It's Love Again | |
---|---|
Directed by | Victor Saville |
Written by | original screenplay: Marion Dix Lesser Samuels scenario: Marion Dix additional dialogue: Austin Melford |
Produced by | John Findlay |
Starring | Jessie Matthews Robert Young |
Cinematography | Glen MacWilliams |
Edited by | Al Barnes |
Music by | musical score: Louis Levy Bretton Byrd music & lyrics: Sam Coslow Harry Woods |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Gaumont British Distributors |
Release dates |
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Running time | 83 minutes |
Countries | United Kingdom United States |
Language | English |
It's Love Again is a 1936 British musical film directed by Victor Saville and starring Jessie Matthews, Robert Young and Sonnie Hale. [1] In the film, a chorus girl masquerades as a big game hunter to try to boost her showbiz career. [2]
The film was made at the Lime Grove Studios, [3] with art direction by Alfred Junge. [4]
Under pressure to come up with a story, gossip columnist Peter Carlton (Robert Young) invents the imaginary socialite and big game hunter "Mrs. Smythe-Smythe." This glamorous lady spends her time hunting tigers, jumping out of airplanes and driving men wild with her beauty. Carlton is somewhat taken aback when the real lady turns up in person, impersonated by aspiring actress Elaine Bradford (Jessie Matthews), in search of her big break.
In The New York Times , Frank Nugent wrote, "Gaumont-British has yet to do full justice to Miss Jessie Matthews, first lady of England's musical comedy screen. Her latest picture, "It's Love Again," which opened yesterday at the Roxy, imposes the entire burden of a cumbersome and unevenly paced comedy upon her shoulders and, although she rises to the task with her accustomed loveliness, gayety and talent, she is unable to convert the picture into anything more than what the gentlemen of the drama department would call 'a personal triumph'"; [5] whereas Leonard Maltin noted a "Lighter-than-air musical-comedy vehicle for Matthews following her success with Saville on Evergreen ," and found the film, "Funny, charming and imaginatively done, with several pleasant songs." [6]
Writing for The Spectator in 1936, Graham Greene gave the film a good review, describing the direction as "with speed, efficiency, and a real sense of the absurd". Greene praised the acting of Matthews and claimed that the double-entendre-filled scene of the "Oriental party" with the colonel and gossip-writer to be "memorable indeed". [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.
Edward & Mrs. Simpson is a seven-part British television series that dramatises the events leading to the 1936 abdication of King Edward VIII, who gave up his throne to marry the twice-divorced American Wallis Simpson.
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.
John Robert Hale-Monro, known as Sonnie Hale, was an English actor, screenwriter, and director.
Symona Ferner Boniface was an American film actress, most frequently seen in bit parts in comedy shorts, mostly at Columbia Pictures, particularly those of The Three Stooges. She appeared in 120 films between 1925 and 1950.
This Year of Grace is a revue with a book, music, and lyrics by Noël Coward.
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.
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.
The Good Companions is a 1933 British comedy film directed by Victor Saville starring Jessie Matthews, John Gielgud and Edmund Gwenn. It is based on the 1929 novel of the same name by J.B. Priestley.
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 Man from Toronto is a 1933 British romantic comedy film directed by Sinclair Hill and starring Jessie Matthews, Ian Hunter and Frederick Kerr. After an inheritance is left to them if they marry, an Englishwoman and a Canadian must meet for the first time to investigate the other - with comedic results. Matthews was considered a rising film star at the time of the production, and she quickly became one of Gainsborough Pictures' leading names.
Friday the Thirteenth is a 1933 British drama film directed by Victor Saville and starring Jessie Matthews, Sonnie Hale and Muriel Aked.
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.
This is a summary of 1936 in music in the United Kingdom.