User Reviews

I agree with everything the previous reviewer has written, but I really enjoyed the movie despite its faults. After all, Gracie is Gracie, and Monty Banks is her hero. And it's nothing if not lavishly produced. Admittedly, the story is slight and the humor no more than mildly amusing. But the cast is nothing if not enthusiastic, and although it is in no way imaginative, Monty Banks' direction is efficient. And there are some cute little showgirls hovering around, although very much in the background, alas. They were obviously wished on Monty by the producer and he didn't want to make a fuss of them. However, there is a very amusing sequence in which Gracie is conned into doing an Apache dance.

The sets and costumes, particularly in the climactic production number, are appealing. The flurry and movement and some of the excitement backstage is expertly captured, and the business with the policeman provides a pleasant climax. Miss Fields is in fine voice too and sings a fair number of songs, but - and this is really the only thing wrong with the movie - said songs are an undistinguished and quite unmemorable lot!

It's a toss-up for me who the queen of British musical comedy was in the 1930's, Gracie Fields or the Australian born Cicely Courtneidge. Most funny ladies, they were more than just silly faces and pratfalls. They were ladies with heart. In this film, Fields is a working class girl who longs to be on the stage and ends up their accidentally because she is mistaken for a patroness of the arts and asked to headline the show in addition to give money that she does not have. It's hysterically funny to watch the stage door manager mock the real patroness, as well as some of the comic antics that Fields gets into.

Like Courtneidge in "Along Came Sally", Fields has a very funny Apache dance although it is completely different. Another segment has Fields being pulled into the rumble seat of a moving vehicle against her will. While she does get to sing a few songs, this is not officially a musical and the backstage segments do not break into a production number. However, it's one of the most amusing comedies I've seen coming out of England, consistently funny and the type of humor that American audiences will enjoy as well. Fields, who did go Hollywood in the 1940's, just exudes warmth, even when dolled up in fur. John Loder is her handsome leading man, but it is Fields' film all the way.