Gracie Fields was star of the very earliest part of the 20c, her light shine brightest on the Music Hall stages of the U. K. and on live radio. Though she made occasional ventures into film at home and in the US (and was indeed the highest paid film actress in the word in 1937) her recorded legacy (vinyl apart) is intermittent. The word that 'Our Gracie' came from is gone now, her singing style is so out of fashion as to make her recordings almost wholly obsolete, her humorous stage characters now likewise beyond living memory. But this film does give some insight into the real warmth that she possessed, and some of her real acting talent. Like Gracie, the playwright Arnold Bennett has fallen out of fashion and on the basis of this offering, that's a real shame. The film has charm in abundance, and the leads are excellent. But for me, it's an opportunity to connect with a superstar of her time that is the films biggest treasure. She only worked occasionally in the second half of her life (having busted a gut in her younger years) and it's a shame we have so little to remind us why she was such a star. For me the film has a Capraesque feel, and though it's an old fashioned conceit, it still works. In the mate 60s the play was updated into a stage musical with moderate success. Perhaps it's due for a revamp, the bones of the play are strong. A bit of a forgotten gem all round.
Review of Holy Matrimony
