CinemaSerf

When a British agent carrying a secret document to Washington goes missing, His Majesty's government drafts in the services of "Holmes" (Basil Rathbone) and "Watson" (Nigel Bruce) to investigate. After a very near miss at the missing man's lodgings, the pair conclude that they must head to the US of A if they are to make any headway with their search. Of course, "Watson" is quite excited by the prospect and that is used as a conduit to show us the Statue of Liberty, then some capital city landmarks, before they get to their hotel and receive a large trunk with some unwelcome contents! Now the race is on to find the secrets, but "Holmes" knows that he isn't the only one looking for them, and that puts in danger many of the fellow passengers in the railway club carriage where "Pettibone" (Gerald Hamer) was last seen. Things become especially dangerous for the wealthy and soon to be married "Nancy" (Marjorie Lord) whom we know the baddies think knows more than she thinks she does, and when she finds herself getting to inspect her new rug a little more closely than she'd like then she has to hope that these visiting sleuths can save the day. This is probably my least favourite of these films. The narrative is a little more propagandist, the story a bit thin and "Holmes" has swapped his "indubitably" and "elementary" for some more jingoistic terminology as it builds to it's denouement. The usual cast is supported here by the welcome presence of George Zucco and the familiar one of Henry Daniell, but I don't think it crossed the Atlantic with much distinction here.

Ok, elephant in the Great Hall first. Despite the clever trick photography and the outsized furniture, I just couldn't believe in the almost thirty-year-old Mary Pickford as the young "Ceddy". Aside from the fact that she was attired as if she was an extra on a film about the English Civil War, it just didn't work for me at all. This cinematic version of the book sticks closer to the original text, allowing us to briefly meet more of the family "Dorincourt" including the wastrel "Bevis" (Colin Kenny) who has manages to irk his father, the Earl (Claude Gillingwater) by marrying an American (also MP) and having a young son. After his horse puts paid to his son's chances of inheriting, the old man has to eat some humble pie and invite his distant New York cousins to come to Britain. The young lad and his mum are not wealthy in the USA, far from it, but he is a kindly and well-liked boy who has three friends - the apple selling woman (Kate Price), the grocer "Mr. Hobbs" (James A. Marcus) and "Dick" (Fred Malatesta) whom he has no desire to leave. They all see the potential of him becoming an earl, though, and off he goes. First thing he discovers when he arrives at the stately pile is that his mother is to live elsewhere. Comfortably, but not in the castle. Over the next ninety minutes or so, we learn a little of what estranged this family and of just how much of a breath of fresh air "Ceddy" becomes in the life of his lonely and curmudgeonly grandfather and amongst the larger community. He is seen to be a caring and affectionate youngster, and as he embeds himself into their hearts they even have to deal with some opportunistic would-be interlopers too! It's a story all about love, decency, trust and obstinacy, this one, and I think it's one of the most poignant to adapt from page to film. Gillingwater does fine, as does the lively Price, but the pixie-esque Pickford just could not convince me that she wasn't skipping along as if it were a well-produced and staged pantomime. The technical achievements are impressive, but this just wasn't for me.

Though there is a storyline, of sorts, running through this feature, it's really a sort of loosely compèred (by Jack Benny) collection of theatrical presentations based around the woes of an advertising executive. "Mac" (that's Benny) needs to secure a lucrative contract from the faintly libertine millionaire "Townsend" (Richard Arlen) if he is to stop his business going kerplunk. That success will all depend on his finding the right "face" to front the campaign. He favours a professional, his client doesn't. Plan? Well the solution appears to be in the hands of Ida Lupino. She is professional model "Paula Sewell" who is going to orchestrate things so she bumps into "Townsend" as the exciting new amateur prospect "Paula Monterey". Now given the man hasn't met her before, he only has to be convinced that she is the woman for him, then he tells "Mac" who gives the job to a woman called "Paula" - who just happens to be his fiancée, anyway, and so gets the million dollar contract and all in everyone's garden is rosey! What chance? Well the story all treads fairly predictable lines from here on out, and if that were all then maybe it would have worked a bit more coherently. The problem is that the propensity of musical numbers appear to have little, if anything, to do with the story and for the most part aren't really very good. That said. I did quite enjoy Judy Canova's bubble bath serenade and, indeed, she does rather amiably chivvy things alongs when things get a bit slow with a few other numbers, one of which has the most obvious example of hosepipe rain I've ever seen. Louis Armstrong brings up the rear with the Howard Arlen and Ted Koehler song he shares with Martha Raye, and that saves the best til last. It's odd to consider that people would have gone to the cinema to see this rather than the theatre, because aside from that thinnest of plots - a theatre production is what this really is.