The Girl Said No

If you like a simple movie that leaves you happy, this is the film for you.

I first saw this movie more than forty years ago. I only saw it once, but I've never forgotten it, or the wonderful part-performance of The Mikado that featured in it. I've been searching for its name for ages.

Thanks to the IMDb community, I finally learned the name of this gem and found a copy on the film archive. I just watched it last night again. It is a simple story, but it isn't over-sentimental and leaves the viewer feeling great. I enjoyed it as much last night as I did when younger.

The story is about Jimmy, who earns a living with his business partners by gambling and acting as selling agent in racehorses. No woman would ever get the better of him. He was too smart and tough.

One night, as he returns home with his business partners, he sees a poster of a beautiful dance hall girl outside a dance hall. He goes in to meet the girl with a plan of spending no more than $10 (it is the 1930's remember) but is film-flammed for all of his money. The dance hall specialises in separating men from their money and this girl is their star film-flammer.

Jimmy sets out to wreak revenge on the girl by pretending to be a talent scout and that he sees a new Broadway star in the girl. He convinces her that he will make her a star and that she will debut in a musical.

Add to that a troupe of Gilbert and Sullivan performers whose stars have waned, eking out a sad existence by running a diner. They are sad people who dream of a comeback one day. Then Jimmy tells them that he wants them for a new show and suddenly the troupe comes to life. The actors who play these troupe-players makes the movie. They are brilliant and their performance of the music is spot on.

Will Jimmy wreak his revenge, or will he repent? Will the show go on or fold after one performance?

Watch it and see.

This attempt at Damon Runyon meets Gilbert and Sullivan is truly weird. Robert Armstrong is one of those forgettable male leads the 30s was overrun with, who comes up with a weird revenge for the appealing Irene Hervey's gold digging ways - he'll convince her he's putting on a Gilbert and Sullivan musical then crush her dreams on the opening night.

This plays out in a remarkably tedious fashion, but along the way there are serviceable renditions of a number of G&S tunes before it all ends as inanely as possible.

Not worth anyone's time, but it sure was a unique premise! Not recommended regardless of Hervey's a seductive charm.

What a strange film! Some quite witty dialogue between Armstrong and the very pretty Irene Hervey, who plays the 10 cents a dance hostess. I found the "Swingland" scenes fascinating. And plenty for the G and S fan by way of set pieces. Robert Armstrong is quite convincing as the ripped-off punter intent on retrieving his cash from the girl who's relieved him of his money. It's hard to see who this film is aimed at. Fans of stock crime or romance films would be (possibly) annoyed at the amount of G and S, while operetta fans may not like the rather silly, contrived plot. I'm not sure if the phrase "genre busting" had been coined at that time (I suspect not!) but I feel this film falls into this category. All in all, this film kept me watching. A must for any G and S completist!

Robert Armstrong is a bookie. Irene Hervey is a hostess at a dime-a-dance hall. When she clips him, he bets his cronies he can take her for $500. He convinces her he is a theatrical agent, gets together a retired troupe of actors and uses some IOUs to put on a performance of Gilbert & Sullivan's THE MIKADO for an evening. Yet he gradually comes to understand that all these people are going to ruin themselves for his ill-spirited joke.

For an old Savoyard like me, there are few joys as great as hearing the songs from the operettas well sung, and Andrew Stone, one of the few producer-writer-directors of the era has turned out a movie that not only offers the songs well, but uses them to establish the mood and character of the scenes. While I think that seeing these performances chopped up will reduce their impact on a modern audience, it should be remembered that this movie was not made for the second decade of the 21st Century, but for 1937, when the D'Oyley Carte Company was still in vigorous strength, both at their home at the Savoy Theater and on international tour; THE HOT MIKADO, with the music given a jazz beat, would open a couple of years after this, and be a hit; and Schertzinger's movie version of THE MIKADO would also be a success.

That time is gone, of course. While I saw the D'Oyley Carte on Broadway, that was decades ago. The company has been on life support since 2003. A recent revival was closed down because it featured Caucasian actors -- as if it were never a satire of Victorian England. For me, and people like me, this movie will be a delight.