Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

This MGM musical might just win the award for the weirdest musical of all time...or at least until the film "The Apple" debuted in 1980. It's a one-of-a-kind strange film...that's for sure.The film is set in the mythical South American nation of Patria. A young lady in a convent (Lucille Bremer) is about to reach her 18 birthday and assume control over a HUGE corporation that practically owns the nation. However, she's feeling completely overwhelmed and prays for divine assistance. Well, it happens that a devilish thief (Fred Astaire) heard her prayer and decides to become her guardian angel--and thereby rob her of her fortune. However, like you'd expect in an old time musical, Fred is torn and just can't bring himself to hurt poor Lucille. What's next? Well, I won't say but I will say it gets a lot weirder yet!! This is brainless fun...but clearly brainless. It's not a particularly good script and the film also suffers from a couple dance numbers that are too long and time-consuming--most likely to cover for the fact the film just hasn't got much of a plot. Worth seeing for Astaire lovers---all others be careful! By the way, if you do see the film look at the opening number. This must be the most sexually repressed imaginary country on the planet, as the folks shower while dressed!! You wonder how (and IF) they make love!

My guess is that Fred Astaire was having a bit of a tough time in Hollywood in the early 1940's. The studios just didn't have a clue in what vehicles and what roles he should be cast in.I mention this as it seems that in most of his offerings between 1940 and 1945, he is sadly miscast as rogues, liars, thieves, con-men, and friends who are so two-faced that they will stab you in the back at a moments notice.Some examples of these miscast roles see Fred play a scheming back-stabbing trumpeter(Second Chorus), a man who is out to steal his best friends girl (Holiday Inn), and a flyer gone AWOL, lying through his teeth in order to get his way with a girl (The Sky's the Limit).Even one of the 'sketches' in Zeigfeld Follies, has Fred playing a thief and a Pick-Pocket. I guess Hollywood casting executives must have seen a seedier side to Fred Astaire than his ardent fans ever did.Yolanda and the Thief is no exception as once again Fred is cast as a con-man, trying to swizz Yolanda (Lucille Bremmer), a Latin American heiress out of her cool seventy-two million dollar fortune, by taking advantage of her religious beliefs and pretending to be her guardian Angel.Of course the two fall in love...a little too quickly as to be believable I fear, which is why Fred finds redemption, returns her money and acts a noble hero. Its all so predictable. So predictable in fact that I knew who Leon Ames' character was meant to be from the first.No surprises here and despite Fred's miscasting the story is passable and enjoyable enough to be successfully entertaining.However, I always found that the story lines of these Hollywood musicals tended to be on the duff side anyway, and overall the one and only reason to watch was to see the stars do what they did best; sing and dance.Yet unfortunately 'Yolanda' even fails here, with only 'Coffeetime' set during a street carnival, exciting enough to watch without drooling and snoring, and as it is the last of only three dances in the film there is little else to hold your attention.About forty minutes in we are presented with a dream sequence that lasts forever and a day and just seems to go on and on without anything great happening. I felt that this sequence was so awful and prolonged that it would have felt more at home in a Gene Kelly movie.I just felt that this wasn't Fred's thing. Give him a girl to twist, turn, lift and spin, he was the master, Give him an empty stage a hot beat, a prop or two and a pair of tap shoes, then you needn't invite anyone else to the party. But this????? Two things really stand out in this film however and that is the glorious war-time Technicolour (this was Fred's first colour film) and Mildred Nantwich, who's scenes as Yolanda's aunt, are both funny and refreshing and a real treat to watch.This film understandably bombed at the box-office and is considered by many to be one of Fred Astaire's career low points which may have influenced his decision to retire soon after, However after just two years of retirement he returned in 1948 for Easter Parade and with a new permanent home at MGM, he was at last given the roles he was suited to best; roles that had served him well throughout the 1930's and were destined to be just as kind to him for the remainder of the 40's and 50's In short, this film is purely for avid Astaire completists.

A piece of Hollywood hokum, this musical has Lucille Bremer as an heiress who has been sheltered all her young life in a convent, and Fred Astaire as an enterprising thief who (stay with us here) presents himself, and is accepted as, Yolanda's guardian angel! Of course his aim is to get all her money and disappear over the border, but he's foiled along the way by fate (or is it?). The good thing about this hard to swallow fable is that there are two or three really enterprising dance numbers, and they are worth your time. But there are no real story surprises - the 'twist' you can probably see coming a mile away and of course, there is always a happy ending and a quick resolve in an MGM movie.

I'd always been curious about this one, especially considering its rather unhappy reputation as a major disappointment in the Fred Astaire/Vincente Minnelli canon, and it's fairly easy to see why. Turner Classic Movies scheduled it recently and I tuned in to watch something that certainly made me glad Technicolor was invented but which fell somewhat short of its intended mark.The story is absolute piffle, almost redeemed by Mildred Natwick's genuinely funny portrayal of a dotty aunt. (Check out the sequence where she welcomes Yolanda home from her years at a convent school.) M-G-M stalwarts Leon Ames and Frank Morgan (Was he in every single class "A" Metro production from the late Thirties through the early Fifties?) lend reliable support with the little they're given to do. And Fred Astaire and Lucille Bremer get (only) two opportunities to display their dancing compatibility. Astaire, of course, managed to complement all of his dancing partners with his patented style and grace (even the miscast Joan Fontaine in "A Damsel in Distress") but, as a matter of personal opinion, I think that Ms. Bremer runs a very close second to the gorgeous Cyd Charisse as one of his most elegant and beautiful co-stars. She's too old for her role in this one, admittedly, but she's nevertheless quite charming and a prime object for the luscious Technicolor cinematography of Charles Rosher.The real star of this misbegotten show, however, is the opulence of the very artificial art direction, set decoration, and costuming. It's Hollywood at its most baroque and Minnelli keeps his cameras gliding through it all as if on angels' wings. If you're not looking for one of the Arthur Freed's unit's bona fide musical classics, this one will provide a phantasmagoria of color and motion that's rarely been equaled.