Waste of time

Great Film overall

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

I must add to the other raves on this page. This is an utterly charming and delightful film, derived from the London production of a Rodgers and Hart musical. Sadly, only three of their songs are retained, but one is the classic DANCING ON THE CEILING. Five songs by Henry M. Woods and others fill out the score.Matthews is a sheer delight, reminding me of Joan Collins, Julie Andrews, Jane Wyatt and Jennifer Jones, all rolled into one.The plot is cute and its twists and turns are fun. It moves swiftly with marvelous performances and the cinematography, art direction and editing are all top notch.I saw an impeccable print on Turner. Highly recommended to all musical film enthusiasts.The order of songs as they appear in the film:DADDY WOULDN'T BUY ME A BOW WOW (Tabrar) I WOULDN'T LEAVE MY LITTLE WOODEN HUT (Collins/Mellor) A LITTLE SPRINGTIME IN YOUR HEART (Woods) IF I GIVE IN TO YOU (Rodgers/Hart) TINKLE, TINKLE, TINKLE (Woods) DEAR DEAR (Rodgers/Hart) DANCING ON THE CEILING (Rodgers/Hart) OVER MY SHOULDERR (Woods)

Though sumptuous and sophisticated for an English musical of the period (or, let's face it, any period), Evergreen lacks the pizazz and production values of even an average Hollywood product of the Thirties. But what it does have is Jessie Matthews and the charm and sweetness that she had to a degree that elevated these qualities to sensual enchantment. Watch her in the "Dancing on the Ceiling" number, in which she dances up a spiral staircase, into her bedroom, and into bed, and you could swear she decides to hover in the air over the bed for a second, playfully kicking her heels. In "I Wouldn't Leave My Little Wooden Hut for You," which she performs dancing down the length of a dinner table with another actress, in the costumes of the 1890s, can reduce you to tears. The plot has her being given a gala farewell as she is about to leave England, and the feeling of the whole song is of a laughing farewell to an era of innocence.There was no one in films who moved like Jessie Matthews, unless you count the very, very different Louise Brooks (also a dancer). They moved with a liquid grace that, while full of natural sensuality, was never vulgar or openly sexy, any more than the movements of a beautiful feline. In the final number, "Over My Shoulder," however, she does a strip tease to make it plain that she is not a wonderfully preserved old lady but a young and vital one. It's breathtakingly sexy, but not because Matthews behaves, like later actresses, in a manner deliberately meant to be arousing--rather, because she is just so full of the joy of life.

This film appeared more frequently on Channel 13 in the late 1980s than it does today. I'm glad it has been transferred to DVD, and I hope to find it one day.The film was based on a musical comedy of the same name that was composed by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart but produced in London. It starred the rising musical comedy star of the 1930s and early 1940s Jessie Matthews. Married to Sonny Hale (who appears in the film as her producer) the story was about how Matthews takes part in a mild swindle. She is the granddaughter of a turn-of-the-century stage star, a beauty of that day, and Matthews pretends she is the same woman who has retained her youthful looks (but has grayish hair) due to a "fountain of youth" concoction. Hence the title, EVERGREEN. The show had many R.& H. tunes in it, but the best one was "Dancing on the Ceiling" which is still a standard.In the movie, Jessie Matthews only pretends to be her mother, but the story is relatively the same. The complications involve her increasing romance with her publicist, her having to keep up the fiction of her reawakening an older romance with the aristocrat who romanced her mother, and her having to handle the blackmail of her actual father. It does eventually work out, even for the blackmailer (Hartley Powers).Given the relative poverty in budgets of British musicals as opposed to Americans ones, this film is on par with the best American musicals of the period. As for Matthews, she went on to other musical film triumphs, including "FIRST A MAN", a musical about a woman, pretending to be a female impersonator. It was based on a German film, and both were the basis for the Julie Andrews - Robert Preston - James Garner triumph VICTOR/VICTORIA.

Jessie Matthews re-creates the role she originated in the 1930 Rodgers & Hart London stage production. From that production, only three songs from the original score made the transition to the film, one of which, "Dancing On The Ceiling", has become an American standard. Additional songs were provided by American composer, Harry Woods.While Matthews was nicknamed "The Dancing Divinity", she was also admired for her singing. She reportedly was a very popular and prolific recording artist in England. In this role, she sings as much, if not more, than she dances. Nevertheless, she was a skilled dancer, certainly equal to any of the dancing ladies of the 1930s. You'll see Matthews perform a variety of different dance styles in this film."Evergreen" was reportedly a very popular and profitable film in both England and America. This was the first of several musical comedy films done by Matthews, in which she had the lead starring role. It's interesting to watch if you enjoy 1930s musicals and their stars, especially if you enjoy dance in film. This film can be obtained on VHS.