I caught this at a screening forming part of a mini retrospective of Jessie Matthews' thirties movies. There were roughly one hundred and twenty people present and I'd guess the majority were in their forties and fifties with about a half dozen girl couples in their twenties. The film was released in 1935 so even if you saw it as a ten year old you'd be eighty two today and if you speculate that at least one or more of the girl couples were lesbian attracted by the cross-dressing theme that still leaves a reasonable multi-generational audience.
In my case I was there to see what all the fuss was about and despite being old enough to know better - after all I've seen enough really dire British films of the period, witness Climbing High, Night Train To Munich, etc - I thought I'd give it a chance, never having actually seen Jessie Matthews in a musical and especially not when teamed with then-husband Sonny Hale. I have to say it was relatively painless and if nothing else it shows that not all British films were as bad as Climbing High (also starring Matthews in a virtually non-singing/dancing role) and some of them could make a half-decent fist of 'production' numbers. True, the plot IS a little shaky - for example Martita Hunt sends Matthews to deliver some clothes to a Princess who has made it clear that they must be in her hands inside the hour; the stage-struck Matthews 'borrows' the clothes to attend an audition and is not only hopelessly late but, after being doused with water from a passing cab whilst wearing the clothes, abandons all attempts to deliver them. Cut to a worried Martita Hunt asking a colleague to check the hospitals lest Matthews has met with an accident. That's the last we see or hear of Hunt, who, presumably never does discover what became of Matthews and/or the clothes - but this was the Depression when audiences weren't too critical so long as they were given a few laughs and a song and dance or two and Victor Savile delivers those in spades. Though there were plans mooted to co-star Matthews with Fred Astaire this never happened and it may have been just hype - she did appear briefly in a Broadway-bound show written by Vernon Duke and called The Lady Comes Across but that's as close as she came to non-domestic fame - I doubt if even her most fervent fan saw her as a threat to Ginger but in her own modest way she gave good value as a singer-dancer as she illustrates here. The score is surprisingly tuneful and at least one number, Ev'rything's In Rhythm With My Heart, had a fairly long shelf-life. Hale proved to be an adequate comedian and if Griffith Jones was a tad wooden probably no one noticed at the time. In sum: I'm pleased I finally got a chance to see what all the fuss was about.
In my case I was there to see what all the fuss was about and despite being old enough to know better - after all I've seen enough really dire British films of the period, witness Climbing High, Night Train To Munich, etc - I thought I'd give it a chance, never having actually seen Jessie Matthews in a musical and especially not when teamed with then-husband Sonny Hale. I have to say it was relatively painless and if nothing else it shows that not all British films were as bad as Climbing High (also starring Matthews in a virtually non-singing/dancing role) and some of them could make a half-decent fist of 'production' numbers. True, the plot IS a little shaky - for example Martita Hunt sends Matthews to deliver some clothes to a Princess who has made it clear that they must be in her hands inside the hour; the stage-struck Matthews 'borrows' the clothes to attend an audition and is not only hopelessly late but, after being doused with water from a passing cab whilst wearing the clothes, abandons all attempts to deliver them. Cut to a worried Martita Hunt asking a colleague to check the hospitals lest Matthews has met with an accident. That's the last we see or hear of Hunt, who, presumably never does discover what became of Matthews and/or the clothes - but this was the Depression when audiences weren't too critical so long as they were given a few laughs and a song and dance or two and Victor Savile delivers those in spades. Though there were plans mooted to co-star Matthews with Fred Astaire this never happened and it may have been just hype - she did appear briefly in a Broadway-bound show written by Vernon Duke and called The Lady Comes Across but that's as close as she came to non-domestic fame - I doubt if even her most fervent fan saw her as a threat to Ginger but in her own modest way she gave good value as a singer-dancer as she illustrates here. The score is surprisingly tuneful and at least one number, Ev'rything's In Rhythm With My Heart, had a fairly long shelf-life. Hale proved to be an adequate comedian and if Griffith Jones was a tad wooden probably no one noticed at the time. In sum: I'm pleased I finally got a chance to see what all the fuss was about.