It's Love Again

Calling all Jessie Matthews fans! If you don't know who she is, check out either It's Love Again or There Goes the Bride. She's absolutely adorable, like a 1930s version of Olivia Colman, and she sings and dances, too!

In this movie, Jessie tries and fails to make it as a chorus girl. Robert Young is a newspaper man in a rut, and to spice up his column, he invents a society dame named Mrs. Smythe-Smythe who's the toast of every nightclub and restaurant. Jessie seizes the opportunity and pretends to be Mrs. Smythe-Smythe. The premise sounds cute, but the actual plot isn't the best part of the story. Sure, you'll get to see a pre-How Green was My Valley Sara Allgood as Jessie's warm-hearted, Irish maid, and there are a few tricks to get away with the mistaken identity that will arouse a chuckle, but the best parts of this movie are the musical numbers.

Jessie Matthews gets to show off all her adorable talents, including a hilarious and seductive rumba, a solo tap dance in an extremely skimpy costume that could be argued is little more than a glorified fig leaf, and a performance in a skintight sequined bodysuit. She's very talented, and it's no wonder she was one of Britain's most delightful entertainers in the 1930s. As a bonus, you'll get to see, very briefly, Robert Young tap dancing, and you'll get to hear him singing a chorus of the title song alongside Jessie! He never gets to show off his musical talents, and since this movie came out the same year as Stowaway, it's a real treat to see them. Jessie is the star of the show, though, and she's just delightful.

British actress Jessie Matthews is "Elaine", trying to break into show biz. Meanwhile, the dashing Robert Young is Pete Carlton, who starts making things up for the newspaper ratings. he invents a foreign, famous, talented entertainer who wows every audience. when these two stories collide, wacky things start to happen. It's pretty good, although I could have done with less singing and tap dancing. the rumba about 33 minutes in had a fun syncopation going on... that was good stuff! and the usual amount of silliness and chasing around the mulberry bush, as grandma used to say. Young had worked with so many greats in the 1930s, 1940s, and of course, was Marcus Welby, MD. Co-stars Sonnie Hale, who was actually married to the star Jessie Matthews from 1931 to 1944. sadly, Hale died young in his 50s. Directed by Victor Saville... had started in the silents, and moved into talkies. he and Jessie Matthews worked together on six films. Story by Marion Dix, who had also worked on "Down to their Last Yacht", another fun comedy/adventure. it's all a bit of fun. even with all the tap dancing. and the sound and picture quality are in remarkably good shape, considering its almost 90 years old at this point.

Jessie Matthews is at the height of her powers here, charming and lovely and lighting up the screen as she dances divinely in a number of captivating costumes in a stunning display of terpsichoreal virtuosity. Apart from It's Love Again the musical compositions are not particularly memorable in themselves, but provide everything the star needs to showcase her talents. There's no doubt that Victor Saville was her best director, endowing her with the confidence to give her all, and there's the stylish photography of Glen MacWilliams. Hollywood star Robert Young and husband Sonnie Hale, the latter not as irritating as usual and actually quite amusing on occasions, give support in this light-hearted extravaganza.

Maybe I am just a tough guy when it comes to reviewing and rating films, but I noticed that a lot of reviewers gave this film a score of 10. 10 is a score I'd associate with films like "Gone With the Wind", "The Godfather" and "Ben Hur"....not with a light and modestly enjoyable British musical. To give it a 10 seems a bit extreme to me.

Peter Carlton (Robert Young) is a gossip columnist with a problem...nothing to write about. So, he invents a celebrity, 'Mrs. Smythe-Smythe', a traveling adventurer who has done practically everything. When Elaine (Jessie Matthews) learns about this, she decides to pose as the adventurer and eventually romance ensues....following lots of song and dance numbers.

This is a very pleasant film made a bit better due to Matthews' cute persona. It's nothing you should rush out to see, but it is pleasant and proves that the British, too, could make charming musicals.

It's a lovely, cheerful and musical comedy that's actually quite funny.

Following the phenomenal success of EVERGREEN, Gaumont-British put Jessie Matthews into a whole series of similar films all with a familiar cosy, warm feeling of predictability. They're all essentially rags to to riches tales where a struggling dancer finally makes it big.

Jessie Matthews as always utterly adorable and in this film her singing is also a lot more pleasant since she's abandoned her earlier pseudo-operatic style. She immediately engages your emotions, straight away you are on her side, rooting for her..... well almost straight away. Even back in the thirties, it took audiences a while to get used to Jessie Matthews' weird affected accent. That incongruous upper class accent just didn't go with a struggling working class girl trying to get into show business. Although in reality, Jessie Matthews had indeed been a struggling working class girl wanting to get into show businesses and she did that partly by attending elocution lessons to wipe out all traces of her cockney accent! That cut-glass way of speaking didn't make her popular everywhere especially in the working class north where for some insane reason they preferred Gracie Fields films. There's no accounting for taste!

Albeit predictable, this has all the classy hallmarks of Gaumont-British, snappy direction from Victor Saville, a script that's still very funny even today and of course an utterly charming star. Besides exhibiting buckets of talent she does of course look absolutely stunning - some of the outfits she wears would probably not have been allowed over in America where The Hays Code was now in force to ensure decency and improve the morals of that nation. One of her dresses looks very similar to THAT dress Marilyn Monroe wore in SOME LIKE IT HOT and as for the 'spray-on' glittery body suit at the end - well that would certainly make those dogs in that cinema wag their tails!