''The Cuban Love Song'' is a 1931 American

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines, popularly known ...

musical film directed by W.S. Van Dyke and written by C. Gardner Sullivan,

Bess Meredyth Bess Meredyth (born Helen Elizabeth MacGlashen, February 12, 1890 – July 13, 1969) was a screenwriter and silent film actress. The wife of film director Michael Curtiz, Meredyth wrote ''The Affairs of Cellini'' (1934) and adapted '' The Unsus ...

, John Lynch, John Colton,

Gilbert Emery Gilbert Emery Bensley Pottle (June 11, 1875 – October 28, 1945), known professionally as Gilbert Emery, was an American actor who appeared in over 80 movies from 1921 to his death in 1945. He was also a playwright, author of seven Broadway pla ...

, Robert E. Hopkins and Paul Hervey Fox. The film stars

Lawrence Tibbett Lawrence Mervil Tibbett (November 16, 1896 – July 15, 1960) was an American opera singer and recording artist who also performed as a film actor and radio personality. A baritone, he sang leading roles with the Metropolitan Opera in New York ...

Lupe Vélez María Guadalupe Villalobos Vélez (July 18, 1908 – December 13, 1944), known professionally as Lupe Vélez, was a Mexican actress, singer and dancer during the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema. Vélez began her career as a performer in Mexican ...

Ernest Torrence Ernest Torrence (born Ernest Torrance-Thomson, 26 June 1878 – 15 May 1933) was a Scottish film character actor who appeared in many Hollywood films, including '' Broken Chains'' (1922) with Colleen Moore, '' Mantrap'' (1926) with Clara Bow a ...

, Jimmy Durante,

Karen Morley Karen Morley (born Mildred Linton; December 12, 1909 – March 8, 2003) was an American film actress. Life and career Born Mildred Linton in Ottumwa, Iowa, Morley lived there until she was 13 years old. When she moved to Hollywood, she attend ...

and

Louise Fazenda Louise Fazenda (June 17, 1895 – April 17, 1962) was an American film actress, appearing chiefly in silent comedy films. Early life Fazenda was born in her maternal grandparents' house in Lafayette, Indiana, the daughter of merchandise bro ...

. The film was released on December 5, 1931 by

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 ...

. It was the last of four films that the baritone Tibbett made for MGM following the introduction of sound film. The film received a generally favorable critical reception, but suffered badly at the box office. Nonetheless two of the film's songs, "The Cuban Love Song" and "El Manisero", were major hits.Vogel p.83

Plot

Shortly after becoming engaged to a socialite, an upper-class American named Terry enlists in the U.S. Marine Corps to get his wild urges out of his system. He and his two friends and comrades get into many scrapes, frequently ending up in the brig. While in Cuba, he falls in love with Nenita, a spirited young woman who sells peanuts from a small cart on the street. Their relationship is interrupted by America's entry into World War I, and Terry is wounded in the fighting in France. He is nursed back to health by his fiancée, and the two marry. More than a decade later, Terry bumps into his former comrades in New York. This reawakens memories of his carefree days in Cuba. He returns to Havana to find Nenita, only to discover that she has died of fever. However he encounters a boy named Terry, who he realizes is the product of his passionate relationship with Nenita a decade earlier. He adopts the boy and takes him back to the United States where his wife generously welcomes both father and son home.

Cast

as Terry *

as Nenita *

as Romance * Jimmy Durante as O.O. Jones *

as Crystal *

as Elvira *

Hale Hamilton Hale Rice Hamilton (February 28, 1880 – May 19, 1942) was an American actor, writer and producer. Biography Hamilton was born in Topeka, Kansas in 1880. (His birth year is sometimes listed as either 1879 or 1883.) Hamilton's Broadway debut w ...

as John *

Mathilde Comont Mathilde Comont (9 September 1886 – 21 June 1938), credited also as Mathilda Caumont, was a French-born American actress, primarily of the silent era. Biography Born in Bordeaux, she appeared in films in her native country, particularly ...

as Aunt Rose

References

Bibliography

* Michelle Vogel. ''Lupe Velez: The Life and Career of Hollywood's "Mexican Spitfire"''. McFarland, 2012.

External links

* * * * 1931 films 1930s English-language films American musical films 1931 musical films Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Films directed by W. S. Van Dyke Films scored by Herbert Stothart American black-and-white films Films set in Cuba Films set in France American World War I films Films set in the 1910s Films set in the 1920s Seafaring films 1930s American films {{WWI-film-stub