A businessman's daughter runs away from an arranged marriage, only to find herself penniless and suspected...
(79 mins.) Released 1932-10-26
Director: Albert de Courville
Stars: Jessie Matthews, Owen Nares, Carol Goodner, Jerry Verno
Comedy | Musical | Romance
After watching Hitchcock's Strauss' Great Waltz, and anticipating First a Girl (1935), and viewing some clips of JM dancing, I wondered why she never paired with Astaire. (An IMDb trivia entry says she was up for the lead in Damsel in Distress, instead of Joan Fontaine. According to a BBC tabloidy documentary on YouTube, she chose to attempt pregnancy, with tragic results: child died shortly after birth.)
This film is far more acceptable as a musical than the last few I've watched, but with scant reason. JM sings a song to her captor in his living room, then later the tune is heard at a party where she's captive in his car, and the chauffeur makes up new lyrics (ala Love Me Tonight, a little, also 1932, both released in October). Then when she gets into the party, she sings a song to the gathering. Without the chauffeur's song, I'd argue against the genre, especially since JM only undulates a little in her captor's study, alone.
The low rating is for the plot. I rated it before and concur now. I don't understand why these people get together. I don't know why she would be attracted to him, especially since she was fleeing her arranged marriage (to half the cricket-fan duo from The Lady Vanishes (1938)). Frankly, I can't follow the JM girl's motivation for anything she does after her initial escape. Her captor, on the other hand, could be attracted to her very erratic behavior, since he's terribly buttoned-down. But the point is, they don't let me in on their thinking, and I wouldn't want to spend time either looking at or talking with either character.
Gainsborough Pictures & British Lion Film Corporation, dir. de Courville; 5
The low rating is for the plot. I rated it before and concur now. I don't understand why these people get together. I don't know why she would be attracted to him, especially since she was fleeing her arranged marriage (to half the cricket-fan duo from The Lady Vanishes (1938)). Frankly, I can't follow the JM girl's motivation for anything she does after her initial escape. Her captor, on the other hand, could be attracted to her very erratic behavior, since he's terribly buttoned-down. But the point is, they don't let me in on their thinking, and I wouldn't want to spend time either looking at or talking with either character.
Gainsborough Pictures & British Lion Film Corporation, dir. de Courville; 5
