sanitized, adaptation of the 1941 novel The G-String Murders written by strip tease queen Gypsy Rose Lee.
The Story of Seabiscuit is a 1949 American drama film directed by David Butler and starring Shirley Temple and Barry Fitzgerald in a semi-fictionalized account of racehorse Seabiscuit, the top money winner up to the 1940s. The screenplay was written by John Taintor Foote, uses the actual racehorse names, but changed the names of people involved.
At Sword's Point, also known as The Sons of the Three Musketeers, is a 1952 American historical action adventure film directed by Lewis Allen and starring Cornel Wilde and Maureen O'Hara. It was shot in Technicolor by RKO Radio Pictures. The film was completed in 1949, but was not released until 1952.
My Irish Molly is a 1938 British musical film, directed by Alex Bryce and starring Binkie Stuart, Tom Burke and Maureen O'Hara shot at Welwyn Studios with footage of Ireland. The screenplay concerns a young orphan who runs away from her mean-spirited guardian to live with her aunt. O'Hara appeared in the film under her real name of Maureen FitzSimmons. The film was released in the US in 1940 under the title My Little Molly with scenes of Binkie Stuart removed due to Maureen O'Hara being given top billing due to her American popularity.
RKO Radio Pictures's Laddie is a 1940 American drama film starring Tim Holt, Virginia Gilmore and Joan Carroll and directed by Jack Hively. It is the third film adaptation based on Gene Stratton-Porter's novel, Laddie, A True Blue Story (1913), and previously had been filmed in 1926 and by RKO in 1935.
RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orpheum theater chain and Joseph P. Kennedy's Film Booking Offices of America studio were brought together under the control of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) in October 1928. RCA executive David Sarnoff engineered the merger to create a market for the company's sound-on-film technology, RCA Photophone, and in early 1929 production began under the RKO name. Two years later, another Kennedy concern, the Pathé studio, was folded into the operation. By the mid-1940s, RKO was controlled by investor Floyd Odlum.
A Bill of Divorcement is a 1940 film directed by John Farrow. It was also known as Never to Love and was based on a 1921 British play of the same name, written by Clemence Dane that was filmed in 1932 with John Barrymore and Katharine Hepburn.
Maureen O'Hara (1920–2015) was an Irish singer and actress from Dublin, who worked primarily in American film and television. She was born into a close-knit and artistically talented family; her mother was a contralto vocalist, and her three sisters and two brothers were budding actors and musical performers. O'Hara received music and dance lessons at the Ena Burke School of Elocution and Drama, becoming a member of the Rathmines Theatre Company when she was 10 years old. While still a teenager, she won several Radio Éireann Players contests to perform with them. She also won the Dublin Feis Award, for her performance as Portia in The Merchant of Venice. O’Hara was a member of the Abbey Theatre School, and a graduate of the Guildhall School of Music.
Jack Hively was an American film editor and film and television director whose career lasted from the 1930s through the 1980s. His father and his brother were also film editors. He began as a film editor, before moving on to direct features. His career was interrupted by his enlistment in the U.S. Army following the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941. After the war he returned to directing films, before moving on to directing on television.
Frank Redman was an American cinematographer from the end of the silent era through the 1960s. During his almost 40-year career, he shot over 60 feature films, as well as several film shorts and serials. In the 1950s, he transitioned to the smaller screen, where he was most well known for his work on the iconic television show, Perry Mason from the end of the 1950s through 1965.