Carmen Miranda: Bananas Is My Business

Ae ae ae...at 92 minutes this is more than most people will ever want to know about the Brazilian samba star with the tutti-frutti gimmick. She is clearly a very personal obsession for director/narrator Solberg, though the most interesting material here relates to Miranda's role as a national symbol for Brazilians, and as the embodiment of Roosevelt's Good Neighbor policy during WWII. The exuberant personality comes through loud and clear, but once she made it in Hollywood, Carmen never varied her act, and it's all too obvious why she was crushed under the weight of all those bananas before she reached 50.