(80 min, but my VCI print is 91) Released 1938-01-25
Director: Sonnie Hale
Stars: Jessie Matthews, Barry MacKay, Jack Whiting, Roland Young, Alastair Sim
Buddy Bradley ... dance arranger
Genres: Comedy | Musical | Romance
This is the 9th JM film in this quest, and her last full-out musical. One more film this year, then skip to 1 in '43, 1 in '44, 1 in '58, and 1 in '78. A couple of films ago I commented that "I already want to own all her movies", and I've started that process. Maybe I'll time out to do a mini-quest of her films.
This print is not great, but not bad either; one of the 10 films released by VCI in 2013. Hopefully I'll find a good post-Xmas sale to pick up the rest.
Jack Whiting dances very well, say par with George Murphy, plus he's handsome. But he only made 6 films, and this is the only Musical. (I'm putting his last one in this quest to see if he dances anyway.) He doesn't dazzle me, but impresses enough for me to lament his short film career. Apparently someone likes him a lot, because he has more stage credits, in more detail, than any I've seen on IMDb. So he profited from his dancing, as did theatre audiences, just not posterity.
Roland Young is as you would expect him; a little more competent than Topper, but not much. Alastair Sim plays a bizarre artist; his face adapts to "bizarre" without effort.
The second billed is the nautical semi-brother to JM, and he doesn't sing or dance here.
My ambition is to know JM's musicals so well that I can identify the clips they use during the finale's montage by sight. That might be too bold, since I can't do that with F&G.
There weren't many who could sing, dance, look and act as well as JM. Ginger Rogers, Ann Miller, Betty Grable, Gwen Verdon, Mitzi Gaynor, Shirley MacLaine didn't sing as well; Eleanor Powell, Rita Hayworth, Vera-Ellen and Cyd Charisse were always dubbed, Cyd didn't really tap, and I don't remember V-E acting as much as JM; Ruby Keeler sang and acted tepidly; Judy Garland and Alice Faye danced well, but not this well; both probably had more opportunity to act dramatically and did it well. Maybe Doris Day, although you wouldn't replace JM with DD and vice versa. Joan Leslie doesn't come close, I don't think? Betty Hutton? Don't remember Marge Champion's voice. Jane Powell is very close, just more emphasis on singing than dancing. I should come back at the end of the quest and see who I missed. (I must confess, I collected these by looking through Google images.)
Sung/danced:
- 7:10 Trusting My Luck, s/d by JM on the barge doing laundry
- 26:00 Trusting My Luck reprise, failed audition by JM in Roland Young's music room accompanied badly by Alastair Sim
- 39:00 Souvenir of Love, s/d by JWhiting at dinner club
- 45:40 Souvenir of Love, s/d by JM in Roland Young's palatial kitchen
- 53:10 My River s/d by JM on the barge in an evening gown
- 1:02:50 Your Heart Skips a Beat s/d by JM & JW
- 1:18:00 the show Barging In begins with montage of s/d numbers, some from prior JM films
- 1:19:20 Bargees' Ballet danced by JM, JW & thugs on the whorf
If you're only going to watch 2 JM movies, this and Evergreen ('34) are my recs.
Director Sonnie Hale was JM's husband 1931-44.
Gaumont British Picture Corporation; dir. Hale; 7
