skiddoo It wasn't perfect, and the print I saw even less so however I didn't count it down for that, but I wouldn't mind watching it again some time soon. I particularly liked the silliness of the explanations to the fiancée about who the runaway bride was and why she was in the kitchen. Another choice moment was one woman wearing the other woman's dress, and what better way to usurp her place! This movie had some very inventive comedic ideas. It was most definitely a farce and many of the plot points were therefore ridiculous. Yes, of course, she could just have said she wasn't going to be married, but clearly she wasn't the type to face the music and do the mature thing. He could have either turned her over to the police or walked on and ignored her but clearly he was intrigued by her and loved to rescue a damsel in distress, whether on a train or in the Alps. We saw the same in It Happened One Night when a spoiled, disruptive woman met a man with a hidden yen for romantic adventure.The movie appeared more modern to me in its look than many from its year, perhaps because it was British and the main characters and set were not extremely fashionable, in a Hollywood sense--this wasn't a movie draped in cinema satin starring a platinum blonde with penciled brows. (The big exception to that was her dancing which struck me as Charleston via Josephine Baker. The hands near waist, elbows forward, was apparently very popular in modeling and was shown in many movies of the period but I'd never seen it used quite this way in dance before and frankly I'm not entirely sure how she moved like that.) The French setting gave it a difference from the usual US fare, too, with a French maid who could actually have done the work rather than being employed to merely look pretty. The British view of the French as people who were willing to "sell" their offspring in a business deal was also used in The Forsyte Saga, published from 1906 through 1921. That aspect didn't appear in It Happened One Night for the same reason that reviewers of this movie thought it made no sense. In that era you only saw an American woman in a movie pressured into marrying a rich man she despised if there was a threat to her loved ones if she refused to go along with it: bankruptcy, disgrace, jail, or all three.

mark.waltz There are obvious similarities between this and America's "It Happened One Night". Preparing to marry a pompous businessman she can't stand to cinch a deal for her father, Jessie Matthews looks at the picture of her fiancée, sticks her tongue out, and bolts. The groom is humiliated, the father is devastated, and she is robbed while hiding out on a train far away. Believing that the sleeping man (Owen Nares)opposite her has her purse (it's actually his briefcase), she tries to retrieve it, and he accuses her of robbing him. Holding her for the police, he can't keep her in his grasp (she slips away from him in a most clever way), yet ends up finding her in his car anyway. He is forced to take her back to his pad, has lots of explaining to do when his fiancée (Carol Goodner) shows up, and even more when his society pals arrive and think Matthews is the girl he's engaged to.Quick moving comedy with a few snappy songs, this is a rare glimpse into what American audiences were missing in areas that did not get these British imports. Matthews would later gain some exposure with classics like "Evergreen", "First a Girl" and "It's Love Again", but outside of New York City, pretty much nobody in the United States even knew who she was. She has a sparkling personality, yet unlike other British actresses who made it big here, never had an interest in crossing over to Hollywood. Fortunately, we're getting to discover her now, and it is obvious that she is worth discovering. Some of the men may seem a bit pompous, or their levels of humor like something from outer space, but with a renewed interest in British culture (thanks to the Merchant Ivory films of the 1980's and 1990's and the BBC series "Downton Abbey"), us Yanks are taking pleasure in seeing sides of British society we hadn't been interested in before. Oh, and by the way, I think this is much more entertaining than the somewhat overlong "It Happened One Night", even with the manly Gable and the leg-exposing Colbert.

rhoda-9 Jessie Matthews made one wonderful film (Evergreen) and several lightweight, moderately amusing ones. But this is an utter atrocity. She is given very little opportunity to dance (she was a nice enough singer, but an exquisite dancer), and no dancing partner.The leading man, Owen Nares, looks and acts like a stuffed shirt, and the plot is not just lightweight but so ridiculous that one becomes irritated by its contempt for the audience. Jessie plays a bride who runs away on the day of her wedding because she never wanted to marry the groom (a wedding would help her father financially). She has to dodge people who are looking for her and will forcibly make her return and go through with the wedding. What kind of sense does this make? A forced marriage is invalid, and forcibly taking someone from where they are is kidnaping. And why would the groom want to marry a woman who doesn't want him? Owen Nares at first mistake her for a thief and threatens to call the police, then decides to keep her with him, in his home (he has no sexual designs on her, and is insulted when she suggests he might). This makes as little sense as the rest.Despite what the other commenters say, there are no funny lines. The script is as dull as it is inane. The whole thing seems to come from the world of very primitive musical comedy in which people would act in a silly or naughty way, even if it made no sense, and men would get excited by seeing girls show their legs.

malcolmgsw This is Jessie Matthews second sound film.Whilst she exhibits much gusto and enthusiasm she rather overacts at time and her technique is lacking.I was fortunate enough to see her give a lecture with Michael Balcon at the NFT some 40 years ago.She explained that it was Victor Saville who had helped to give her the confidence to appear in front of the cameras.Anyway having said that she is rather oddly matched with a rather stuffy Owen Nares who was 17 years her senior at the time.Nares was a popular leading man of the 20s and 30s and who was by this time heading into the twilight of his screen career.There are some enjoyable,if unmemorable musical numbers.There is only one brief dance from Jessie.This film was issued as part of the "British Classics Collection" some years ago,and is still to be purchased second hand.If you are a fan of Jessie Matthews or of 30s films it is worth seeing,if only to observe a talent in embryo