Rent The Jessie Matthews Revue: Vol.3 (1937)
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
Throughout the 1930's Jessie Matthews was Britain's best-loved musical film star, her dynamism and gamine charm captivating audiences on both sides of the Atlantic. With a string of box-office hits spotlighting her unique talent, it's easy to see how she became so popular and why she remains so to this day. Showcasing some the era's finest cinema talent including director and comedy star (and Matthews' husband) Sonnie Hale, musical director Louis Levy and legendary art director Alfred Junge - the two films on this volume are presented as transfers from the original film elements...
The Man from Toronto (1933)Leila (Jessie Matthews) and Fergus (Ian Hunter) have never met, but when they are bequeathed a fortune there is a condition attached: they must marry each other within a year!
Head Over Heels (1937)
An aspiring star must choose between an idle, selfish womanizer, and the radio engineer who truly loves her.- Actors:
- Jessie Matthews, Ian Hunter, Frederick Kerr, Ben Field, Margaret Yarde, Kathleen Harrison, George Turner, Herbert Lomas, Lawrence Hanray, Kenneth Kove, Sybil Grove, Percy Parsons, Bill Shine, George Zucco, George Benson, Diana Cotton, Cyril Smith, Sam Wilkinson, Louis Borel, Robert Flemyng
- Directors:
- Sinclair Hill, Sonnie Hale
- Producers:
- Michael Balcon, S.C. Balcon
- Writers:
- WP Lipscomb, Douglas Murray, Francis de Croisset, Marjorie Gaffney, Dwight Taylor, Fred Thompson
- Aka:
- The Man from Toronto / Head Over Heels (Head Over Heels in Love)
- Studio:
- Network
- Genres:
- Classics, Comedy, Music & Musicals, Romance
More like The Jessie Matthews Revue: Vol.3
Reviews (2) of The Jessie Matthews Revue: Vol.3
An Eyeful View - The Jessie Matthews Revue: Vol.3 review by CH
“If that's love, I'm a pig's grandfather.” A terrific line but not one uttered by Jessie Matthews herself in Head over Heels (1937). By dint of some back projections, she is living humbly in Paris while performing at night in an open-air café which can run to an orchestra and an array of dancers.
Here she is in a love triangle, torn between Victor Flemying (an inventor who is ahead of the technological game) and actor Louis Borel who could be on the way to Hollywood. The film which falls into two parts, several times over. One could say something similar of Cabaret, in which the stage scenes out-do most of the rest; as Christopher Isherwood himself often observed, if Sally had been as good as Liza, she would have been the sensation of Europe; equally, Jessie Matthews's performances are magical while the scenes in in a rough apartment and elsewhere are lumpen.
The first of her films to be directed by Sonnie Hale, it appears to bear the scars of their fraught marriage. Still there are the songs, by Mack Gordon and Harry Revel. Not only only the title number but “There's That Look in Your Eyes Again” and “Looking around Corners for You”: this last is perhaps the film's high spot: while thinking that all is lost, that Jessie is lost, Fleming walks around a back-projected Paris and chances upon couples in cafés and elsewhere, each time thinking that the woman is Jessie, but she isn't: she herself is superimposed upon the screen as she sings that song, making for adroit montage which could have a claim to be the first pop video.
Jessie Matthews was terrific: play one of her discs with relish: she did not need that winsome appearance to succeed but she is always enjoyable to watch, that flutter of the eyelids which are the mark of an all-knowing spirit staking out the innocent territory.
on Head Over Heels. - The Jessie Matthews Revue: Vol.3 review by Steve
Frothy musical romcom which stars Jessie Matthews still at her absolute zenith, though there are signs that Gaumont Studios are in decline. Compared with her previous few films, there is a lesser director, as husband Sonnie Hale takes charge for the first of three screen collaborations..
This looks like a low budget musical, but Hale actually directs pretty well. And there are excellent songs by a duo of Oscar winning Hollywood composers. The script is witty, with authentically funny Music Hall style gags. The support cast is capable, featuring real-life American aristo Whitney Bourne, who brings some icy blonde glamour.
Of course, this is primarily a vehicle for Jessie, and she sparkles, particularly at the screwball comedy. Her dated singing style is still fine, and she's a quality dancer, even if the the choreography is scaled down. The plot is pure frou-frou. A Parisian nightclub performer must choose between two men. Who both live in a garret...
Louis Borel and Robert Flemyng contrast nicely as the lovers and there are some cute insights into the nature of romantic love for women in the thirties. Matthews plays quite a headstrong woman... But this isn't Ibsen! While it might not compare with thirties Hollywood's musical comedies on resources, Jessie's star quality still makes it special.