Gangway

I thought that maybe ninety minutes would be a bit long for this, but the presence of Alastair Sim's quirky and curious "Taggett" onboard the ship helps keep this quite entertaining. "Pat" (Jessie Matthews) wants to flee the routine job of a junior movie critic and travel to America where she thinks the real journalists live. Her luck is in when her boss sends her, undercover, on a trip as a lady's maid to attend on a travelling, and rather snobbish, actress (Olive Blakeney). Meantime, jobbing policeman "Bob" (Barry MacKay) discovers that he's inherited a country pile and has absolutely no way of keeping it up! His boss takes pity on him and charges him with investigating a robbery at a swanky London hotel. Soon he is on the trail of "Sparkle" and the onboard antics-cum-romance start to kick in as confusion reigns and the search for the stolen $1m gem becomes muddled with mistaken identity amidst the constant quizzing of "Taggett" who's after the jewel - or it's thief - for the insurers. It all sounds a bit messy but the confines of the ship and a bit of chemistry between Matthews and MacKay help keep it moving along fitfully, but still quite entertainingly. Matthews was a proficient singer and dancer, and she turns out a couple of jolly numbers along the way but it's really the pithy writing that helps this stand out. Some quick-witted one liners that are riddled with sarcasm and irony and frequently raise a smile. The humour is much more subtle with everyone from the police to the acting profession and the landed gentry all coming in for a whack before a bullet-ridden denouement. It's probably not a film you'll remember, but it is quite enjoyable to watch.

When a reporter is accused of theft she becomes a maid to the wealthy. But when she later needs to convince them that she is in fact a reporter they don't believer her, and she's in a sticky situation with underhanded elements. Some decent songs and a predictable, silly story with OK acting. Worth watching if you like these old slapstick movies.

Gangway is a great little movie which I would decribe as a cross between a crime, drama, romance, muscial and comedy. It starts off with film critic turned reporter(Patricia) going under cover as a maid in a hotel to get a story, then it just so happens that a private dick (Bob) is after a jewellery thief called "Sparkles" who masquerades as a maid. Anyway he thinks that Patricia is Sparkles, falls in love with her regardless and follows her to America when she's kidnapped by a hood "Smiles" who also thinks she's the infamous Sparkles. All manner of events follow, and it all makes for quite an amusing picture. The Star, Jessie Mathews who plays the film critic/reporter Patricia is wonderful (She's very flexible and does some really good tap routines), with good supporting ensemble performances all around. Lots of fantastic song and dance numbers, some hilarious moments, (most notabley the tenderfoot dance) not to mention a good ol fashioned gang style shootout. A british flick with an american connnection, I'd give it 3 stars out of 5.

I'm coming through ... make way...! Rubbish film must be flung overboard.......!

That should have been the tagline for this film.

The first thing to say is that this is not at all funny. I didn't laugh once. It's puerile. Leading man policeman Barry McKay (Bob) is atrocious, especially with his clipped accent. It's awful to listen to. Reporter Jessie Matthews (Pat) also talks in this ludicrous manner. "Oh, I say, jolly hockeysticks" Having her imitate a gangster's moll just isn't funny - she is out of her depth.

The plot is far too complicated to follow given that the film is so boring and the audience either wants the whole thing to come to an end or just to drift off to daydream land. It's about capturing a jewel thief.

When it comes to the scarce music and dance interludes, once again, they are dreadful. Poor songs and 3rd rate Fred 'n' Ginger attempts. Very poor.

This film is rubbish.

I'm always seeking films of dancers in order to review their styles. I had read about Jessie Matthews, and this was my first opportunity to see one of her films.

For those of you who don't know her work, she's sort of the girl- next-door type. She has a pronounced, cute overbite, and her front teeth are so prominent, that you almost think she has buck teeth. Her singing voice has a light vibrato, not unlike many female singers of the 1930s. She was reportedly a prolific and popular recording artist in England, and her voice is pleasant enough for musical comedy.

Nicknamed "The Dancing Divinity", she can definitely dance. Her style of tap dancing is somewhat like that of Ruby Keeler--the buck and wing style--which is dated now, but was current at the time this film was made. In addition, she performs a "freestyle" type of dance, similar to what we saw Rita Hayworth do--twirling and swirling lots of chiffon.

The musical score is not particularly memorable, but then there are a lot of 1930s musicals that fall into that category.

You'll recognize co-star Barry Mackay from the 1938 version of The Christmas Carol, where he played Scrooge's nephew Fred. Also co-star Alistair Sim, who played Scrooge in the 1951 English version of the same story, has a comic bit part making big eyes. Here's a man whom you could say has "Bette Davis eyes".

I've now seen all six of the musicals starring Jessie Matthews. This one is worth a look if you enjoy her work. This film can be obtained on VHS.