sbasu-47-608737 A struggling actor, badly needing publicity, a publicity man, ready to anything for his studio and its stars, a naive girl, catapulted in limelight as the fresh new face, and the system, for which humans don't matter, the money they bring it does, and there can be no wrong methods,if it can spin in money. That in brief is what the movie was about. Did I like it? Frankly no, since the plot was too near reality, and who likes reality ? When one watches off beat movies, one is mentally prepared for that, but not in these type of movies. This dislike of course shows,to me, that the movie was well made and there were not many irritants, which would have brought it into the fantasy zone, and I would have dismissed it. Of course it was all well, till the ending. naturally I won't like the black-guard to go with the reward. There was that steady Lyle Talbot, who unfortunately almost always got the role of the sacrificial lamb, this was no exception. In this case, he could as well had been the winner, since the change of heart of the heroine wasn't called for since (a) there is the steady man (b) She at least considers herself to be in love with some one (c) there is a third person, who might be in love with her, but for her, he didn't exist, till the director told her he did, on rebound, she would have rather hated him, than being in love.The ending was rather forced and unnatural. It was made to make a hero of hero. Probably the hero could have been the one who stayed home, like in say Bucking Broadway (1917). I don't think a girl would reverse the affection. That is the other factor of my not being high on the movie.

bkoganbing Darryl F. Zanuck's number one star at 20th Century Fox Tyrone Power had to yield first billing in Second Fiddle to Sonia Henie, a very different kind of star than Zanuck was used to dealing with.Sonia Henie as movie star could probably best be compared to Esther Williams. Both were female sports stars in their chosen area. Henie's prestige was backed up by the fact that she had taken home the gold in three Olympics in figure skating before going to Hollywood. Esther unfortunately never got to compete in the canceled Olympics of 1940. As stars in their fields they could command big salaries and unlike other stars could make a bundle marketing themselves professionally. Sonia made plenty of money off the Ice Capades, she didn't need to be a film star and Zanuck well knew it.With that kind of leverage, you'd better make sure you give her the right material and plenty of support. Henie was not an actress, she never claimed she was. Yet Zanuck found stories suitable for her.Case in point is Second Fiddle, 20th Century Fox's satire on the search for Scarlett O'Hara. Woman of the North is a blockbuster best seller like Gone With The Wind and the studio that bought the rights decides a fresh face is needed. A nationwide talent search is on and Sonia Henie, a fresh faced school teacher from Minnesota, has her picture sent in by her oaf of a boyfriend, Lyle Talbot.The studio sends young publicity man Tyrone Power out to the frozen north of the continental USA to fetch Sonia back to Hollywood. Going along for the ride is her aunt, Edna May Oliver. Sonia gets the usual star buildup, but she can't quite understand things in Tinseltown as she's fresh off the farm. Case in point, the publicity inspired romance between her and Rudy Vallee. That gem of an idea will bite its creator Mr. Power right in the hindquarters. It also doesn't sit well with Vallee's main squeeze, Mary Healy.Irving Berlin wrote the score for Second Fiddle. It was the last of a three picture deal he had with 20th Century Fox that included On the Avenue and Alexander's Ragtime Band. One of the songs of the score, I Poured My Heart Into A Song was garnered for Second Fiddle it's only Academy Award nomination. Unfortunately Judy Garland went Over the Rainbow that year of 1939.As part of the publicity campaign Power gets to write I Poured My Heart Into A Song and you see him composing it at the piano and singing a bar or two of the lyrics Irving Berlin wrote that he just made up. When you hear Ty sing, you can understand why 20th Century Fox hired John Payne for musicals. Among the things Power was not blessed with was a good singing voice.Second Fiddle is good entertainment, it's got a nice Irving Berlin score, some well choreographed figure skating routines for Henie, Tyrone Power, and of course Edna May Oliver who brings up the quality of any film she's in.

writers_reign This is a pleasant enough diversion which pokes gentle fun at the search for an 'unknown' to play the eponymous role in a film adaptation of a best selling novel. Someone actually gave this more than the customary ten seconds thought because it was released in 1939, the same year as Gone With The Wind, a film that had hogged headlines around the world via its search for the perfect heroine, Scarlett O'Hara; Scarlett was a Southern belle and in Second Fiddle the fictitious novel is The Girl From The North, the North carries connotations of snow and Sonja Henie came from a Northern country, Norway and was herself associated with both snow and ice and as if that were not enough, in Second Fiddle she is a resident of Bergen, Minnesota and Bergen is also, of course, an island off the coast of Norway. So, was it worth all this care. More or less. Publicist Tyrone Power is sent to bring Henie to Hollywood and naturally he falls in love with her but his job obliges him to engineer a 'romance' between Henie and Rudy Vallee, another studio 'property' in need of publicity; we now have a touch of the Cyrano's as Power is not only buying the flowers and candy that Henie thinks is coming from Vallee but is also writing the billed-doux and even goes so far as to compose a ballad, I Poured My Heart Into A Song, ostensibly written by Vallee. Edna May Oliver is also on hand to lob the odd droll asides into the mix and it all ends happily. A diverting 80 minutes or so.

Ron Oliver A publicity agent finds himself playing SECOND FIDDLE when he fabricates a phony romance for a lovely new movie star he secretly adores.Sonja Henie was Norway's ice queen when she won Olympic gold medals in 1928, 1932 & 1936. After going professional, she began a celebrated movie career at 20th Century Fox in 1936 with her American film debut, ONE IN A MILLION. Beautiful & talented, as well as being a natural in front of the cameras, she carved out her own special niche during Hollywood's Golden Age. Although Miss Henie's ice routines may look antiquated by comparison to modern champions, there was nothing antique about her dazzling smile or sparkling personality. In this regard, some of today's snowflake princesses could still learn a great deal from her.As her career progressed, it became increasingly difficult for Fox to find decent stories for Miss Henie and the excuses for the lavish ice dancing numbers were often implausible. No matter. Audiences did not flock to her films to watch Sonja recite Shakespeare. The movies were meant to be pure escapist fantasy, plain & simple.SECOND FIDDLE is no exception and its story is often quite silly. Also, Sonja is not given nearly enough skating time to really satisfy her fans. However, Sonja's costars do offer some compensation.Although the role was certainly not one of his best, Tyrone Power is a lot of fun as the agent who must sublimate his own desires for the good of the Studio. Consequently, he has almost no romantic time with Sonja whatsoever, so instead he makes his somewhat unappealing role as charming as possible. His best moments are with marvelous character actress Edna May Oliver, playing Henie's sharp-tongued aunt, watching rather helplessly as she steals her every scene.Rudy Vallee is onboard mostly to sing a few songs, but he deftly underplays what could have been a boring good guy character and makes him standout well in contrast to the much more manic Power.Lyle Talbot has the small role of Sonja's Minnesota suitor. Movie mavens will recognize the voice of Charles Lane as that of the Studio Chief.Irving Berlin composed the songs, all of which are pleasant, but none of them come close to being counted among his best.Notice the sly script reference to 'Ferdinand.' This would be an allusion to Ferdinand the Bull, the somewhat less than masculine hero of Munro Leaf's 1936 story (and made into an Academy Award winning cartoon by Walt Disney in 1938). Since the line is spoken to Power, it could be that the scriptwriter had more than one inference in mind...Ultimately, though, this is Sonja's show. She glides effortlessly into the viewer's heart, while balancing on a thin edge of silver, suspended over frozen water.