The Man from Toronto

"The Man from Toronto" is a comedy-romance that stars Jessie Matthews. The talented Matthews made fewer than three dozen films in her career. Her forte was musicals and comedies. She made most of her films in the 1930s and before the end of World War II. She was never able to regain her film stature after the war. She worked mostly in TV after that.

Matthews was all but forgotten as a film star when she died of cancer at the age of 74 in 1981. But she left some splendid films for posterity. She was a superb comedienne and singer whose greatest talent was in her dancing. She was so nimble on her feet that she must have been double-jointed. In most of her dance routines, she would do swooshing kicks in which her left or right leg would touch the side of her head perpendicular to the floor. This film is one of the few she made in which she neither sang nor danced. The plot is somewhat original. She is a widow, Mrs. Leslie Farrar. She is in the will of a deceased wealthy man whom she wouldn't marry. She will inherit 250,000 pounds, but only if she marries his nephew. The nephew, Fergus Wimbbush (played by Ian Hunter) lives in Toronto. But he is wealthy in his own right, and neither he nor Leslie are inclined to marry just for the money - sight unseen. On second thought, of course, they would like to look one another over.

But, Leslie plots a plan to pose as a maid to Mrs. Farrar when Wimbush travels to England to look over Mrs. Farrar. One can imagine where this will go from there. The supporting cast has two characters that play heavily in the story. Frederick Kerr is Bunston, the solicitor and executor of the will. And Margaret Yarde plays Mrs. Hubbard. These and others add some comedy to the story.

The comedy is mostly in situations, so the script has very little by way of witty dialog. The film fits in the category of butler and/or maid comedies. Matthews' character is a bit harsh, sort of spoiled. Wimbush is smitten by the maid, Polly Perkins (Mrs. Farrar in disguise). It's not a roaring comedy but a pleasant one. The film quality is rather poor, and some of the direction and editing appear to have been weak.

This is not one of the better of Jessie Matthews films. But it is a fun film that most people should enjoy.

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.

A fairly simple and predictable love story vehicle for Jessie Matthews. I found it watchable as a slice of life in 1933. What it might have been like living in a village where everybody knew each others business and rumors spread like wild fire. I liked seeing a village parade complete with brass bands and floats. It was interesting to see manual phone exchanges with switch board operators connecting overseas calls and cars starting to gain a foothold. A bit of visual history with an agreeable story line.