Evergreen (film)

Evergreen

Directed by	Victor Saville
Produced by	Michael Balcon
Written by	Marjorie Gaffney Emlyn Williams Benn W. Levy (Play)
Starring	Jessie Matthews Sonnie Hale Barry MacKay Betty Balfour
Music by	Richard Rodgers Lorenz Hart Harry M. Woods
Cinematography	Glen MacWilliams
Distributed by	Gaumont British
Release dates	April 1934 (United Kingdom) 31 December 1934 (1934-12-31) (USA)
Running time	90 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Evergreen is a 1934 Gaumont British musical film, starring Jessie Matthews as a music hall singer, based on the 1930 musical Ever Green, also starring Matthews. Matthews had a dual role as both mother and daughter.^[1]

The film was produced by Michael Balcon and directed by Victor Saville. The music was by Rodgers and Hart.^[2]

Plot

Set in the Edwardian era music halls of London, the popular singing star Harriet Green (Jessie Matthews) delights audiences with her coy rendition of Daddy Wouldn't Buy Me a Bow Wow; however she has an illegitimate baby daughter that she keeps secret from the public. Blackmailed into leaving the stage she moves to South Africa to raise her daughter quietly. Years later her daughter, Harriet Hawkes (played by Matthews again), looking remarkably like her mother, returns to London as a young show-biz hopeful. A handsome young publicity man Tommy Thompson (Barry MacKay), convinces a theater producer (Sonnie Hale) to star her in a new revue as the "remarkably preserved" original Harriet Green. The ruse works; however Harriet and Tommy have fallen in love, but the public believes Harriet is a well-preserved 60-year-old and Tommy is her son. The masquerade is revealed when Harriet does a strip-dance to the Harry M. Woods song Over My Shoulder.

Cast

Jessie Matthews as Harriet Green
Sonnie Hale as Leslie Benn
Betty Balfour as Maudie
Barry MacKay as Tommy Thompson
Ivor McLaren as Marquis of Staines
Hartley Power as Treadwell
Patrick Ludlow as Lord Shropshire
Betty Shale as Mrs Hawkes
Marjorie Brooks as Marjorie Moore
Charles Mortimer as Butler

Jessie Matthews the popular English actress, dancer, and singer of the 1930s had a dual role as music hall star Harriet Green and her daughter Harriet Hawkes. Matthew's real life husband, Sonnie Hale, played the worried theatre producer Leslie Benn. The love interest, publicity man Tommy Thompson, was acted by Barry MacKay. The other main parts are - Maudie, played by Betty Balfour, Marquis of Staines by Ivor MacLaren and Treadwell by Hartley Power.

Production

Capitalising on the success of Jessie Matthews' performance in the 1930 West End production of Rodgers and Hart's Ever Green musical, producer Michael Balcon engaged her for Emlyn Williams' film adaptation of Benn W. Levy's stage play. Harry M. Woods added four songs, dropping a number of the original Rodgers and Harts numbers.

RKO, Fred Astaire's Hollywood studio, prevented Balcon from engaging Astaire, who was then appearing in The Gay Divorce at London's Palace Theatre, and wanted to appear with Matthews. Contemporary reviews commented that such a partnership would be popular with critics and public.^[3]

Even though Matthews was at the peak of her popularity at the time, she was near to a mental breakdown during the making of the film.^[4] She credits director Victor Saville in her autobiography Over My Shoulder with giving her the support needed to complete the filming.

Reception

Popular in its day, the film has retained critical and contextual attention due to a strong plot, energetic performances and catchy Rodgers and Hart numbers comparable to "the best Astaire/Rodgers or Busby Berkeley films"; it is regarded as director Victor Saville's most worthy work.^[5]

Success in America resulted in MGM making an offer of a big Hollywood role which Gaumont British would not release her to as she was too valuable to the British studio.

References

Notes

↑ "Evergreen". Time Out London. Retrieved 2008-03-27.
↑ Dave Kehr. "Evergreen Capsule". Chicago Reader. Retrieved 2008-03-27.
↑ Sennwald, Andre (1935-01-11). "THE SCREEN; Jessie Matthews in "Evergreen," a Pleasing Screen Musical From England, at the Music Hall". The New York Times.
↑ Evergreen Review. Movie Reviews - Film - Time Out London
↑ DVDLaser: the largest database of DVD reviews on the web

Bibliography

The Great British Films, Jerry Vermilye, 1978, Citadel Press, ISBN 0-8065-0661-X
Over My Shoulder - An Autobiography, Jessie Matthews, 1974, W.H. Allen, ISBN 0-491-01572-0

External links

Evergreen at the Internet Movie Database

Films directed by Victor Saville

The Arcadians (1927)
Tesha (1928)
Kitty (1929)
Woman to Woman (1929)
The W Plan (1930)
A Warm Corner (1930)
The Sport of Kings (1931)
Hindle Wakes (1931)
Michael and Mary (1931)
Sunshine Susie (1931)
The Faithful Heart (1932)
Love on Wheels (1932)
The Good Companions (1933)
I Was a Spy (1933)
Friday the Thirteenth (1933)
Evergreen (1934)
Evensong (1934)
The Iron Duke (1934)
The Dictator (1935)
Me and Marlborough (1935)
First a Girl (1935)
It's Love Again (1936)
Dark Journey (1937)
Storm in a Teacup (1937)
Action for Slander (1937)
South Riding (1938)
The Earl of Chicago (1940)
Forever and a Day (1943)
Tonight and Every Night (1945)
The Green Years (1946)
Green Dolphin Street (1947)
Desire Me (1947)
If Winter Comes (1947)
Conspirator (1949)
Kim (1950)
Calling Bulldog Drummond (1951)
24 Hours of a Woman's Life (1952)
The Long Wait (1954)
The Silver Chalice (1954)

Films produced by Michael Balcon

1920s	The Rat (1925) The Sea Urchin (1926) The Triumph of the Rat (1926) The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1926) The Mountain Eagle (1926) Blighty (1927) Downhill (1927) The Rolling Road (1927) Easy Virtue (1927) One of the Best (1927) The Vortex (1927) A South Sea Bubble (1928) A Light Woman (1928) The First Born (1928) The Wrecker (1929) The Return of the Rat (1929) City of Play (1929) Taxi for Two (1929) Woman to Woman (1929)

1930s	Jack's the Boy (1932) I Was a Spy (1933) It's a Boy (1933) Friday the Thirteenth (1933) Princess Charming (1934) Evergreen (1934) Red Ensign (1934) Along Came Sally (1934) The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) Car of Dreams (1935) First a Girl (1935) Me and Marlborough (1935) The 39 Steps (1935) Stormy Weather (1935) Things Are Looking Up (1935) The First Offence (1936) Tudor Rose (1936) The Man Who Changed His Mind (1936) Secret Agent (1936) Where There's a Will (1936) Windbag the Sailor (1936) Doctor Syn (1937) A Yank at Oxford (1938) The Gaunt Stranger (1938) The Four Just Men (1939) Cheer Boys Cheer (1939)

1940s	Let George Do It! (1940) The Proud Valley (1940) The Ghost of St. Michael's (1941) Ships with Wings (1941) Turned Out Nice Again (1941) The Big Blockade (1942) Went the Day Well? (1942) The Black Sheep of Whitehall (1942) My Learned Friend (1943) The Foreman Went to France (1942) Undercover (1943) The Bells Go Down (1943) San Demetrio London (1943) Nine Men (1943) For Those in Peril (1944) Champagne Charlie (1944) The Halfway House (1944) Fiddlers Three (1944) Dead of Night (1945) Pink String and Sealing Wax (1945) They Came to a City (1945) Johnny Frenchman (1945) The Captive Heart (1946) The Overlanders (1946) Hue and Cry (1947) It Always Rains on Sunday (1947) The Loves of Joanna Godden (1947) The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (1947) Frieda (1947) Against the Wind (1948) Saraband for Dead Lovers (1948) Scott of the Antarctic (1948) Passport to Pimlico (1949) Whisky Galore! (1949) A Run for Your Money (1949) Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)

1950s	Cage of Gold (1950) The Blue Lamp (1950) The Magnet (1950) The Lavender Hill Mob (1951) Pool of London (1951) The Man in the White Suit (1951) Mandy (1952) The Cruel Sea (1953) The Ladykillers (1953) The Maggie (1954) The Night My Number Came Up (1955) Touch and Go (1955) The Long Arm (1956) Barnacle Bill (1957) The Man in the Sky (1957) The Shiralee (1957) Dunkirk (1958) The Siege of Pinchgut (1959) The Scapegoat (1959) The Long and the Short and the Tall (1961)

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