La Conga Nights Reviews

Long before Alec Guinness attempted several roles in KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS and Peter Sellers tried it in DR. STRANGELOVE, the unlikely Hugh Herbert attempted to portray six different characters in this film, five of them women. Now if he'd only had F. Hugh Herbert, the screenwriter, around to write him a good script, it might have wound up better than it did. Herbert is a music afficionado who has made a fortune in real estate and is slightly dotty. O'Keefe is a cab driver/performer who picks up Moore as she is fleeing the rent on her last boarding house. She's a singer who is out of work and can't afford a place to stay. O'Keefe takes her to his boarding house where everybody is an entertainer. The tenants are due to be evicted for non-payment of rent, and they all get together to stage a show to make enough money to save their home. They start a nightclub in the place, and it's about to be shut down when Herbert arrives, likes what he hears, and is surprised to find that he actually owns the place. He makes a gift of it to O'Keefe and Moore. Herbert does well as Herbert, but when it comes to playing his mother and his four sisters, he's a bad joke. A few songs include the traditional "La Cucaracha," arranged by Harold Potter, "Chance Of A Lifetime," "Carmenita McCoy," and "Havana." Silent actor Eddie Quillan, whose career in films spanned more than 60 years, is effective as Payne's husband. They play a pair of battling honeymooners who can't agree on anything, least of all why they made this movie. The only thing to recommend this film is the mercifully short length.