First a Girl

Having heard of this film years ago, I finally saw it the other night. It is a delightful showcase for the largely forgotten charms of Jessie Mathews, the queen of British musicals. The film compares favorably with Hollywood product, with good production values, pleasant songs, Busby Berkeley-like dance routines, and a lively and funny script. The storyline, adapted from the 1933 "Vicktor und Vicktoria", is remarkably close to the 1980's "Victor/Victoria", which was made so memorable by Julie Andrews great performance. Jessie Matthews, whom I was not familiar with proves to be a delightful singer, dancer and actress, and proves that Hollywood did not have a monopoly on talented leading ladies. Sonnie Hale is hilarious in the role played in the later film by Robert Preston. Because of the censorship restrictions so prevalent in 1935, I doubt that this film had an extensive run in this country at the time of it's release. The gay elements prevalent in the later film, while not directly addressed, are certainly strongly implied here. Anna Lee gives good support as "the Princess." I enjoyed this film far more than I thought I would.

Jessie Matthews is a song-and-dance girl who loses her job and befriends an actor, Victor, played by Sonnie Hale, who dreams of being a serious stage actor, doing Shakespeare, being Hamlet and all that good stuff, but in the meantime has to make ends meet by being a female impersonator. When he's down to his last dollar and gets his latest call, he has a cold and no voice. The only possible solution is for her to keep his appointment. As fate would have it, Mr. Whozzit is in the audience and says he'll sign him, her, him – because he's so good at impersonating a woman. Also, in the audience is a princess, played by Anna Lee, of "General Hospital" and "The Sound of Music" fame, and her fiancé, played by Griffith Jones. But he came in late and thought she was a girl, until the end of the number, when her/his wig came off. Shocked by his attraction to another man, he means to know if he is a he or she is a she or what. Obviously, the precursor to Blake Edwards' smash hit, Victor/Victoria, starring his wife, Julie Andrews, this film is just as enticing, charming, and lively. I was afraid this was going to be one of the those forgettable 1930s movie musicals with stagy and tedious musical numbers, but this was out-of-this-world great. It's my favorite "new film" now. Having seen and loved Victor/Victoria beforehand, which is why I got this to begin with, helps. But neither one takes away from the other. There are slight variations on how it's discovered and a few details. But this outing is filled with flirtatious and sexy fun. Discover the stars Jessie Matthews and Sonnie Hale, who were married in real life and enjoy her being "First a Girl" and then a guy!

This may not be among the greatest of the Jessie Matthews musicals -- dance and music are not always seamlessly integrated into the action -- but I remembered it fondly from the National Film Theatre's season of her work last year and was delighted to discover on recent re-viewing that it retained its charm on repeat performance.

Husband Sonnie Hale teams with Jessie Matthews to great effect, as Victor, the frustrated Shakespearian reduced to working the music halls as a female impersonator, bonds with 'Bill', the would-be song and dance girl who finds herself launched on an inadvertent male career after helping him out with his "Mr Victoria" act one night. As international success unexpectedly beckons, Victor persuades his reluctant new acquaintance to continue the masquerade with the promise that he will shield her constantly from exposure and will never let her down. And part of the charm of this film, as it skirts its way merrily along the censor's line without ever quite transgressing, is that they never do let each other down.

In a move that wrong-foots audience expectations, the odd couple duly fall inconveniently in love -- but not with each other. Predictable bickering and frustrations ensue, feet are put in it and bricks are dropped, and Victor's protective vigilance is sorely tested, but the two share the affectionate reliance of a true 'buddy movie' throughout, and it is this unquestioning trust that helps provide the film's warm-hearted appeal.

Despite its provocative subject matter, which resulted in severe cuts for American release (the constant focus on stratagems to conceal the heroine's true sex only serves to accentuate the issue of what is *not* being shown...), "First a Girl" has an oddly innocent generosity about it. It's one of those happy comedies that seems to take a genuinely sunny view of human nature, with disaster always foiled and characters revealing unexpected better selves. Nothing remotely titillating is ever actually disclosed, of course -- Victor's gallantly-turned back is our security for that -- but as in most cross-dressing cinema, one does have to tacitly presume a considerable degree of blindness on the part of the entire male cast if they can really confuse the girl in man's clothes for a boy, Eton crop or no Eton crop...

Jessie Matthews is, as ever, vivacious, talented and charismatic. As her co-star, Sonnie Hale comes near to stealing the show, with his open, likable persona and his cheerful willingness to be the butt of visual humour on screen, coupled with flashes of sincerity that make us care about the character as more than just a comic foil. Griffith Jones gives a fine performance yet again in the somewhat thankless role of handsome but secondary male lead (see also "Escape Me Never", "The Rake's Progress", "The Wicked Lady").

The dance numbers betray the somewhat cramped facilities available (the big production number at the end had to be filmed outdoors against a black night sky because there simply wasn't a sound stage big enough at the studio) and can feel somewhat gratuitously inserted -- I felt that the restaurant floor-show routine, in which Jessie Matthews doesn't even feature, outlasted its welcome in particular -- but the tunes stayed in my head for several days, and Miss Matthews performs with skill and an infectious gaiety that brings an unheralded smile to the viewer. "Evergreen" remains probably the best vehicle I've seen for her superb singing and dancing talents, coupling the comic potential of another masquerade scenario with more integrated musical performances and greater dramatic depth, but "First A Girl" still has great appeal.

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.

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.