Panama Hattie (1942) User Reviews

The Canal must be saved

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 18 March 2015]

The comic antics of Red Skelton was substituted for the songs of Cole Porter in this MGM adaption of his Broadway show Panama Hattie. That a Porter score would survive almost intact from Broadway was unheard of. His other contemporaries suffered the same fate, but in Porter's case more so because of the sophisticated and naughty lyrics he wrote.

Ethel Merman starred on Broadway beginning a run that lasted 501 performances. Only Rags Ragland who along with Ben Blue was one of Red's sidekicks as a trio of oafish sailors who capture enemy spies by accident is the only survivor from the Broadway cast.

Ann Sothern takes Ethel's place as the star and she performs along with young Jackie Horner the big hit of the Broadway show Let's Be Buddies. Only I've Still Got My Health and Fresh As A Daisy survived from Porter's original score. Songs were written and interpolated from many sources. But one of the best is from Porter himself when Lena Horne sang Just One Of Those Things. In fact it doesn't get better than that.

In the title role Sothern is the owner of a nightclub located in the Panama Canal Zone which is frequented like Rick's Cafe Americaine of all kinds of people from our Armed Forces and from an international assortment of mysterious and intriguing figures. Some of them are planning to do damage to the Canal.

Some are planning to damage to Sothern like Marsha Hunt who has her eye set on Army sergeant Dan Dailey. But with Sothern guarding what she's got a previous claim on and the comic sailors guarding the Canal the spirit of America carries on.

Panama Hattie is more Red Skelton than Cole Porter and Porter fans will not be happy. But it is a fun wartime film.

Film version of Cole Porter's Panama Hattie is a mixed bag but worth a look for anyone not minding that

[tavm · 6/10 · 6 March 2016]

After years of only reading a bit about this movie, I finally saw Panama Hattie on a DVD I borrowed from the library. Adapted from a Cole Porter musical comedy, this film version only retains 4 of his songs from it with another one he wrote called "Just One of Those Things" from another musical he wrote it for. Lena Horne sang that one and another song written by someone else which she performs with The Berry Brothers dancers who also have another number. The stars are Ann Sothern in the title role and Red Skelton as one of three sailors-the others being Rags Ragland and Ben Blue-who are involved in a plot to expose spies. Ms. Sothern has a romantic subplot involving her romance with Dan Dailey but really, it doesn't really go anywhere while the sailors/spies one at least has some good laughs. Oh, and since this was made during wartime, it ends with a number meant to get America cheering the eventual destruction of the Japs which while understandable for the time it was made sounds very politically incorrect today. But none of this is supposed to be taken seriously so on that note, Panama Hattie is worth a look for anyone interested in these vintage old movies.

Very 40's

[norm-102 · 5/10 · 11 January 2006]

Even though Ethyl Merman originated the role on Broadway, she was not considered attractive enough to carry the starring top billing. I am a real fan of Cole Porter and will watch anything he is involved with. Unfortunately, a lot of his work is either not included in movies that tout "music by Cole Porter", or is thrown out because it may not be mainstream for the audience of the day. Good example is "Anything Goes."

This is a movie you watch for the musical performance and dancing, not the story. Dan Daily's role could have been played by anyone.

I pull out the DVD about twice a year and again visit Cole Porter and this innocent musical.

Lena Horne is outstanding.

Better Than Expected

[anythinggoes · 13 September 2003]

I felt it my patriotic duty to write a comment, since this movie was commentless. So... A little background: I'm a big fan of Cole Porter, Ann Sothern, musicals, and 40's movies, and had been wanting to see this film for a while before I actually saw it this afternoon. Coming into it, though, I had my qualms. I saw another 30's Cole Porter musical turned into 40's movie, Dubarry Was a Lady. It was so horrible that I almost cried. Most of Porter's original songs had been scrapped for non-Porter crap songs. Lucille Ball's voice was dubbed. Red Skelton was an idiot. But... this is not a forum for how horrible Dubarry Was a Lady was. So, I entered with trepidation the world of Panama Hattie to realise that the script was quite witty, full of sight gags, yes, but tasteful sight gags, the non-Porter songs were not crap, Ann Sothern is a competent vocalist(Nothing compared to Merman, who originated the part, but really, who is anything compared to Merman?), and Lena Horne's in it. Any movie with two Lena Horne numbers is worth watching simply for Lena Horne. But, I suggest watching this movie for more than just Lena Horne. While she is the best songstress of the bunch, Virginia O'Brian is rather fun to watch with her deadpan singing. She was quite famous for that, as I vaguely recall watching a short of her doing a lavish production number with Jimmy Durante or someone similar. I found Red Skelton, whom I so loathed in Dubarry Was a Lady, to be extremely likeable, along with his sailor buddies. Rags Ragland was the funniest of the three, but I came away wanting to marry Ben Blue. Dan Dailey was also fun to see, but I thought it was very odd that he didn't get a musical number. Anyway, the plot is slim to none, but the movie really wasn't about plot, it was about fun and peddling war bonds.

watch this one just for the stars

[ksf-2 · 7/10 · 22 May 2022]

It's a war-time propaganda film, so allowances will be made! In lieu of a clear, solid story, we see huge star after star sing or dance, or do a standup bit. My personal favorite is the amazing miss virginia obrien; she only did about twenty films, but every one is a hilarious gem. I won't list the cast list, but check it out.. it's just incredible. With all those directors and writers, it's no wonder it's kind of a big mish-mash of a story... from the filming dates, it looks like it was re-hashed after pearl harbor, with scenes added, and removed. Ann sothern is hattie, who runs the joint where the story takes place. And some nonsense about getting upset at something the little girl says. Sothern was maisie in films for years, before and after panama hattie. Watch this one just for the parade of stars that come strolling by. Mostly good stuff. Shows on turner classic now and then. I'm surprised at the low-ish rating, but to be fair, the story is a little wacky, and it's based on only 480 votes so far.

Pleasant and fun film that loses its way

[vincentlynch-moonoi · 7/10 · 21 March 2012]

This film really belonged to Ann Southern (Hattie), but it came along just as Red Skelton was skyrocketing, so he got top billing. I'm not complaining; I've always been a fan of Red. This is a pleasant enough B movie, but if you watch for the Cole Porter songs (this is an adaption of a Cole Porter Broadway musical), you'll be disappointed. Only 4 of Porter's song make it into the film. Interestingly, the musical numbers were staged by Vincente Minnelli.

Skelton is just what you want Skelton to be, although it's pretty clear the top billing came after the script was written. We have forgotten how talented Ann Southern was...perhaps because of her later years in television. Rags Ragland (who was always best with Skelton) and Ben Blue are along for laughs. Virginia O'Brien is her usual deadpan self, and Alan Mowbray is...what else...a butler. Dan Dailey is Southern's love interest. Lena Horne takes a couple of turns as a singer, but gets no billing. And the spectacular African-American dancers The Berry Brothers are stunning, but also got no billing.

Unfortunately, just about an hour into the film, it seems to lose direction. Let's see, I thought it was about the love story between Southern and Dailey...oops, that disappears until the very end of the film. Oh, suddenly it's about the zany trio (Skelton, Blue, Ragland) catching spies...well, it is, for a few minutes. And so it goes.

But, it's a sort of fun pic and good for a watch.

not great

[blanche-2 · 5/10 · 17 April 2008]

Ann Sothern is "Panama Hattie" in this 1942 film based on the Broadway musical starring Ethel Merman. Also starring are Dan Dailey, Red Skelton, Rags Ragland, Ben Blue, Virginia O'Brien (as Flo, originated on Broadway by Betty Hutton), Marsha Hunt, Lena Horne and the Berry Brothers. The story concerns a vivacious nightclub singer (Sothern) who falls in love with a man (Dailey) who has a young daughter, but she has competition from a socially prominent woman who warns Hattie that she's not of his class and won't make a good wife. There is a subplot concerning spies who are uncovered by three sailors (Skelton, Ragland and Blue).

This a very old-fashioned musical comedy plot with pleasant music, the highlight being "Just One of Those Things" as sung by the beautiful Lena Horne. The singing from Sothern and O'Brien is very good, and Sothern does well as the insecure, vulnerable and sometimes overdressed singer. The problem for me are the Three Stooges-like sailors - a little bit of that goes a long way.

Watch it for the singing and the patriotic "Good Neighbors" finale - it was wartime.

Enjoyable Farrago

[EdgarST · 6/10 · 26 February 2015]

Ordinary but mostly enjoyable farrago, mixing song and dance, propaganda, comic routines "a la Three Stooges", and espionage. When it follows the plot of the romance between a refined American soldier and the trashy title singer (an American showgirl lost in Central America), aided by a trio of American sailors and the leading lady's American best friend, and hindered by an American officer's daughter, with all of them in a cardboard Panamá, it is a happy musical, the typical romantic comedy full of music. The sing and dance numbers blend quite well with the plot (though a couple of songs are on the ugly side, as "Good Neighbors" and "The Sping"). But when the spying subplot is introduced out of the blue (to destroy the Panama Canal one more time), the film goes off-balance and it never recovers, with a terrible propaganda finale as the cast sings the awful "The Son of a Gun Who Picks on Uncle Sam" (by Burton Lane and E.Y. Harburg) before the end title selling war bonds appears. However the two previous acts were much better, and counterbalance the bad impression a bit, even if we take into consideration the rather offensive representation of Panamá as a small village out of a Mexican ranch comedy, in a time when international singers, orchestras and dancers (including Evita Perón) performed at prestigious cabarets in the capital city; and worst of all (for an American movie), a most inaccurate portrait of the Panama Canal Zone administered by the United States Armed Forces. In spite of all the bad things said and written about the troubled film (with director Norman Z. McLeod walking off the production), "Panama Hattie" will make you no harm in 79 minutes, it contains several fine moments of entertainment for you to enjoy, and I am sure that you have seen much worse musicals.

mediocre MGM version of Merman's Broadway hit

[Emaisie39 · 5/10 · 22 October 2007]

Highly mediocre musical is a botched filmization of Ethel Merman's Broadway smash. In this one, the marvelous Ann Sothern at the peak of her pin-up girl beauty almost saves the film with another delightful performance. Glossy MGM production values and a game cast including Dan Dailey, Red Skelton, Virginia O'Brien and the lovely Lena Horne give it their all. Story is very thin but this was still a huge hit at the time. Probably because Miss Sothern was then one of MGM's top box-office draws at the time. Sothern's "Lady Be Good"(MGM,1941) is a far superior film with a charming script and an Oscar-winning song but was somehow less popular than "Panama Hattie." WHo knows why some films make a fortune and others tank....

A forgettable movie of a now-forgotten Cole Porter musical

[richard-1787 · 7/10 · 9 April 2022]

At his best, Cole Porter wrote some wonderful musicals. *Panama Hattie* was not one of them. It ran for 500+ performances in the early 1940s, in large part because Ethel Merman starred. It produced no great songs. Perhaps the closest was "I've Still Got My Health."

Still, MGM decided to turn it into a movie, granted with a good but not great cast: Ann Southern, Dan Dailey, Red Skelton, Virginia O'Brian, etc. All fine performers, but not A-level stars in 1942. The result is a mixed bag.

For me, the best thing was one of the inserted numbers, Lena Horne singing "Just One of Those Things" from a different Porter show. (Her other inserted number, late in the movie, "The Sping," is a waste of time and talent.) Ann Southern is much better in "Lady Be Good" from the same period. Most of the rest left me uninterested.

The last number, a patriotic number meant to inspire moviegoers to buy war bonds on their way out of the theater, is a complete dud. That sort of thing had been, and would be, done so much better in other movies made during the war, but here it's a flop.

If you have something to keep you busy, like arranging your sox, this might be good background sound. Otherwise, it's pretty much of a waste.

Old King Cole was not a merry Broadway soul with altered film versions of his biggest 30's and 40's hits.

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 9 August 2013]

Cole Porter and Ethel Merman struck gold on stage with half a dozen hits but the movie versions of these shows greatly edited down his songs, made alterations to the stories, and gave da Merm's part to contract players. "Panama Hattie" went to M.G.M's Maisie, only changing the name to Hattie which makes the role indistinguishable for star Ann Sothern. Add in newcomer Red Skelton, comic sidekicks Rags Ragland and Ben Blue, and it is obvious that this is a streamlined version of a stage hit that ran for over 500 performances.

The plot switches gears from romance to farce, easily wrapping up each plot in order to throw in some specialty numbers. Lena Horne has a cameo singing, very briefly, "Just one of Those Things", and later the mediocre "The Sping", which at least a lively dance sequence to go with it. Virginia O'Brien gets at least a character to play in addition to her two deadpan songs. Sothern does get two of Merman's hits and is especially memorable with "I've still got my Health". Also retained is "Let's Be Buddies", Hattie's duet with potential stepdaughter Jackie Horner. Future Betty Grable partner Dan Dailey is Sothern's love interest and Marsha Hunt a bitchy rival, but both are wasted. But in retrospect, this has a rushed together feeling that makes it no more special than many of M.G.M.'s programmers.

Corn and a few good tunes

[rdbqpaul · 6/10 · 9 April 2022]

The trio of Skelton-Blue-Ragland is a D quality version of The Three Stooges. The spy house sequence is just dumb. Ann Southern songs fine. Virginia OBrien is good with "Fresh as a Daisy." Lena Horne is stunning on "Just One of those Things." The two Berry Brothers appearances are very good but Lena's talent on "The Sping." The Berry Brothers save it. All in all, it's very low grade 40s musical diversion. Not even Technicolor could make this better than a B.

Not exactly a Red Skelton film.

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 18 July 2016]

While the credits list Red Skelton and Ann Sothern as the leads in this film, it certainly is NOT a Skelton film...though he is in it. In fact, he plays a smaller supporting role--one of three lovable dumbbell sailors who help out the title character. So, if you are a big Skelton fan (like me), you'll probably find the film to be a big disappointment.

The film is set in Panama but clearly is a script based on a stage production in style. In other words, the plot seems to be very thin and often nonsensical and the production is stuffed full of songs. The songs, while by Cole Porter, aren't especially memorable but the dance numbers by the uncredited Berry Brothers are awfully good.

The plot is just plain goofy. Hattie (Sothern) has somehow fallen in love with a soldier (Dan Dailey) who comes from a fancy-shmancy family...which is a problem since Hattie is just a dame who sings in nightclubs. The mismatch is obvious when she meets the guy's daughter, a precocious brat if you've ever seen one. Can Hattie, with help from her three idiot friends, somehow win over the child and marry the guy? Along the way, it gets SUPER strange--with spies, big production numbers and none of of makes a lot of sense. On top of that, the writing is occasionally poor...and I found myself guessing the punchlines of most of the jokes. It isn't that I am some genius...the writing was just very weak. Overall, mildly entertaining at best.

An interesting and entertaining mix of parts

[jimjo1216 · 1 April 2015]

PANAMA HATTIE (1942) is two different movies, plotwise. One movie is about nightclub singer Hattie Maloney and her romance with a young soldier from a well-to-do Philadelphia family. The other film is a slapstick comedy about a trio of sailors on shore leave, with a penchant for catching spies. Juggling both, only tenuously connected plots in a 79-minute time frame means that neither story is properly developed. Conflicts are resolved easily and off-screen. And both stories give way to extended musical numbers, particularly at the end.

Despite its obvious weaknesses, PANAMA HATTIE is a very entertaining collection of parts. Red Skelton, Rags Ragland, and Ben Blue make a fine comedic team. The slapstick is pulled off well and the script is witty. Skelton's clowning shtick isn't too overbearing, as he is part of a trio (and the brains, no less). Ann Sothern impresses with her singing and Lena Horne is showcased in a couple of musical numbers with the dancing Berry Brothers.

Two favorites of mine, the offbeat "deadpan" singer Virginia O'Brien and the lovely Marsha Hunt, are welcome presences in the congenial ensemble. O'Brien shines in fun numbers like "Fresh as a Daisy" and "(Did I Get Stinkin') At the Savoy". Hunt's mildly antagonistic Philadelphia snob is a bit of a change of pace for her, and she has some great comedic moments opposite Skelton.

The film's finale becomes an interesting showcase of wartime patriotism, capped by the entire cast singing "The Son of a Gun Who Picks on Uncle Sam" about bombing the Japs and Heinies right off their Axis and whatnot. There's a great line near the end. After convincing her to join the war effort, Skelton tells Hunt that he'll take her around the world after the war is over: "I'll even show you where Japan used to be."

6.5/10

Plenty of Good Music Going On

[LeonardKniffel · 7/10 · 9 April 2020]

The underappreciated Ann Sothern and Virginia O'Brien--not to mention music by Cole Porter--make this marginally important film a must-see. O'Brien's deadpan rendition of "Did I Get Stinkin' at the Club Savoy" (stinkin' drunk, that is) is as funny as all get-out. The absolute highlights, however, are Lena Horne singing "Just One of Those Things" and the Berry Brothers (James, Nyas, and Warren) dancing to "Berry Me Not." ---from Musicals on the Silver Screen, American Library Association, 2013

Cheers!

[theognis-80821 · 6/10 · 15 November 2023]

The Great Depression was over and its ending was celebrated in this gay, fun-loving, happy-go-lucky musical featuring soon to be TV stars, Red Skelton and Ann Sothern. It marked the debut of the magnificent Vincente Minelli, whose career was to span our greatest musicals and some of our finest melodramas. Metro was a powerhouse for musicals, with wonderful art direction from the staff of Cedric Gibbons and numbers staged for DP George Folsey. Supremely talented singer/actresses Virginia O'Brien and Lena Horne each get two numbers along with the amazing dances of The Berry Brothers. It's hard to be blue when everyone is having such a good time.

A Single Kernel of Wheat Among the Chaff

[frankebe · 1/10 · 9 April 2016]

That single kernel, that one diamond hidden in the dirt, is an excellent little dance routine by the three comedians. More about that later.

This is one of those movies constructed in a way I most loathe—the characters talk their way through an unpleasant story that bores me to death, and unsympathetic characters (Ann Southern doesn't get along with a child; how unsympathetic can you get????). In amongst all this are three highly-talented comedians, and a bunch of speciality song-and-dance numbers.

I hate specialty numbers. I don't want to see the Berry Brothers jump from a 20-foot high mezzanine into split position during a gratuitous dance. It would be so much better if they did these acrobatics as part of a story, like Buster Keaton or Harold Lloyd. But... no. I also hate being dragged away from the only real reason I am watching a movie—to see my favorite comedians. I hated it when Hal Roach did this to Laurel & Hardy and I hate it in this movie.

But one scene—ONE number is the sole reason to keep this DVD. About 31 minutes in, Red, Rags and Ben do a characterful little dance. Now I've been searching to find out if Red Skelton could really dance—he said once that he could dance, but I've never seen him do a good number in his TV shows nor in all the movies I've seen so far; and I've wanted to see Ben Blue do a nice number—because I wondered how someone so contrived could have been a successful performer (and it was obvious that he was a great dancer).

Well, here it is, for a very, very, MUCH TOO SHORT moment or two, the comedians get to do some real dancing. This is dancing with technique, but also infused with great personality and THAT is the dancing I like to see!

For the rest of the movie... meh. I don't see why people like Ann Southern—she has a voice like a kazoo and she doesn't do much with her dancing. Her character is unlikeable, she's not funny, and I do not find her attractive. She is very irritating. I also find Virginia O'Brien extremely boring. The comedy trio is good when they dance, but the rest of time...

...I would actually have preferred to see the Three Stooges doing their sketches!! Especially the one about being in the spooky spy house. Red, Rags and Ben are SO LAME here I couldn't believe it. The Stooges actually would have provided more energy, better pantomime, and better ensemble work.

like the performers

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 14 November 2023]

Hattie Maloney (Ann Sothern) runs a busy nightclub in Panama where all kinds of characters gather. Red (Red Skelton), Rags (Rags Ragland), and Rowdy (Ben Blue) are three eager American sailors in the audience.

This is adapted from a Cole Porter Broadway musical. The film kept about half of the Cole Porter songs and replaced the rest with new songs. The musical performers include Lena Horne and the Berry Brothers. The story is not worth much and I'm not that taken with it. It's more about the singing and dancing while Red and the boys try to be funny. I like these performers. This is mostly fine.

*1/2

[edwagreen · 3/10 · 23 March 2015]

Ann Sothern sings up a storm here, especially at the beginning of the film to remind us that this comic legend had quite a nice voice in her time.

The picture starts off promising, but goes downhill rapidly even with Red Skelton and Ben Blue in it. The two comedians are given little opportunity to show this comedic talents. As her suitor, we really could have seen Ann's developing a better relationship with his daughter, after a very rocky beginning.

How about the spy situation in that house? Who were these spies? That could have been handled so much better. The ending patriotic song was great, but the story line is so terribly weak.

Here, Arthur, Do This

[boblipton · 5/10 · 14 November 2023]

The plot of this movie, derived from the stage show, is that in the Canal Zone, well born army man Dan Dailey and gaudy entertainer Ann Southern want to get married, but Admiral's niece Marsha Hunt wants to break up the ill-conceived affair.

Which has little, if anything to do with the movie, or probably the stage show. It's another example of the evolution of the musical from a straight revue to a book musical, with a plot that's enough of a sketch to allow several specialty numbers. Despite the clowning of Red Skelton, Rags Ragland, and the ever-not-funny Ben Blue as three dumb sailors, Alan Mowbray as Dailey's butler who thinks he's made a mistake being in this movie, there are some decent Cole Porter numbers, including "Just One Of Those Things", which Lena Horne sings in a number placed so it could be cut for the Whites-Only theaters. There's also Virginia O'Brien singing some frozen-faced numbers, and so forth.

It's an early production credit for Arthur Freed, and Vincente Minnelli directed some bits uncredited. However, it looks like he was given one of those overstuffed scripts by the boses and had no choice in the matter.

Fortunately, Freed would soon demonstrate what he could do if left alone, and Red Skelton was carved off, and with S. Sylvan Simon as director and Buster Keaton as gag writer, did some good work. But this stuff is all canned ham, with the performers slotted in regardless of their actual strengths. Except for Miss Horne.

Never as good as its potential

[utgard14 · 5/10 · 6 October 2023]

Disappointing musical comedy based off a popular Broadway show. I've read they changed quite a bit. I can believe it. This stars Ann Sothern in a role very similar to the one she was playing in the successful Maisie series at this time. Unfortunately while Maisie was written as a perpetually likable character, Hattie is an acquired taste. Her insecurity in particular is more off-putting than relatable. The supporting cast is full of good performers, but most don't get material that matches their talents. Red Skelton is especially bland here. He finally comes alive near the end but it's too late. Virginia O'Brien is the best part. Love her. The musical numbers are ok. Worth a look for fans of the stars. Just keep expectations low.

More Talent Than Material

[dougdoepke · 5 June 2010]

Okay, taken as a whole, the movie is pretty much a mess, particularly the storyline, which even by generous standards of the Hollywood musical is pretty much impossible. But then, the screenplay involves eight writers, eight, so no wonder the elements don't gel. Then too, I gather from TCM that portions were either added or re-shot after disastrous previews. That too is not surprising given the large number of featured players, with some like Dailey and Esmond left to drift around the edges. Add the undistinguished musical numbers, except of course for Horne's eye-catching and tuneful Just One of Those Things, and the 80- minutes amounts to a disappointment.

However, there are compensations. The first half is lively, featuring two amusing encounters —an irrepressible little Gerry versus an over-dressed Hattie; and a fiercely snooty Jenkins versus everyone else. These are energetic and colorful little comedy segments—too bad the rest doesn't reach this level, especially the under-inspired and over-long mansion knock- about sequence. Nonetheless, Ragland and Skelton are a natural team and would go on to bigger and better routines.

There's also a subtext typical of the times. Note how much of the comedic effort involves puncturing the pretensions of the stuffy Leila and Jenkins. It's really an effort to make "regular guys" out of the elite. After all, winning the war requires submerging social distinctions into the one-for-all and all-for-one democratic spirit, as symbolized in the everyone-on-stage finale. Anyway, the movie looks to me like a good example of a cast being a lot better than the material. .