First a Girl

Filmed in 1935, "First a Girl" was Britain's entry in the Victor/Victoria sweepstakes which Blake Edwards would win years later. In this version, it's Jessie Matthews who plays a girl disguised as a boy disguised as a girl who lands a music hall gig and confuses everyone in sight. A spunky, doe-eyed gamin with a winning personality, she's ably assisted by her then-husband Sonnie Hale as a Shakesepearian ham reduced to doing a drag act. Along the way, she sings, dances, gets comically drunk and glides through several Busby Brekleyesque song-and-dance numbers. "First a Girl" doesn't have the style or wit that Edwards brought to "Victor Victoria." But it's far more than a museum piece and well worth watching in its own right.