The Man from Toronto

Whereas most pictures from this era take us to crime-ridden streets or theatres of America in the Depression or maybe to romantic palaces or eerie castles, this gives us a fabulous insight into real 1930s English rural life. What an amazingly different world to anything we know now the rural village was back then.

Production standards are high with this. Director Sinclair Hill makes every frame count, giving it just the right pace to engage us, making this silly story somehow believable. He and his cameraman do full justice to the lush and lovely English countryside with some great fluid cinematography, mainly on location which was quite unusual at the time. He captures a real authentic taste and texture of this quaint little village (actually it's just outside Arundel in Sussex) - it looks idyllic.

As silly as the story is, it's great fun. It's a proper rom-com which ticks all the right boxes making this just as enjoyable as anything made these days. All the cast are spot on especially Frederick Kerr. He would die shortly after making this and his hilarious performance serves as a fitting tribute to him.

The real star and the reason to watch this is of course the divine, utterly adorable Jessie Matthews, the prettiest woman that humankind has ever produced. She is effortlessly alluring and makes her character absolutely alive.

Spending most of the film pretending to be a maid and not performing any musical numbers, we're not privileged to any exotic or erotic costumes such as the ones she graced us with in the fabulous IT'S LOVE AGAIN but she still looks jaw-droppingly sexy even in overalls. Being made in the 30s there's the obligatory scenes wearing a saucy negligee and in that respect, she certainly gives Joan Blondell a run for her money!

Overall this isn't particularly outstanding but is thoroughly fun and is guaranteed to make you fall in love with Jessie Matthews.

Jessie Matthews is due to inherit a quarter million pounds if she marries Ian Hunter. They've never met, since he is the titular Man from Toronto. When he comes to England to meet this proposed bride, Miss Matthews wants to get to know him before he knows she's worth a fortune to him, so she disguises herself as her own parlor maid and convinces him that the dotty Margaret Yorke is her. When they have fallen in love, Mr. Hunter explains that he loves her in large part because she would never lie to him. And it's off to the races with this silly plot.

Miss Matthews is very charming and the movie is quite funny, despite the fact that she only does about thirty seconds of dancing and never sings. Mr. Hunter is very masculine in his role; most of Miss Matthews' leading men seem to be frightened of women.

The cast is ably eked out with Frederick Kerr as Miss Matthews' grumbling uncle, and Kathleen Harrison in her fourth screen role as her maid. If this movie makes no serious point except for Miss Yorke's frequently repeated "We must have money!", it is still a delightful trifle.

Small town England, of all places, is fun in "The Man from Toronto". It is well-paced and written in a charming, spirited manner. Jessie Matthews is lively, charismatic and shows why this film helped make her a star. Old thespian Frederic Kerr ("Frankenstein") is funny and extremely watchable as a curmudgeonly lawyer with certain responsibilities under an odd will. Ian Hunter's low-key acting style works well in this role. Hunter, often miscast in films, is OK here as he is understandably overshadowed by the powerhouse Matthews.

All of the cast is talented and the whole thing is just for fun, its a romantic comedy that works and never at any point really takes itself seriously. You are guaranteed to get a smile out of it.

This film is the sort of variation of the Brewster's Millions plot where the beneficiary of a will has to comply with an eccentric condition.

Matthews is on the cusp of stardom on the screen with Victor Saville about to burnish her star.

Interesting to see a young Kathleen Harrison in an early role.

The Man from Toronto (1933) is a perfectly cute and entertaining movie. Jessie Matthews (Leslie Fararr) shines in her role as the rich girl who pretends to be a maid. This is the first movie I've seen her in and I was very much impressed by the way she carried herself throughout the film. The love interest is unfortunately plain and not particularly attractive, but the romance is believable. Some scenes are too long and unnecessary, but on the whole a well directed and edited movie. This little known film should get more recognition because it is quite cute and funny at times. Good clean fun from the magical world of the '30s. 6/10