First a Girl

As I am French it is a little difficult for me to write in English (please forgive me !). However I would like to say that this movie is my favorite among the musicals from the 30's. Jessie Matthews, as good singer as dancer, is charming and "piquant". Her partner, Sonnie Hale, is absolutely hilarious, especially when singing the lovely melody "everything's in rhythm in my heart". Besides, the romance between Elizabeth (J. Matthews) and Robert - quite smart ! - (Griffith Jones) is much more glamorous than the one in VICTOR VICTORIA by Blake Edwards. No need to say I highly recommend FIRST A GIRL as it is, according to me, a genuine gem ! Unfortunately, there is no DVD of this movie in my country :-(

The premise-a woman pretending to be a man pretending to be a woman-is the same, but Blake Edwards considerably revised the particulars for his 1982 version of this 1935 Jessie Matthews musical, which was in turn taken from a 1933 German romp. Matthews is a stagestruck clerk who loses her job and fills in, in a rather contrived plot development, for female impersonator Sonnie Hale, a would-be Shakespearean actor who's putting on a dress to earn a guinea or two. She triumphs, and soon she's touring a surprisingly location-shot Europe as Victor. Matthews is, as ever, charming, a pleasing singer and a marvelous dancer. But with her constant lipstick and eye shadow and plucked eyebrows, the notion that she could fool all of Europe with her gender is absurd, and the screenplay has to go through some strenuous contortions to correctly match her with the dashing Griffith Jones, whose fiancee, a platinum-blonde Anna Lee, winds up with Hale, who wraps up the movie by doing an elaborate production number in drag, and isn't as hilarious as he thinks he is. It's pretty jolly, lavish by 1930s British musical standards, and a bright showcase for Matthews, but I think I prefer Victor/Victoria, and I think I buy Julie Andrews as a boy more than I do Matthews.

Having heard of this film years ago, I finally saw it the other night. It is a delightful showcase for the largely forgotten charms of Jessie Mathews, the queen of British musicals. The film compares favorably with Hollywood product, with good production values, pleasant songs, Busby Berkeley-like dance routines, and a lively and funny script. The storyline, adapted from the 1933 "Vicktor und Vicktoria", is remarkably close to the 1980's "Victor/Victoria", which was made so memorable by Julie Andrews great performance. Jessie Matthews, whom I was not familiar with proves to be a delightful singer, dancer and actress, and proves that Hollywood did not have a monopoly on talented leading ladies. Sonnie Hale is hilarious in the role played in the later film by Robert Preston. Because of the censorship restrictions so prevalent in 1935, I doubt that this film had an extensive run in this country at the time of it's release. The gay elements prevalent in the later film, while not directly addressed, are certainly strongly implied here. Anna Lee gives good support as "the Princess." I enjoyed this film far more than I thought I would.

this charming British musical, the first English version of ' victor victoria', can boast a swell cast,pungent lines and delightful musical routines. the story evolves around a showgirl pretending to be a boy and playing a girl on stage. Quite confusing, but that's where comes all the fun. Even if Jessie Matthews has star billing and the leading role, Sonnie Hale is outstanding and the credit for the enchantment is mainly all his. Their dance routines cannot compete with Fred and Ginger, but their facetiousness and buffoonery deserves our chortles. An old fashioned charm emanates from this movie, unfortunately not very well known.

This little British-made gem of a film was one of the last movies to be released exclusively on VHS format. Too bad it wasn't one of the first to be released on DVD. It is similar in storyline to Victor/Victoria, but it is different enough that you can watch both and enjoy the comparisons without feeling that you have just watched the same film twice.

Elizabeth (Jessie Matthews) is a British shop girl working in a fashion boutique that caters to the wealthy. She dreams of being a famous entertainer. One rainy day - while wearing the fancy clothes she is supposed to be delivering - she runs into Victor, aspiring Shakespearean actor and actual female impersonator who works the bawdy music halls of London. He is down to his last shilling when he gets a one-time engagement to work in one of these halls. Unfortunately, the rain has taken a toll on his voice and he is unable to take the job. Likewise, Elizabeth has ruined the clothes she was supposed to deliver and can't go back to her job. They forge an alliance for what is supposed to be a one-time thing - Elizabeth will go on as Victor and be a woman impersonating a man impersonating a woman so they both can collect the money they badly need. A high-class booking agent sees the act and offers the pair a chance to be the toast of Europe. A reluctant Elizabeth agrees since it does give her a chance at her dream.

The complications arise in France where a princess and her fiancé, which the princess treats more as a lapdog than a man, see her act. The fiancé arrives late to the performance and is at first attracted to Elizabeth, whom he believes is a woman performing as a woman. The princess enjoys telling him the joke is on him when she shows him the program that introduces Victoria - the great female impersonator.

The differences between this film and Victor/Victoria are that the princess sees her fiancé's attraction to "Bob" and yet wants to prove "Bob" to be a girl, opening up a pathway for a romance between the two, and also the princess starts a romance of sorts with Elizabeth's mentor, Victor. Thus the princess is not the jealous gun moll that Leslie Ann Warren plays in Victor/Victoria. Instead she is a Marie Antoinette-like character that seems to take nothing seriously. There are implausibilities in both films. In Victor/Victoria the film would lead you to believe that most of 1930's Paris is gay. In this film no trace of a gay lifestyle is ever mentioned. Instead Victor is supposed to be a straight man who lives in close quarters with the very attractive Elizabeth and apparently never has an impure thought or act. However, the rather unlikely pairing of Victor with the princess seems to be thrown in just so that the audience is assured of his straightness.

There are several very good Busby Berkeley-like musical numbers in the film as well as some very good and catchy tunes to go along with them.