Out of the Blue

The bad reviews put me off from watching this for ages but I'm glad I relented - it's miles better than I expected. The quality of the prints available are pretty awful but it's definitely worth the effort of squinting for a bit!

It's actually funny - I'm serious, yes I know it's from 1931 but it really is funny. Yes I know it's made by BIP but it's skilfully crafted, wittily written, clever and funny. I'm surprised it wasn't a hit back in '31 but I think it might have been a bit too modern for those audiences. Although it's framed as a typical English farce with the usual mistaken identities, the humour is quite daring and radical at times. The cigarette-moustache joke with the old lady is pure Marx Brothers! The English masses in 1931 were a little conservative back then. As Marty McFly said after playing Johnny B Goode: Guess you guys aren't ready for that yet - but your kids are going to love it.... or should that now be great grandkids?

There's a definite Laurel and Hardy vibe here. It even steals the famous scene almost word for word from their 1930 short BELOW ZERO - when a woman shouts down to Stan and Ollie, the annoying street musicians: How much do you boys earn per street?..... 25 cents.... Here's a dollar, move down a couple of blocks.

Another reason it possibly didn't do well is because this came out at the height of 'the Jessie Matthews husband stealer' and the transparent dress scandals. She was labelled 'The Diva of Debauchery' and the narrow-minded ultra-respectable types decided to boycott this film featuring such a Jezebel. It was for this reason that BIP didn't renew her contract - so off she went to Gaumont-British to become a superstar.

Although the prints available are pretty poor you can still appreciate the quality of the production. BIP doesn't have the greatest reputation for filmmaking but the production of this is outstanding. In terms of filmmaking, this stands alongside a lot of what the top Hollywood studios were making in 1931. The photography is imaginative and innovative with some great long tracking shots - at times the camera seems to be a character itself.

What's so impressive is this was the directorial debut of theatre comedian Gene Gerrard. He'd only acted in one picture himself before so you can imagine he had dozens of ideas bubbling away inside him bursting to see if they'd work on celluloid. For the most part, he succeeds - it's fast paced, naturally acted....and nothing at all like a stilted, filmed stage play. Had he not returned to the stage, he could have been a major player in the industry because this shows his talent as a director and also as a very funny light comedy actor.

Although this film's main attraction is Jessie Matthews, it's not a Jessie Matthews film. It's a proper ensemble effort with Gene Gerrard taking the lead - which he does brilliantly. Even in a supporting role though, Jessie Matthews is utterly hypnotic in this. Even when she has no lines, your eyes are still on her because she always seems to be doing or gesturing something which keeps your attention. She skilfully yet subtly makes the camera (and yourself) fall in love with her.

Overall - a surprisingly professional, funny and clever comedy. It's certainly better than WALTZES FROM VIENNA.

I was surprised to see a Jessie Matthews movie in which she was second billed. Still, Gene Gerrard was director and co-star and it was her first talkie -- she had been in a couple of silents when she was about fifteen.

Jessie is the stay-at-home daughter of a decayed and decaying Stately Home of England, in love with Gene Gerrard's voice on the radio. Of course, he shows up, engaged to her sister, Kay Hammond -- no one is quite sure how. Of course they fall in love over a song. When her father shows him the gate, like he does to Fred Groves, who wants to develop the property, she blows up, tired of endless aristocratic poverty and goes to work for a living.

It's developed from a stage play and while it's clear that the show was about Miss Matthews' character, Mr. Gerrard is given all the canned witticisms and stage bits. The result is a decent light comedy with a couple of musical interludes that clearly spotlight Miss Matthews for the film. Plus a brief bit by Binnie Barnes as a Spanish senorita.

The film reveals its stage origins by offering two separate stories/acts. In the first part, country-mouse and family drudge, Jessie Matthews tries to keep up disintegrating stately home of England while coping with dithery father. She also covets handsome Gene Gerard, radio announcer fiancé of her more glamorous but shallow sister Kay Hammond. At end of "act 1," Jessie announces she is sick of poverty and is going off to become a nightclub performer! Act 2 finds her in Biaritz, substituting for a fake Russian countess/nightclub chanteuse who, unbeknownst to everyone, has a boyfriend sought by police. Erroneous arrests follow. Further complications provided by Jessie's dithering father who confuses silly-ass Kenneth Kove with Jessie's real love, Gene Gerrard. All ends happily, of course. Songs are "Out of the Blue," "Let's Be Sentimental," "I'm the Hit of the Show," "Dear Old Pearls." The very young Jessie is gorgeous and dances like a moonbeam.

The inexperience of the leading actors in the new sound medium is more than evident though in different ways.Gene Gerrard was a stage actor and music hall comedian whose career would come to an end in 1938.He is allowed to wildly overactive.Jessie Matthews is here in the first sound film of her glittering career.In this film she seems rather uncertain.She would blossom at Gaumont British under Michael Balcon and Victor Saville.She does have some rather appealing numbers,which are the best part of a rather earthbound film.Her last dance is very reminiscent of her famous dance in Evergreen.Kay Hammond plays her sister.Difficult to believe that she would go on to be such a famed actress.