Tag Archives: British films

Musical Monday: Evergreen (1934)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
Evergreen (1934) – Musical #529

Studio:
Gaumont-British Pictures

Director:
Victor Saville

Starring:
Jessie Matthews, Sonnie Hale, Betty Balfour, Barry MacKay, Ivor McLaren, Harley Power, Patrick Ludlow, Betty Shale, Marjorie Brooks, Stewart Granger (uncredited)

Plot:
In the early 1900s, popular stage performer Harriett Green (Matthews) says goodbye to her audiences, as she plans to retire to get married. But on the eve of her wedding, her past shows up and she disappears. Thirty years later, her daughter—also named Harriett (also Matthews)—is wearily looking for a job in a musical show. A down-on-his-luck publicity man Tommy Thompson (MacKay) makes the connection between Harriett and her mother. With the help of performers who knew Harriett in the old days (Hale, Balfour), Tommy hatches a plan to have young Harriett pose as her mother returning to the stage.

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Musical Monday: Rhythm Serenade (1943)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
Rhythm Serenade (1943) – Musical #652

Studio:
Columbia British Productions

Director:
Gordon Wellesley

Starring:
Vera Lynn, Peter Murray-Hill, Julien Mitchell, Charles Victor, Jimmy Jewel (billed as Jimmie Jewell), Ben Warriss, Joss Ambler, Rosalyn Boulter

Plot:
When her school closes, Ann Martin (Lynn) is determined to join the WRNS, the Women’s Royal Naval Service of Great Britain. Before she can join, her uncle thinks she would be better suited running a nursery for the children of women needed for wartime factory work. While locating a house for the nursery, Ann meets John Drover (Murray-Hill), a mysterious man in a nearby cottage. The two fall in love while Ann’s brothers (Jewel and Warriss) determine why he’s not in uniform.

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