Gangway

A reporter is accused of theft when she poses as a star's maid. And gets into an awful pickle when she tries to explain that she really IS a reporter, not just a maid ;-)

The songs are better than the movie in general, but all up this is pretty enjoyable fare. Rating; about a 6 or 7 out of 10.

When a reporter is accused of theft she becomes a maid to the wealthy. But when she later needs to convince them that she is in fact a reporter they don't believer her, and she's in a sticky situation with underhanded elements. Some decent songs and a predictable, silly story with OK acting. Worth watching if you like these old slapstick movies.

I'm always seeking films of dancers in order to review their styles. I had read about Jessie Matthews, and this was my first opportunity to see one of her films.

For those of you who don't know her work, she's sort of the girl- next-door type. She has a pronounced, cute overbite, and her front teeth are so prominent, that you almost think she has buck teeth. Her singing voice has a light vibrato, not unlike many female singers of the 1930s. She was reportedly a prolific and popular recording artist in England, and her voice is pleasant enough for musical comedy.

Nicknamed "The Dancing Divinity", she can definitely dance. Her style of tap dancing is somewhat like that of Ruby Keeler--the buck and wing style--which is dated now, but was current at the time this film was made. In addition, she performs a "freestyle" type of dance, similar to what we saw Rita Hayworth do--twirling and swirling lots of chiffon.

The musical score is not particularly memorable, but then there are a lot of 1930s musicals that fall into that category.

You'll recognize co-star Barry Mackay from the 1938 version of The Christmas Carol, where he played Scrooge's nephew Fred. Also co-star Alistair Sim, who played Scrooge in the 1951 English version of the same story, has a comic bit part making big eyes. Here's a man whom you could say has "Bette Davis eyes".

I've now seen all six of the musicals starring Jessie Matthews. This one is worth a look if you enjoy her work. This film can be obtained on VHS.

Unless you're a grumpy, cynical old grouch with no sense of fun, you'll find yourself smiling all the way through this wonderfully silly romantic comedy. It's silly but not annoyingly stupid like some 30s comedies are. So many comedies from the late 30s are either childish slapstick, loud and irritating, Joan Blondell doing the exact same tiresome film over and over again or so "sophisticated" that they're not remotely amusing. This isn't laugh out loud stuff but it's genuinely amusing and proper enjoyable fun.

And talking of Joan Blondell, this is the one where Jessie Matthews gets to do her 'best' gangster's moll impression when she gets tangled up with a bunch of gangsters in New York. New York in a Gaumont-British comedy is of course entirely populated by gangsters, hard-boiled dames and dopey cops! The scenes over there are nuts! She is such a good comedian - definitely not just a pretty face (although she is of course an extremely pretty face!)

Like Jessie Matthews's previous picture, HEAD OVER HEELS this was horribly and unfairly panned by the critics at the time but that was primarily to do with criticisms of Sonnie Hale's direction. By this time the once mighty but now bankrupt Gaumont-British had already sold its main studio, lost its head of production and also its acclaimed director, Victor Saville. Jessie's husband, Sonnie Hale was therefore left to fill the director's chair. Since Saville was so respected, this impertinent upstart was not going to win over any fans in the industry. However I personally can't find too much fault at all with his work. He channels his inner Lubitsch admirably and gives this a lovely warm charming feel. If only they could have got James Stewart it would have been perfect!

This picture is however a massive, massive improvement over HEAD OVER HEELS (which actually wasn't too bad). Don't know where they got their funding from but this looks a real classy big budget production. Despite the nightmare of production problems, despite it being made in a rented space of the their rival's studio you could easily imagine this was made by someone like Paramount across the pond. It's a lovely little picture and such fun!

I'm coming through ... make way...! Rubbish film must be flung overboard.......!

That should have been the tagline for this film.

The first thing to say is that this is not at all funny. I didn't laugh once. It's puerile. Leading man policeman Barry McKay (Bob) is atrocious, especially with his clipped accent. It's awful to listen to. Reporter Jessie Matthews (Pat) also talks in this ludicrous manner. "Oh, I say, jolly hockeysticks" Having her imitate a gangster's moll just isn't funny - she is out of her depth.

The plot is far too complicated to follow given that the film is so boring and the audience either wants the whole thing to come to an end or just to drift off to daydream land. It's about capturing a jewel thief.

When it comes to the scarce music and dance interludes, once again, they are dreadful. Poor songs and 3rd rate Fred 'n' Ginger attempts. Very poor.

This film is rubbish.