Primavera em Paris

This Jessie Matthews picture has a particularly poor reputation - undeservedly in my opinion. It's a lovely and joyful romantic comedy. It's not the funniest of comedies but like those Fred and Ginger films it's got that certain magic sparkle which somehow makes you happy just by watching it.

It was made during the time when the mighty Gaumont-British studios had begun its nosedive towards bankruptcy. Although the bailiffs were at the studio gates, they were not going to let that stop them so they kept going until they were finally taken over by Rank in 1940. Their other top director Victor Saville (besides Hitchcock) had already jumped ship so Jessie's husband and sometimes co-star, Sonnie Hale had to step into the breach and have a go directing this one. He's no Victor Saville but he actually makes quite a good job of it. The film looks really good and sumptuous, the timing is spot on, he makes it visually interesting with some great camera tricks and his actors are all believable. Compared with some of the light comedies being made by some very established directors over in Hollywood, this is Citizen Kane!

Sonnie Hale's main objective here seems to be showing off to the world what an amazingly gorgeous and talented wife he has - and who can blame him! After an hour and a half of this, every man in the cinema must have acknowledged that Sonnie Hale was indeed the luckiest man in the world. What makes Jessie Matthews so special is that unlike so many stars of the 30s, she's not just a pretty face - whatever role, even with her peculiar accent (identical in every film) she inexplicably manages to be believable and also instantly engaging. There are a couple of problems for the modern audience - her singing voice isn't what most people now could describe as pleasant which is a slight handicap in a musical where she sings about a hundred times. Also, that infamously over-trained absurd cut glass accent - logic tells you it cannot possibly belong to every character she plays. It stretches credibility when your mind hears what sounds like a young Queen Elizabeth saying: One is so terribly, terribly poor and frightfully hungry. Somehow however by talent, by skill, by personality and by her utterly engaging likeability these don't matter - you totally believe in who she is, probably because she's just so nice!

Once you've got used to her silly posh accent you then have to cope with that of her co-star Robert Flemyng. He's even worse sounding like Edward VIII addressing the nation. It all adds to the fun though and that's what this film gives you. Just an afterthought.... Jessie Matthews came from VERY poor background and was a cockney and Robert Flemyng was actually a Scouser! Despite how they sound, this film is about poor, young people struggling to make ends meet. If this was made today they'd definitely talk in their original native accents but back then any traces of working class accents even for working class characters was unimaginable - what strange times!

This film was disappointing, with a rather dull script, unimaginative dancing, and a mediocre score, by Mack Gordon and Harry Revel. The score is surprising considering the much better work those composers had done in other films of that era. So, even though Matthews was reportedly a popular and prolific recording artist in England, she wasn't given very good material with which to work here.

Choreographer Buddy Bradley worked with Matthews on most of her other 1930s musical films, yet his work here pales in comparison to the work done on the others. For those of you interested in "The Dancing Divinity" as Matthews was nicknamed, her dancing talent was not put to good use in this film. She was capable of much better.

There are no big production numbers in this film. In fact, it seems as if the entire production was low-budget. Unless you absolutely want to see all of Matthews's work, I recommend skipping over this film. The film can be purchased on VHS.

Jessie Matthews is an aspiring singer, torn between two men: radio engineer Robert Flemyng and singer Louis Borel. When Borel goes off to Hollywood with glamorous Whitney Bourne, the field is left open for Flemyng, but that would leave the movie too short.

Based on a play by Francis de Croisset, it remains firmly anchored in Paris, although everyone but Borel seems to be English. Miss Matthews does far too little dancing, and the Gordon-Revell songs don't seem to be topnotch -- I suspect they weren't as well orchestrated as their Hollywood efforts. Still, despite its rather abrupt ending, it's an amiable vehicle for Miss Matthews under the direction of her husband, Sonnie Hale. With Romney Brent and Fred Duprez.

A number of very good songs, a love triangle, some comedy, and a very glamorous Parisian setting give this film a push to 8 stars. Jessie Matthews, of course, is at the heart of most of it as Jeanne Colbert. She does just a couple dance routines which are so-so. The introduction in the film is a funny scene in a Paris street market. That's where Jeanne meets the first man to form her triangle - Pierre, played by Robert Flemyng. The second will be Pierres roommate, Marcel, played by Louis Borel.

Some other characters add spice, warmth and fun to the plot. The best of these are Romney Brent as Matty, Paul Leyssac as Max, and Eliot Makeham as Martin. "Head Over Heels in Love," the title in America, wasn't the best plot and film Matthews made, but its number of very good tunes that she sings makes it sparkle.

Here are a couple good lines from the film.

Matty announces the title of a new song he has written before he plays it on the piano for Jeanne and Pierre. He doesn't yet have lyrics for "All By Myself Alone in Solitude." He says, "It's rather long but I think it conveys the idea of loneliness, don't you?"

Marcel, to Pierre, "My dear boy, how little you know about women. If they like a man, it doesn't matter what he does."

Fans of musicals and Jessie Matthews, especially, should enjoy this film.

Shepherd's Bush Aug - Dec 1936: It was a pretty routine film, lower budget than "Evergreen", but covering most of the gaps adequately, a moderate time-filler to those interested. The only print I've seen (off UK Channel 4 1990) doesn't help though - it's murky and depressing, maybe the biggest obstacle in the way of completely enjoying it. Gordon & Revel's songs are catchy and sung clearly and beautifully as usual by Jessie Matthews: "There's that look in your eyes again", "Looking around corners for you" and especially "Head over heels in love" all put over well by her and Louis Levy's Orch. in versions not commercially released.

Basically boy falls for girl buying sausages, girl falls for boys' idle friend, boys' friend falls for another (rich) girl simply to further his career (as what - a hummer?) leading naturally to heartache and rediscovery. Sonnie Hale directed, the first of three and partly because of the anxiety this and their stormy marriage brought Jessie had spells in hospital first with a nervous breakdown and then a life-altering appendectomy operation delaying the production by months. Something must have worked though because the 78 minute running time didn't drag for me, even though the plot was as hairy as the dancing. And Jessie nearly took her dancing partners heads off with her flying feet in some of the jerky and elaborate routines they performed. Fred Astaire was rumoured to be considering her to replace Ginger - I wonder if made up his mind by watching her perform?

Fans of Jessie should enjoy HOH however, her marvellous "cut-glass" voice is well displayed: not her best but passable.