'Week-End in Havana' couldn't be missed due to the anticipation of seeing Alice Faye, Carmen Miranda, Cesar Romero and John Payne in the same film and being a fan of musicals. It didn't disappoint me at all, getting more or less what was expected and wanted, and anybody who likes films of this type or musicals from this era are likely to find it very difficult to resist.Pretty much the only not so good thing about 'Week-End in Havana' is the story, which is as thin, predictable and nonsensical as one would expect from particularly a WW2-era musical. Also wouldn't have said no to Alice Faye having more to do than she did, and even the presence of Charlotte Greenwood, Edward Everett Horton or both may have enlivened things even more.However, as far as escapist entertainment goes and for anybody wanting a fun, delightful hour and a half diversion to blow any troubles away, 'Week-End in Havana' regardless of any reservations with the story delivers one hundred percent. The film looks gorgeous, with lavish set and costume design, big, bold, rich colours that leap out at the screen that always dazzle rather than nauseate and photographed in a way that shows a lot of love and care.The music is both infectious and beautiful, Carmen Miranda's numbers "Rebola a Bola" and "When I Love I Love" are uproarious, "Tropical Magic" is melodious magic beautifully sung in all its reprises (especially with Faye and Payne) and "Romance and Rhumba" benefits from particularly clever and nostalgic choreography in a film full of it.Furthermore the script is filled with snappy lines that crackle in energy and wit, the whole film is breezily directed with a clear love for the content and while a long way from perfect the story is never dull and has its charms.Miranda comes very close often to stealing the show in a hilarious performance, while Romero is the epitome of confident charisma and suavity and Faye is charmingly luminous and sings with beauty and heartfelt emotion. Payne is more at ease than he can be and is a suitably attractive leading man. Billy Gilbert, Georges Barbier and Leonid Kinskey are fun in supporting roles.All in all, one fun, delightful weekend indeed. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Although none of the principal players set foot in Havana, Cuba for the production of Weekend in Havana, Darryl F. Zanuck sent a second unit crew down there to get enough background shots and longshots with doubles of the players to make one feel they were having a Weekend in Havana. Usually the studios just relied on newsreel footage so 20th Century Fox was spending more than most studios would at this time.There are certain plot similarities to Paramount's Waikiki Wedding that starred Bing Crosby and Shirley Ross four years earlier. In fact George Barbier has the same kind of part in both, a business executive who wants to make sure a young woman has the time of her life on vacation be it Hawaii or Cuba.In this case it's Alice Faye, a shopgirl who saved her money for a cruise and in this case the cruise ship ran aground on a reef on the Cuban coast. She just doesn't want to sign a waiver to get the company off the hook for a lawsuit. So John Payne who is about to become Barbier's son-in-law is sent to get that waiver by hook or crook.What he ends up doing is trying to make sure Faye has a good time in Havana under his personal management. He even calls in a broke Cesar Romero in for a bit of romance when Faye doesn't take to him. Payne offers to pay Romero's debts to casino owner Sheldon Leonard and that doesn't sit too well with Carmen Miranda, Romero's girlfriend. And the whole business ain't sitting too well with Cobina Wright who is Payne's fiancé.I'm sure you can figure out where this is going plot wise. In addition to those mentioned look for nice performances from Billy Gilbert as a club owner and Leonid Kinskey as an ever helpful bellhop. Seeing Payne and Faye sing together once again confirms my thesis in that 20th Century Fox hired him to take the musical leads opposite their stars like Faye, Betty Grable, etc. He shows himself once again to be a singing Tyrone Power. Alice and he make lovely music, but of course the hit of the film is Carmen Miranda. As it was in any film she was in.Another Latin American good will film. Interesting how we got our ideas about Latin America from films like these. Nice entertainment, but bad sociopolitics.

Alice Faye knows more than she should about a cruise ship accident and gets herself a big vacation courtesy of the ship line in "Weekend in Havana," costarring John Payne, Carmen Miranda, and Cesar Romero. Alice plays a demanding young woman who insists on recompense for a long-planned vacation when handsome John Payne tries to convince her to sign a waiver. Payne escorts her to Havana where, anxious to get home for his wedding, he proves a dull escort. Faye soon hooks up with Romero, who thinks she's wealthy. He's on the lam from a casino proprietor to whom he owes money. Carmen Miranda, his girlfriend, is the jealous entertainer.Everyone in the film is delightful. Having just seen Romero in "Captain from Castile," he is even more impressive in this light role. Miranda is always fun to watch. Faye is very pretty and sings well in her lush contralto. John Payne is easy on the eyes and makes an able leading man. Cobina Wright, as Payne's fiancée, is quite stunning.I admit to liking Springtime in the Rockies and The Gang's All Here more, but "Weekend in Havana" makes for fun viewing.

The production team behind this film would have benefited if they had done research for the movie by taking a real weekend in Havana. It appears the studio executives flew down to Rio instead. How else did they come up with music and costumes that are more Brazilian than Cuban?Maybe the studio thought of this as a vehicle for Carmen Miranda, the charismatic Brazilian star. Otherwise, it doesn't make sense at all to have turned everything into a samba flavored musical that is completely out of character with its setting of the romantic allure Havana of the 40s.The music is mildly entertaining. We know what will happen and how it will end, yet, we stay with a movie that has been done better before. Walter Lang directed on auto pilot because there is nothing in the film that shows anything new that we haven't seen before.Alice Faye plays a Macy's sales lady on a Caribbean cruise. Ms. Faye is a charming presence in the film. John Payne is the man who is sent to deal with the possible problem caused by the accident of the ship and ends up falling madly in love with the sales woman. Cesar Romero is suave as the gambler that tries to endear himself to the woman he thinks is an heiress. Carmen Miranda is the singing sensation at the Casino Madrileno. "Weekend in Havana" is an inoffensive way to spend a little more than an hour and a half with these characters.