Car of Dreams

For the purist pointer-outer, Molly wasn't Vera's sister, she was her friend so it didn't matter what kind of accent either girl had. "Vera", in point of fact, had an accent that was closely matched by her "father" (a man who reminds me of Felix Bressart).

OK, with that aside. This is a lovely fun movie with no pretenses whatsoever. The music is hummable and sticks with you after the film is over. The dialogue is witty and snappy ("Up goes her money, bang goes her reputation.") John Mills has a nice tenor voice and looks as if he is thoroughly enjoying himself. All the cast looks as if they are having fun and couldn't wait to get to the set each day.

The back-projection is no worse than any other picture of the period.

It has high production values. Very nice costumes and makeup.

The thought of the movie brings a smile to my face even as I'm commenting about it.

This film was shown about 30 years ago on BBC. It has just been shown on London Live. It is a delightful film. John Mills in his matinee idol days. Grete Mosheim may not be the best of the German actresses in exile who came to this country in the thirties but she has a rather endearing disposition, not withstanding her difficulty with English. With the support of Robertson Hare and some pleasant tunes this is a very entertaining musical.

This obscure bit of romantic silliness stars John Mills, the talented British actor who went on to many great dramatic roles in American films. The plot involves a factory girl (played by Grete Mosheim with her unexplained German accent) who loves to shop and ends up with a free Rolls-Royce. An obscure little gem full of art deco sets, anti--Great Depression optimism, and cheerful tunes, especially "Do a Little Good to Someone."

British attempt at American style romantic comedy. Doesn't really work but fun to watch for an early John Mills and the interesting Grete Mosheim. Ms Mosheim photographs beautifully in some shots and not at all well in others. Perhaps the cameraman or director lost interest at times ?

John Mills is a young bachelor, almost ready to give up on women. They know he's due to inherit a trombone factory, and just want him for his money. Then he suddenly becomes infatuated with a girl in the street (Vera), whom he follows into a Rolls-Royce showroom, not realising that she's a penniless fantasy-shopper who likes to act as though she's on a spending spree. Her friend Molly (played by Glennis Lorimer, used for years as the face of Gainsborough Pictures) chides her for her silly habit, and gets her a job working alongside her in the trombone factory.

In the showroom, Mills secretly arranges to buy the latest model and then pretends that it has been gifted to Vera as the lucky 10,000th visitor. But he overdoes the gesture, using his influence as the boss's son to organise a hefty pay-rise for Vera, which the other girls resentfully view as an exchange of favours. (She is the only one who doesn't know Mills' identity.) So everything goes wrong before anything comes right.

You could pin the date 1935 on this film without being told. The showroom manager shows John Mills how to drive a car in just a few brief gestures. (Driving-tests started later that year.) There are unconscious touches of Fred Astaire, with scenes of luxury life as deliberate escapism from the economic depression. Also of Wodehouse, who spent this year in Hollywood, exerting a surprisingly strong influence on screenwriting. Vera is played by a newly-arrived German-Jewish refugee Grete Mosheim, who must have felt at home with the songs by fellow-exile Mischa Spoliansky that pepper the story harmlessly enough. Even the use of back-projection, to provide unrealistic scenes of happy touring in the Rolls, is firmly of its time.

A light snack with no pretensions of being anything more. And good of its kind.