This week’s mystery movie – which turned out to be one of the most difficult I have ever posted – was the 1934 British musical “Evergreen.” The film stars Jessie Matthews, Sonnie Hale, Betty Balfour, Barry Mackay, Ivor Maclaren, Hartley Power, Patrick Ludlow, Betty Shale and Marjorie Brooks. It was directed by Victor Saville, from a script by Emlyn Williams, scenario by Marjorie Gaffney, based on the play by Benn W. Levy, adapted for the screen from Charles B. Cochran’s production at the Adelphi Theatre, London. Lyrics and music by Harry M. Woods, Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. Choreography by Buddy Bradley, photography by Glen MacWilliams, art direction by Alfred Junge.
Writing in the New York Times (Jan. 11, 1935), Andre Sennwald said:
At the risk of damning the Music Hall’s new photoplay with faint praise, it is imperative to report at once that “Evergreen” is the most pleasurable musical comedy yet offered us by the ambitious British screen industry. Both in its suave and expert technical arrangement and in its superb Rodgers and Hart songs, this Gaumont-British screen edition of Benn W. Levy’s London play is a considerable joy. In addition it is fortunate in the presence of Jessie Matthews, a nimble and winning dryad of song and dance, who deserves to be better known to American film audiences. A joyous and captivating nymph, she is the feminine counterpart of Fred Astaire. If Hollywood has the welfare of its customers at heart, it will immediately team her with Mr. Astaire in what should certainly be the perfect partnership.
Writing in the Los Angeles Times (Jan. 19, 1935), Philip K. Scheuer said:
“Evergreen” goes a bit quaint at times, especially in those moments when it presumes to be hotcha. And yet Miss Matthews could hold her own in the front line of our best choruses at that. Perhaps these scenes just look quaint because we know they come from afar. The dance ensembles are undoubtedly a bit dated, from the Hollywood standpoint.
“Evergreen” is available from Amazon and Amazon.co.uk in a Region 2 format.
In 1962, I was a seventh-grader at Washington Junior High School in Naperville, Ill. On Dec. 7, Mr. Humbert, our social studies teacher, put aside the regular curriculum to give his young pupils a firsthand account of Pearl Harbor.
Lupe Velez and Jimmy Durante in Hollywood Party.
A poster for “Rufus Jones for President.”
ladailymirror.com 