When one thinks of movie musicals, one does not think of England. The best of the British musicals is Evergreen (1934), a Jessie Matthews tour-de-force with music, choreography and vigor that rival anything ever put on screen by Busby Berkeley.
Jessie Matthews rose to stardom on the stage from abject poverty, and was able to transfer her popularity to the silver screen. She was a lovely, slender young woman with a pretty little voice, long legs and a grace that audiences found charming and delightful. She was primarily known as a dancer, and was considered to be England’s answer to Ginger Rogers. Evergreen proved to be her biggest, most enduring hit.
Matthews portrays stage star Harriet Green, retiring so she can marry and live at leisure. A secret from her past, however, cancels the marriage and sends her into hiding. Many years later, Harriet’s daughter (also played by Matthews) arrives in London and finds work pretending to be her mother. Soon she is the toast of the town, but she may not be able, or willing, to extend the ruse.
As with so many American musicals, the storyline is preposterous and does not make much sense. Harriet’s actions seem ill-advised and unnecessary. But times were different, and reputations were all-important. Where the movie succeeds are in its vivid characterizations, design and musical elements. Director Victor Saville hired choreographer Buddy Bradley to construct numbers that used all sorts of innovation. The massive sequence that follows Harriet’s return to the stage is typical; its “Munitions Dance” segment is memorably nutty. And in the “Just By Your Example” number, Sonnie Hale drives a car onto the vast, enormous stage.
However, it’s the intimate moments that remain in memory: Harriet reprising her first hit, “Daddy Wouldn’t Buy Me a Bow-Wow,” Sonnie Hale’s rehearsal of “Tinkle, Tinkle, Tinkle,” and especially Harriet’s sensuous rendition of “Dancing on the Ceiling.”
Jessie Matthews made only nine more films before going into semi-retirement. None of those movies has the energy and stamina of Evergreen, her most representative movie. It’s a typical 1930s musical with an above average quotient of charm and vitality.
My rating: ☆ ☆ ☆ 1/2. (10:3).