Head over Heels | |
---|---|
Directed by | Sonnie Hale |
Written by | scenario: Marjorie Gaffney adaptation: Dwight Taylor & Fred Thompson dialogue: Dwight Taylor |
Based on | play by Francis de Croisset |
Produced by | S.C. Balcon |
Starring | Jessie Matthews Robert Flemyng Louis Borel Romney Brent |
Cinematography | Glen MacWilliams |
Edited by | Al Barnes |
Music by | words & music: Mack Gordon & Harry Revel musical director: Louis Levy |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Gaumont British Distributors |
Release dates |
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Running time | 78 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Head Over Heels is a 1937 British musical film directed by Sonnie Hale and starring Jessie Matthews, Robert Flemyng and Louis Borel. [1] It was released in the U.S. as Head over Heels in Love. [2]
The film was made at the Lime Grove Studios in London [3] with sets designed by Alfred Junge. It was based on the play Pierre ou Jack by Francis de Croisset (Paris, 1931). [4]
In Paris, nightclub entertainer Jeanne (Jessie Matthews) falls in love with her dance partner, the idle, womanising Marcel (Louis Borel). When Marcel runs off with rich and glamorous film star Norma (Helen Whitney Bourne), Jeanne's true love Pierre (Robert Flemyng) comes to her aid, and helps find her work on the radio. After becoming a successful radio star, Jeanne becomes attractive once more to Marcel, but the faithful Pierre cannot risk losing her again.
Writing for The Spectator in 1937, Graham Greene gave the film a poor review, characterizing it as "a moribund tale of poor young people with ambitions in Parisian garrets". Greene concludes that the film is one of the "worst English film[s] of the quarter". [5]
The Radio Times wrote, "Having made her movie name under the direction of Victor Saville, Jessie Matthews went to work for her four-time co-star and then husband Sonnie Hale, whose first outing behind the camera this was," but concluded, "Hale's inexperience shows away from the musical numbers. But it's engaging enough, and Alfred Junge's sets give the film a sophistication too often missing from British musicals of the period"; [6] while Allmovie wrote, "Legendary British musical-comedy favorite Jessie Matthews chalks up another winner." [7]
Jessie Margaret Matthews was an English actress, dancer and singer of the 1920s and 1930s, whose career continued into the post-war period.
Evelyn Laye was an English actress and singer.
Beatrice "Binnie" Mary Hale-Monro was an English actress, singer and dancer. She was one of the most successful musical theatre stars in London in the 1920s and 1930s, able to sing leading roles in operetta as well as musicals, and she was popular as a principal boy in pantomime. Her best-remembered roles were in the musicals No, No, Nanette (1925) and Mr. Cinders (1929), in which she sang "Spread a Little Happiness".
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.
Benjamin Arthur Flemyng, known professionally as Robert Flemyng, was a British actor. The son of a doctor, and originally intended for a medical career, Flemyng learned his stagecraft in provincial repertory theatre. In 1935 he appeared in a leading role in the West End, and the following year had his first major success, in Terence Rattigan's comedy French Without Tears. Between then and the Second World War he appeared in London and New York in a succession of comedies.
John Robert Hale-Monro, known as Sonnie Hale, was an English actor, screenwriter, and director.
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.
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.
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.
There Goes the Bride is a 1932 British comedy film directed by Albert de Courville and starring Jessie Matthews, Owen Nares, Carol Goodner, Basil Radford and Roland Culver. The screenplay concerns a woman who breaks off her an engagement and escapes to Paris. It is a remake of the German film Mary's Start in die Ehe, also known as Ich bleib' bei dir (1931). David Niven makes his film debut in a tiny uncredited role.
Friday the Thirteenth is a 1933 British drama film directed by Victor Saville and starring Jessie Matthews, Sonnie Hale and Muriel Aked.
Wild Boy is a 1934 British comedy sports film directed by Albert de Courville and starring Sonnie Hale, Bud Flanagan and Chesney Allen. It was by Gainsborough Pictures at Lime Grove Studios. The sets were designed by Alfred Junge. Often forgotten, but the role of "Wild Boy" was played by the greyhound Mick the Miller.
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.
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.
Head over Heels may refer to:
Whitney Bourne was an American stage and film actress. She was a leading lady in several B films of the 1930s, with occasional appearances in more prestigious films such as the British musical Head over Heels. During WWII, she was an American Red Cross clubmobiler.
My Heart Is Calling is a 1935 British musical film directed by Carmine Gallone and starring Jan Kiepura, Mártha Eggerth and Sonnie Hale. It is the English-language version of the German film My Heart Calls You and the French film Mon cœur t'appelle. It was made at Beaconsfield Studios.