Não, Não, Nanette!

Looks like RKO was showcasing lead actress Neagle. She's in almost every frame, trying hard, all bounce and giggles as aging ingenue Nanette. Trouble is she may be trying too hard without let-up. Then too, the airy farce is itself trying too hard, almost frantic in its machine gun editing and pacing. Too much spark speeds by without time to digest or to maybe even enjoy. The rapid-fire also undercuts a good chance to dig into a stellar cast of supporing players, like Pitts, Arden, and Gilbert. Nonetheless, there are compensations, such as occasional snappy dialogue, women's hat stabbers, and a sexy character named Sonyabich (How'd they get that one by the censors). Anyway, had the pacing slowed without trying to crowd in so much, along with more and better musical numbers, the musical farce might have scored, instead of speeding its way into movieland obscurity.

One of the greatest of stars of the British cinema was Anna Neagle and her marriage with her producer Herbert Wilcox has a just claim of one of the greatest star/impresario partnerships in history. Right up there with David Belaco/Mrs. Leslie Carter and Phineas T. Barnum/Jenny Lind.

Wilcox made a three picture deal with RKO Pictures and brought Anna over to this side of the pond to star in three film versions of famous musical comedies, Irene, Sunny, and this film No No Nanette. Though her charm and singing and dancing talent come through, the two that I've seen so far seem to suffer from a lack of decent production values.

The Vincent Youmans score is almost completely eliminated as the only numbers retained are the title song and the standards I Want To Be Happy and Tea For Two. Still Anna does them charmingly with both her co-star Richard Carlson and her uncle Roland Young.

The plot is on two tracks, there's débutante Nanette who is courted by artist Richard Carlson and Broadway director Victor Mature. And her uncle Roland Young is an incurable romantic, forever pursuing young ladies to the displeasure of her aunt Helen Broderick. Trundling through it all is the family maid Zasu Pitts who has the difficult task of keeping everybody's secrets.

The version I saw was only 87 minutes and it says here that the USA version was 96 and the UK version of No No Nanette was 116. It was thought for a long time the film was lost altogether so I'm guessing it was pieced together as best it could be. Because of the unavoidable bad editing I can't give it more than I have.

Still for fans of Anna Neagle, something to see.

My roommate got the No, No, Nanette soundtrack as a dub on a tape and she proceeded to listen to it non-stop. After it finally totally brainwashed me into submission, I found the songs to be irresistible, especially the famous, I want to be happy, but I can't be happy... But of coarse from the soundtrack I had no idea what the film was about. So the other day I saw a copy of it at the video store and I rented what was supposed to be a long lost version of the film. I was thinking that it was going to be amazing, because the soundtrack is so cute. Unfortunately most of the songs that I loved were nowhere to be found in the video I saw. Now I've never seen the 1930 version of the musical but this version was sadly disappointing because there was very little singing and practically no dancing and beside that the sound was really bad through out and you couldn't really understand what people were saying a lot of the time. Really the only highlights of this film were the outrageous 1940's fashion. Nanette wears this crazy hat with two feathers that stick out like rabbit ears and Kansas Kitty has this bizarre feather muff that she keeps on her fore arm and then has herself wrapped in this net scarf. The one dance sequence is a little weird too with Nanette doing this weird ballet stuff with pin-up girl imagery superimposed on top of her. Actually one more bright spot of the film was the artist Guillespe who dreams of being a fine artist but it currently condemned to drawing pin-up girls for money. I like how Guillespe keeps it old school, and disses Nanette when his masterpiece, the piece that was to make his career, is sold by Nanette for a paltry $5250. Doesn't she realize that that piece was his immortality? Silly rabbit/girl with your feather rabbit ears on your hat. When will you learn? Why doesn't he just pencil in a cigarette before the ad men take the Work away?

Perhaps some nostalgia shielded me from the grainy picture and outrageous sound in this picture which came out a year into the European World War II, probably intended as escapist fare for the Allied side of the combattants. It is a funny story, but probably the plot is as old as history. Anna Neagle, a very versatile (still) young actress,who could do Queen Victoria, Nell Gwynn and many other roles,shows herself mistress of fluid dialogue and continuity,vivacious,charming and witty, and knocks our more modern imports like the "propah, Oh so British Sounding" Julie Andrews and Elizabeth Taylor (the poor man's Vivian Leigh) into a cocked hat. There is a nice dance sequence while she dreams while being painted,and her voice is quite pleasant. There are sufficient conflicts and the film is not devoid of a moral issue: to paint for art's sake,or put out meretricious subjects in order to advertise smoking. Helen Broderick,Zasu Pitts,Eve Arden, who rather hams her part,are in nice supporting roles,with Richard Carlson (who has a passable voice) and Victor Mature as the male juvenile leads.

This sad little film bears little similarity to the 1971 Broadway revival that was such a 'nostalgic' hit. Keep in mind that when Burt Shevelove directed that revival, he rewrote the book extensively. I have a feeling that this screenwriter wrought as much of a change from the original 1925 version as well. I played the 'innocent philanderer' Jimmy Smith on-stage in 1974, and thought this $1 DVD would bring back memories. Not a chance. Even the anticipated delight of seeing "Topper" Roland Young play 'my' part was a major disappointment. Three songs from the play remain, and are done very poorly. Even the classic duet, "Tea For Two", is done as a virtual solo. The many familiar faces in this 1940 fiasco do not do themselves proud at all, and the star, Anna Neagle, just embarrasses herself. When I feel gypped by spending a dollar, I know the film must be bad. Another commentator mentioned the Doris Day version, which is actually called "Tea For Two" and is about doing the stage play (the original, of course), so those who are seeking the true "No No Nanette" might find a more recognizable version there.