Holiday in Mexico & Weekend in Havana

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his unauthorized Italian disc combines music drawn directly from the soundtracks of two Hollywood musicals of the 1940s with titles that make them sound complementary, Holiday in Mexico (1946), starring Jane Powell, and Weekend in Havana (1941), starring Alice Faye. In fact, they are not as well paired, musically, as it might seem, since the former has a lot of classical music (pianist José Iturbi features heavily) and the latter a song score by composer Harry Warren and lyricist Mack Gordon. Actually, however, there are similarities in terms of the secondary performers who turn up prominently, both hailing from the Iberian Peninsula. Spanish-born bandleader Xavier Cugat leads the orchestra for Holiday in Mexico, while Portuguese-born singer Carmen Miranda gets a considerable showcase in Weekend in Havana. That they don't actually hail from Mexico or Cuba is a minor detail, of course; they're Latin, and that's enough for Hollywood. Powell's soprano does get used in some classical and quasi-classical material, notably Victor Herbert's 'Italian Street Song' and Schubert's 'Ave Maria,' while Faye's contralto caresses specially written numbers like 'Tropical Magic.' The sound quality is only OK, and dialogue occasionally intrudes, but the music is light and pleasant