I had no idea this would be as good as it was. I had thought that the only musicals worthy of watching were Busby Berkley's famous four: 42nd STREET to DAMES, Fred and Ginger's at RKO and Jessie Matthews' at Gaumont-British since everything else was just a cheap, unimaginative copy. Now I know better - this is a great - what a revelation!
It doesn't start off too promising, the first ten minutes is just Maurice Chevalier doing his thing but then it steps into action so don't be put off by the beginning. This picture has everything and more you'd expect from an absolute top notch 1930s musical-comedy: a proper story, jaunty songs, romance, a genuinely funny script, likeable characters you're interested in, spectacularly choreographed dance numbers, a silly but not stupid plot and an overall uplifting, happy feel.
Because Daryl Zanuck, when at Warners oversaw the original Busby Berkeley musicals, you might have thought that when he started up Twentieth Century Pictures he'd simply try to copy his earlier success by making something similar. He was cleverer than that. Whilst Warner Brothers continued tiredly to churn out the same old story with the same old cast over and over again, each time getting worse and worse and worse, Zanuck gave us something different. We've still got a few Busby Berkley type routines but this is not really comparable say to the gritty glory of GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933, this is more of a traditional light comedy (if you were to compare it wouldn't be as good, but ten or twenty times better than '..of 35' or '..of 37') Even with directorial skill of Roy del Ruth, poached from Warners, the style of this is cleaner, more stylish, closer in feel to the Jessie Matthews musicals Gaumont-British were producing such as EVERGREEN - not just because they often feature her in a silly story of mistaken identity as well. In some ways Maurice Chevalier himself is a little like her inasmuch that what makes this film so enjoyable is the personality of its star. Like with Jessie Matthews, his personable and engaging personality simply gushes through the screen at you and you can't help feeling that he is smiling directly at you - he actually sings better than she does but he would certainly not look as good in one of her sexy dresses!
