The 8th film in the series "Blondie Goes Latin" was even lightly praised by The New York Times (which otherwise ignored the entire series with the exception of the first and second and "Blondie Hits the Jackpot" — third from the end).
This attempt to make a full-fledged musical "Blondie" is surprisingly successful. Miss Singleton has a good voice and is a more than adequate dancer (before landing in Hollywood, she had singing roles in a number of Broadway musicals). Sadly, this is the only entry in the series which showcases this side of her talent. She is often very attractively photographed too and it is obvious that the whole film has been produced with considerably more care and polish than usual.
Photography, sets, costumes and production values generally are remarkably lavish by "B" standards. Nor are the songs by any means mediocre. They are very pleasant indeed — and the orchestrations outstanding.
Mr. Lake has obviously been putting in a bit of behind-the-scenes practice on the drums, and Mr. Guizar, the conventional Latin "romance", is in excellent voice. Ruth Terry is delightfully vivacious and aside from Janet Burston (who is a bit of a pain) the support cast is generally top-notch.
A special highlight early in the film is provided by Eddie Acuff, who plays the cab-driver watching Irving Bacon being mown down in yet another amusing variation on the postman gag that runs right through the series.
Strayer's deft direction of this episode which commences with a tracking shot following Alvin as he leaves the Bumstead house to disclose Bacon hiding behind a tree, is also worthy of mention. In fact, right throughout Blondie Goes Latin Strayer exhibits an occasional eye for striking compositions — though he is not much helped by the footloose film editing of Gene Havlick.
All in all, the plot of this entry may be slight, but it has plenty of inherent entertainment and is beautifully dressed up.
This attempt to make a full-fledged musical "Blondie" is surprisingly successful. Miss Singleton has a good voice and is a more than adequate dancer (before landing in Hollywood, she had singing roles in a number of Broadway musicals). Sadly, this is the only entry in the series which showcases this side of her talent. She is often very attractively photographed too and it is obvious that the whole film has been produced with considerably more care and polish than usual.
Photography, sets, costumes and production values generally are remarkably lavish by "B" standards. Nor are the songs by any means mediocre. They are very pleasant indeed — and the orchestrations outstanding.
Mr. Lake has obviously been putting in a bit of behind-the-scenes practice on the drums, and Mr. Guizar, the conventional Latin "romance", is in excellent voice. Ruth Terry is delightfully vivacious and aside from Janet Burston (who is a bit of a pain) the support cast is generally top-notch.
A special highlight early in the film is provided by Eddie Acuff, who plays the cab-driver watching Irving Bacon being mown down in yet another amusing variation on the postman gag that runs right through the series.
Strayer's deft direction of this episode which commences with a tracking shot following Alvin as he leaves the Bumstead house to disclose Bacon hiding behind a tree, is also worthy of mention. In fact, right throughout Blondie Goes Latin Strayer exhibits an occasional eye for striking compositions — though he is not much helped by the footloose film editing of Gene Havlick.
All in all, the plot of this entry may be slight, but it has plenty of inherent entertainment and is beautifully dressed up.