GANGWAY
Cheerful Jessie Matthews musical which doesn’t offer anything new, but... well, that’s some of the attraction! It’s not even her first character to pose as a maid. She plays a theatre critic who wants to do real news stories. Working undercover to expose some showbiz gossip, she gets snagged up with the Chicago mafia…
This was made with Gaumont-British in liquidation, but there’s quite a lavish production, even if the musical numbers feel a bit perfunctory. Jessie gets to dance in a variety of styles. The songs are of variable quality, though Lord and Lady Whoosiz is a big personal favourite. Okay, it rips off Makin’ Whoopee, but I prefer the cheap copy.
Barry Mackay is a bit of a stiff as the posh police inspector who romances Jessie onboard the Atlantic crossing. There’s a decent support cast playing the usual roles, with Nat Pendleton as a dumb gangster. Alastair Sim is best as an incompetent private eye on the trail of stolen pearls.
This is a decent vehicle for Jessie's many talents... until they dock in New York, where inspiration runs out. There’s a really witty script with some genuinely funny gags. The standard screwball scenarios work yet again. It’s a peak period Jessie Matthews comedy, and there are far too few of those. Such a happy film.
CLIMBING HIGH
The first collaboration between Carol Reed and Michael Redgrave (Kipps, The Stars Look Down) is a side issue. This is primarily a vehicle for Jessie Matthews in the last of her star roles for Gaumont-British, just as the studio finally collapsed. The budget is meagre and the musical numbers were cut. But it’s still a decent screwball comedy.
Jessie plays a lingerie model who keeps on meeting cute with a wealthy, accident prone socialite (Redgrave) who the gossip columns insist is engaged to a hardup aristocrat (Margaret Vyner). And that’s it, save a truly dreadful climax in the Alps with Francis L. Sullivan as a psychopathic opera enthusiast.
It doesn’t attempt to reinvent the genre. The two stars quarrel, then reluctantly fall in love. People pretend to be what they are not. There is a mix of slapstick and innuendo. Redgrave is likeable and Jessie makes a delightful fast talking dame. Often in her scanties, given her occupation. And maybe the budget…
There is quite a lot about class, with both the workers and the aristos doing badly in the depression. Alastair Sim is a workshy Communist, Mary Clare an unscrupulous blueblood. It evokes the contemporary New Deal comedies of Frank Capra. Of course, this isn’t as good, but at least Jessie’s stardom fades out still somewhere near her peak.