First a Girl

As I am French it is a little difficult for me to write in English (please forgive me !). However I would like to say that this movie is my favorite among the musicals from the 30's. Jessie Matthews, as good singer as dancer, is charming and "piquant". Her partner, Sonnie Hale, is absolutely hilarious, especially when singing the lovely melody "everything's in rhythm in my heart". Besides, the romance between Elizabeth (J. Matthews) and Robert - quite smart ! - (Griffith Jones) is much more glamorous than the one in VICTOR VICTORIA by Blake Edwards. No need to say I highly recommend FIRST A GIRL as it is, according to me, a genuine gem ! Unfortunately, there is no DVD of this movie in my country :-(

This film is an English-language version of the Victor/Victoria female impersonator story, based on the original film done in Germany, and later re-created by Julie Andrews in 1982. Impersonation seems to be a recurring theme in some of Matthews's films.

Although Matthews was nicknamed "The Dancing Divinity", she does a bit more singing than dancing in this film, not surprising since she was reportedly a popular and prolific recording artist in England. In contrast to some of the dancing ladies of 1930s films, Matthews had a singing voice and didn't need dubbing.

Nevertheless, the dancing she does in this film admirably shows off her abilities. Although she was a proficient tap dancer, here she does not perform any rhythmic tap dances as she did in her other films. The tap dancing she does is more of a soft-shoe performed with co-star, Sonnie Hale, which turns into a nicely done ballroom-style dance, which is part of a large production number.

There is another big production number done with the typical chorus girls and a singer, in which Matthews does not participate. The other big production number features Matthews, again with chorus girls, in which she sings and then performs a freestyle type of dance.

The songs created for this film aren't particularly memorable, and none advanced to the category of "standard", although they are serviceable for the film. The composers may not have household names, but were certainly prolific in that day and you would recognize many of the other songs they have composed, some of which are standards.

It's interesting to see co-star Anna Lee in her early career, somewhat before her emigration to Hollywood, with her hair bleached to platinum blonde in the Jean Harlow style of the 1930s.

This film is interesting to watch, if you'd like to examine the work of Jessie Matthews, or if you just like musicals of the 1930s. This film can be obtained on VHS.

First a Girl (1935)

Musicals in the 1930s were stiff mash-ups of song and dance numbers until the geometric fantasies of Busby Berkeley and then the narrative Fred Astaire movies, both in beginning in 1933 and 1934. This is a weird 1935 British affair that's well-enough filmed to remind you of Berkeley but is tepid by comparison. And as for plot, it takes awhile to get to that, following some decent and sometimes almost surreal dance/fashion scenes.

This is, in short, the original movie version of "Victor/Victoria." Once you get into the story, which will still be interrupted by old-fashioned feeling dance numbers, you'll get the cross-dressing stuff. All in fun. The leading woman (who does the switching, just as Julie Andrews did in the famous remake) is Jessie Matthews, who is a sort of Ginger Rogers type with a doll face. It's the doll face, highly feminine, that removes some of the credibility of the story--she does look slightly like a boy, when dressed as a man, but it doesn't quite carry. And of course, the point is to fool at least the other characters. The leading man Victor, played by Sonnie Hale, is also a problem, at least for audiences today, because he lacks charm, or sincerity, or pathos, or whatever might carry him through along with Matthews. He is meant to be the set-up for what "Victoria" has to do. But he's usually too dull for his own good, or he tries too hard. Matthews, at least, is purely charming and delightful. By the final number, however, when the tables are turned once again, Victor comes into his own. You might see it coming, but then it's divine.

It gives nothing away to say that the changing identities ruse is eventually suspected and the tension then begins. It's all done with a bit of stiffness, and filmed with uniform bright intensity, which makes it all a bit superficial, but is still enjoyable.

This little British-made gem of a film was one of the last movies to be released exclusively on VHS format. Too bad it wasn't one of the first to be released on DVD. It is similar in storyline to Victor/Victoria, but it is different enough that you can watch both and enjoy the comparisons without feeling that you have just watched the same film twice.

Elizabeth (Jessie Matthews) is a British shop girl working in a fashion boutique that caters to the wealthy. She dreams of being a famous entertainer. One rainy day - while wearing the fancy clothes she is supposed to be delivering - she runs into Victor, aspiring Shakespearean actor and actual female impersonator who works the bawdy music halls of London. He is down to his last shilling when he gets a one-time engagement to work in one of these halls. Unfortunately, the rain has taken a toll on his voice and he is unable to take the job. Likewise, Elizabeth has ruined the clothes she was supposed to deliver and can't go back to her job. They forge an alliance for what is supposed to be a one-time thing - Elizabeth will go on as Victor and be a woman impersonating a man impersonating a woman so they both can collect the money they badly need. A high-class booking agent sees the act and offers the pair a chance to be the toast of Europe. A reluctant Elizabeth agrees since it does give her a chance at her dream.

The complications arise in France where a princess and her fiancé, which the princess treats more as a lapdog than a man, see her act. The fiancé arrives late to the performance and is at first attracted to Elizabeth, whom he believes is a woman performing as a woman. The princess enjoys telling him the joke is on him when she shows him the program that introduces Victoria - the great female impersonator.

The differences between this film and Victor/Victoria are that the princess sees her fiancé's attraction to "Bob" and yet wants to prove "Bob" to be a girl, opening up a pathway for a romance between the two, and also the princess starts a romance of sorts with Elizabeth's mentor, Victor. Thus the princess is not the jealous gun moll that Leslie Ann Warren plays in Victor/Victoria. Instead she is a Marie Antoinette-like character that seems to take nothing seriously. There are implausibilities in both films. In Victor/Victoria the film would lead you to believe that most of 1930's Paris is gay. In this film no trace of a gay lifestyle is ever mentioned. Instead Victor is supposed to be a straight man who lives in close quarters with the very attractive Elizabeth and apparently never has an impure thought or act. However, the rather unlikely pairing of Victor with the princess seems to be thrown in just so that the audience is assured of his straightness.

There are several very good Busby Berkeley-like musical numbers in the film as well as some very good and catchy tunes to go along with them.

Coming between EVERGREEN (considered to be Jessie Matthews' best film) and IT'S LOVE AGAIN (my own favourite) and made by the same team, I thought this might be fantastic but it was just 'good' rather than 'very good.'

It is still a lovely, happy picture with some really spectacular dance numbers. It's stylishly directed as usual by the maestro, Victor Saville and as a big, flashy musical it's much more impressive than what Hollywood was doing at the time (with the obvious exception of what Zanuck had overseen a few years earlier at Warners.)

Although it adds to the film's overall silliness, what is completely and utterly impossible for your mind to process is that just by cutting her hair, anyone could possibly believe that Jessie Matthews was a man. She was unquestionably the prettiest woman in movies back then (if not, the prettiest woman in the world?) The proposition is beyond sheer madness especially since she doesn't even change her voice, her makeup or her characteristic sensuous style of dancing.

What also seems impossible is that in real life this stunningly beautiful actress was married to Sonny Hale (her co star). Being kind, the nicest comment about his appearance could be be that he didn't have film star looks! However you can start to see what she saw in him. He does have an unusually engaging and warm personality which comes across really strongly in this picture. You might not think so at first but the more you watch him, the funnier he gets.

This is a great uplifting slice of joyful escapism. It's an absolute, absolute must for any fans of spectacular 1930s musicals and silly old-fashioned farces. For those of you unfamiliar with the goddess known as Jessie Matthews however, this one isn't as likely to make you fall in love with her as much as some of her other pictures.