Evergreen | |
---|---|
Directed by | Victor Saville |
Written by | Marjorie Gaffney Emlyn Williams |
Based on | Ever Green by Benn Levy |
Produced by | Michael Balcon |
Starring | Jessie Matthews Sonnie Hale Barry MacKay Betty Balfour |
Cinematography | Glen MacWilliams |
Edited by | Ian Dalrymple |
Music by | Richard Rodgers Lorenz Hart Harry M. Woods |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Gaumont British Distributors |
Release date | April 1934 (United Kingdom)
|
Running time | 90 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Evergreen is a 1934 British musical film directed by Victor Saville starring Jessie Matthews, Sonnie Hale and Barry MacKay. The film is based on the 1930 musical Ever Green , also starring Matthews, who plays a dual role as mother and daughter. [1]
The film was produced at Gaumont British by Michael Balcon and shot at the Lime Grove Studios in London. The film's sets were designed by art director Alfred Junge. The music was written by Rodgers and Hart. [2]
In the Edwardian era music halls of London, popular singing star Harriet Green delights audiences with her coy rendition of "Daddy Wouldn't Buy Me a Bow Wow." Harriet, who has an illegitimate baby daughter that she keeps secret from the public, is blackmailed into leaving the stage, so she moves to South Africa to raise her daughter quietly. Years later, her daughter Harriet Hawkes, who strongly resembles her mother, returns to London to break into showbusiness. Handsome young publicity man Tommy Thompson convinces a theatre producer to feature Harriet Hawkes in a new revue as the "remarkably preserved" original Harriet Green. The ruse works, but when Harriet Hawkes and Tommy fall in love, the public believes that Harriet is her 50-year-old mother and that Tommy is her son. The masquerade is revealed when the younger Harriet performs a strip-tease dance to the Harry M. Woods song "Over My Shoulder." [3]
Matthews, a popular English actress, dancer and singer of the 1930s, performs a dual role as music-hall star Harriet Green and her daughter Harriet Hawkes. Hale was Matthews' real-life husband.
Capitalising on the success of Jessie Matthews' performance in the 1930 West End production of Rodgers and Hart's Ever Green musical, producer Michael Balcon engaged her for Emlyn Williams' film adaptation of Benn W. Levy's stage play. Harry M. Woods added four songs, dropping a number of the original Rodgers and Hart numbers.
RKO, Fred Astaire's Hollywood studio, prevented Balcon from engaging Astaire, who was then appearing in The Gay Divorce at London's Palace Theatre and wanted to appear with Matthews. Contemporary reviews commented that such a partnership would be popular with critics and public. [4]
Even though Matthews was at the peak of her popularity at the time, she was close to a mental breakdown during the making of the film. [5] In her autobiography Over My Shoulder, Matthews credited director Victor Saville with providing her the support that she had needed to complete the filming.
When the movie premiered at the Radio City Music Hall, critic Andre Sennwald of The New York Times praised the film and Matthews' performance: "Evergreen is the most pleasurable musical comedy yet offered us by the ambitious British screen industry. Both in its suave and expert technical arrangement and in its superb Rodgers and Hart songs, this Gaumont-British screen edition of Benn W. Levy's London play is a considerable joy. In addition it is fortunate in the presence of Jessie Matthews, a nimble and winning dryad of song and dance, who deserves to be better known to American film audiences. A joyous and captivating nymph, she is the feminine counterpart of Fred Astaire. If Hollywood has the welfare of its customers at heart, it will immediately team her with Mr. Astaire in what should certainly be the perfect partnership." [6]
Following the film's success in the U.S., MGM extended an offer of a major Hollywood role to Matthews, but Gaumont British refused to release her.[ citation needed ]
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1937.
Jessie Margaret Matthews was an English actress, dancer and singer of the 1920s and 1930s, whose career continued into the post-war period.
Sir Michael Elias Balcon was an English film producer known for his leadership of Ealing Studios in west London from 1938 to 1956. Under his direction, the studio became one of the most important British film studios of the day. In an industry short of Hollywood-style moguls, Balcon emerged as a key figure, and an obdurately British one too, in his benevolent, somewhat headmasterly approach to the running of a creative organization. He is known for his leadership, and his guidance of young Alfred Hitchcock.
Evelyn Laye was an English actress and singer known for her performances in operettas and musicals.
Three Little Words is a 1950 American musical film biography of the Tin Pan Alley songwriting partnership of Kalmar and Ruby. It stars Fred Astaire as lyricist Bert Kalmar and Red Skelton as composer Harry Ruby, along with Vera-Ellen and Arlene Dahl as their wives, with Debbie Reynolds in a small but notable role as singer Helen Kane and Gloria DeHaven as her own mother, Mrs. Carter DeHaven.
Victor and Victoria is a 1933 German musical comedy film written and directed by Reinhold Schünzel, starring Renate Müller as a woman pretending to be a female impersonator. The following year, Schünzel directed a French-language version of the film titled George and Georgette, starring Meg Lemonnier and a French cast.
John Robert Hale-Monro, known as Sonnie Hale, was an English actor, screenwriter, and director.
Fiddlers Three is a 1944 British black-and-white musical comedy. It includes a number of musical sections, mainly focussing on replacing the word "home" with "Rome". The film was produced by Michael Balcon and directed by Harry Watt. The cast included Tommy Trinder, Sonnie Hale, Frances Day, Francis L. Sullivan, Diana Decker and Elisabeth Welch. Making their film debuts were James Robertson Justice, and Kay Kendall near the bottom of the cast list, as the "Girl Who Asks About Her Future At Orgy". The film follows the adventures of two sailors and a Wren who are struck by lightning and transported back to Ancient Rome, where they are accepted as seers.
"Dancing on the Ceiling" is a 1930 popular song composed by Richard Rodgers, with lyrics by Lorenz Hart for the 1930 London musical Ever Green when it was sung by Jessie Matthews. It was originally part of the musical Simple Simon, but it was cut from the production before the premiere. In the film of Evergreen (1934), "Dancing on the Ceiling" was again sung by Jessie Matthews.
Ever Green is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Lorenz Hart and a book by Benn Levy. This was the last of three musicals written by Rodgers and Hart in London.
First a Girl is a 1935 British comedy film directed by Victor Saville and starring Jessie Matthews. First a Girl was adapted from the 1933 German film Viktor und Viktoria written and directed by Reinhold Schünzel. It was remade as the 1982 American musical comedy Victor/Victoria starring Julie Andrews.
Victor Saville was an English film director, producer, and screenwriter. He directed 39 films between 1927 and 1954. He also produced 36 films between 1923 and 1962.
Climbing High is a 1938 British comedy film directed by Carol Reed and produced by Michael Balcon with a screenplay by Sonnie Hale, Marion Dix and Lesser Samuels. It stars Jessie Matthews, Michael Redgrave, Noel Madison, Margaret Vyner and Alistair Sim, and was first released in the U.K. in November 1938.
Sailing Along is a 1938 British musical comedy film directed by Sonnie Hale and starring Jessie Matthews, Barry MacKay, Jack Whiting, Roland Young, Frank Pettingell, Noel Madison and Alastair Sim. It includes many staged song and dance routines either on barges or on the dock edge.
The Gaunt Stranger is a 1938 British mystery thriller film directed by Walter Forde. It stars Sonnie Hale, Wilfrid Lawson and Alexander Knox.
Gangway is a 1937 British musical film directed by Sonnie Hale and starring Jessie Matthews, Barry MacKay, Nat Pendleton and Alastair Sim. Its plot involves a young reporter goes undercover to unmask a gang of criminals who are planning a jewel heist. AKA as Sparkles in Australia and on Australian release 78rpm records. Jessie Matthews was nicknamed SPARKLE in the film.
Head Over Heels is a 1937 British musical film directed by Sonnie Hale and starring Jessie Matthews, Robert Flemyng and Louis Borel. It was released in the U.S. as Head over Heels in Love.
Out of the Blue is a 1931 British musical film directed by Gene Gerrard and starring Gerrard, Jessie Matthews and Kay Hammond. It was produced by British International Pictures at the company's Elstree Studios near London. The film's sets were designed by the art director David Rawnsley.
It's Love Again is a 1936 British musical film directed by Victor Saville and starring Jessie Matthews, Robert Young and Sonnie Hale. In the film, a chorus girl masquerades as a big game hunter to try to boost her showbiz career.
The Ginger Rogers filmography lists the film appearances of American actress Ginger Rogers, as well as her television, stage, and radio credits. Rogers's career spanned fifty-seven years, from 1930 to 1987.