Moon Over Miami (film)

Moon Over Miami

Film poster
Directed by Walter Lang
Produced by Harry Joe Brown
Written by George Seaton
Lynn Starling
Vincent Lawrence
Brown Holmes
Stephen Powys
Starring Don Ameche
Betty Grable
Robert Cummings
Music by Ralph Rainger
Cinematography Allen M. Davey
J. Peverell Marley
Leon Shamroy
Edited by Walter Thompson
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release dates
  • June 18, 1941 (1941-06-18)
Running time
 91 min.
Country United States
Language English

Moon Over Miami is a 1941 Technicolor musical film directed by Walter Lang, with Betty Grable and Don Ameche in leading roles and co-starring Robert Cummings, Carole Landis, Jack Haley, and Charlotte Greenwood. It was one of Haley's last appearances in a major, large-budgeted film; after 1943 he began making mostly B-pictures. The film's original songs were written by Leo Robin and Ralph Rainger.

Synopsis

Sisters Kay and Barbara Latimer are working as carhops in a Texas drive-in restaurant with their aunt Susan, the cook, when they are notified that an expected inheritance of $55,000 is only $4,000 after taxes and fees. Determined to marry a millionaire, Kay talks Barbara and Susan into spending the money on a trip to Miami, where she hopes to hook a rich man at a resort.

With Barbara posing as Kay's secretary and Susan as her maid, the three women check into the Flamingo Hotel and make the acquaintance of Jack O'Hara, a bartender who pontificates about his hatred of fortune hunters. Jack, who quickly becomes enamored with Susan, believes that Kay is on the level and promises to steer her away from gold diggers.

Kay finagles an invitation to a party being hosted by rich Jeffrey Bolton, and while there, also meets Phil McNeil, heir to the renowned McNeil Mines. Boyhood friends Jeff and Phil begin a fierce rivalry for Kay, who cannot make up her mind between the two handsome men, nor does she notice that Barbara has fallen in love with Jeff.

At the end of three weeks, the women are in trouble because they need $150 to pay their hotel bill, but Susan borrows the money from Jack, who has proposed to her. Realizing that she needs to get one of the men to propose to her that evening, Kay brings Barbara along to a dance to keep one of them occupied. Kay gets Barbara to dance with Jeff while she talks with Phil, with whom she has fallen in love.

Phil admits to her that he is broke, and that the McNeil Mines will not be profitable again for at least five years. Kay confesses that she, too, came to Miami to find a rich spouse, and the pair reluctantly agree to pursue other partners. Phil tells Jeff that Kay loves him, after which she accepts Jeff's proposal.

As the women are packing to leave for Jeff's father's island, however, Jack overhears them talking about their scheme and threatens to tell Jeff. After locking Jack in the bathroom, the women leave for the island, where they meet William, Jeff's businessman father. Desperate to see Kay again, Phil goes to the island and volunteers to be Jeff's best man. The women are also stunned by the arrival of Jack, who threatens to tell all if he determines that Kay does not really love Jeff.

On the night of a party that Jeff is throwing for Kay, Barbara encourages Jeff to accept a challenging job in South America to escape from under his father's shadow, while Phil admits to Kay that he loves her. As Phil is trying to persuade Kay that they belong together no matter what, Jeff enters the room. Phil and Kay explain that they are going to get married, and Jeff acknowledges that he has loved Barbara all along and will marry her.

Soon all ends well, as Susan and Jack also come to a romantic conclusion, and the three couples begin their lives together.

Cast

Accolades

The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

References

  1. ↑ "AFI's Greatest Movie Musicals Nominees" (PDF). Retrieved 2016-08-13.
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