Some viewers might find this British farce a bit too much, a trifle too silly for their tastes, loud and frantic. But for others, it's going to create painful stomach problems from the hard laughter it creates, that once they get settled into the silly mood and deal with endless over-the-top fast talking, highly winded sequences (one literally), it may end up going on their lists of comedy classics to watch over and over again.
While she gets a musical number out of somewhere turning a piece of classical music into delightful schtick (a piece of music also utilized for fun as a speciality for an old woman singing like a chicken in "Every Night at Eight" and another warbling it on roller skates in "Broadway Melody of 1940"), for the most part, this is a non-singing and dancing Jessie Matthews. She's a struggling model who meets wealthy Michael Redgrave, posing as a commoner because she believes the rich to be useless.
Already engaged to a broke, titled aristocrat, Redgrave enjoys playing "down". The highlight is a lengthy wind machine bit of slapstick (that goes on for five minutes) where old men end up with bras flying onto their chests and sticking, whip cream storming over everyone in a crowd, and another man covered in plaster and other debris.
A ton of wacky supporting characters whom the audience should find the pleasure of discovering themselves. Probably the best British comedy of the 30's with a ton of pleasures, but painkillers required for when it's over. Definitely a triumph for the young director Carol Reed who would deservedly become a legend. Top notch special effects and photography, sublimely edited to outrageous perfection.
While she gets a musical number out of somewhere turning a piece of classical music into delightful schtick (a piece of music also utilized for fun as a speciality for an old woman singing like a chicken in "Every Night at Eight" and another warbling it on roller skates in "Broadway Melody of 1940"), for the most part, this is a non-singing and dancing Jessie Matthews. She's a struggling model who meets wealthy Michael Redgrave, posing as a commoner because she believes the rich to be useless.
Already engaged to a broke, titled aristocrat, Redgrave enjoys playing "down". The highlight is a lengthy wind machine bit of slapstick (that goes on for five minutes) where old men end up with bras flying onto their chests and sticking, whip cream storming over everyone in a crowd, and another man covered in plaster and other debris.
A ton of wacky supporting characters whom the audience should find the pleasure of discovering themselves. Probably the best British comedy of the 30's with a ton of pleasures, but painkillers required for when it's over. Definitely a triumph for the young director Carol Reed who would deservedly become a legend. Top notch special effects and photography, sublimely edited to outrageous perfection.