"Hey kids, let's put on the show right here!"

A rubbish film - but I would watch it again

Gainsborough Studios, Shepherd's Bush, London, England, UK

Jessie Matthews and Owen Nares in There Goes the Bride (1932)

Jessie Matthews in Friday the Thirteenth (1933)

Louis Borel, Whitney Bourne, and Jessie Matthews in Head Over Heels in Love (1937)

Jessie Matthews in The Good Companions (1933)

The wanton waste that is going on in the Navy today is positively scandalous. Thousands of pounds are thrown into the sea everyday on target practice, saluting guns and so on. For instance, when the King of Katerbahoo visited England last year, the Navy gave him a Royal Salute. A Royal Salute! Twenty-one rounds at 5 shillings a round to impress a black potentate. They wasted thousands of pounds taking him down in submarines, up in aeroplanes - aeroplanes - huh! For a man who's never been higher than a coconut tree in all his life. Why? Why? Why? Gentlemen, it is this ruthless and unnecessary extravagance that is ruining the country. And I am pledged to my constituents to, to force you, to force you all, to a programme of rigid economy.

Jessie Matthews and John Mills in Midshipmaid Gob (1932)

Jessie Matthews

A.W. Baskcomb

Basil Sydney

Stafford Dickens

Ian Hay

Stephen King-Hall

Sir Percy Newbiggin visits the fleet to find ways to economize Naval expenditures. Daughter Celia tags along, and organizes a morale-boosting show utilizing ship-board talent. Her fiancé shows up, and romantic complications ensue.

Albert de Courville

The Midshipmaid

Why would I watch this again? Because I think I&apos;ve fallen in love with Jessie Matthews.

...but back to this particular film; the premise is that a Royal Navy ship&apos;s crew are to put on a concert but none of the crew have any talent. That&apos;s the joke, ok, not a very funny one but it makes for interesting viewing such as Dr Watson being a pantomime horse - when else would you will watch three whole minutes of Nigel Bruce dancing as a pantomime horse? The concert is therefore meant to be bad but that ethos seems to have imbued this whole film.....it&apos;s a bad film. It is however so bad that it&apos;s almost good - or at least weirdly entertaining. The acting isn&apos;t what most people would call acting - reading words would describe that more aptly. Direction cannot be criticised because there does not appear to have been any so the overall result is that this looks more like a rehearsal than a motion picture from a major film studio.

The other strand to the story concerns a crusty old politician visiting this ship which is inevitably full of sex-starved sailors. Inexplicably he brings along his beautiful daughter and because the script seems to have been written by one of those same sex-starved sailors, this gorgeous dream-girl spends the rest of the film flirting with whichever sailor is walking past. The beautiful daughter is of course the beautiful Jessie Matthews.

This is probably her worst picture so anyone not familiar with her should definitely not start with this. This is a picture strictly for the converted but even for us fans her acting feels forced, her character is completely one-dimensional, she&apos;s not actually very good but none of that matters too much. Just her joyous, effervescent screen presence is all that&apos;s needed to make this stupid, badly made un-funny comedy peculiarly entertaining.

Although Clara Bow is remembered these days as the &apos;it girl&apos; really nobody had &apos;it&apos; as much as Jessie Matthews. What&apos;s so intriguing and dizzying about her is how your mind tries to reconcile that face which is the absolute epitome of innocence, sweetness and purity with her sexually charged, strong willed and naturally vibrant personality. That dichotomy coupled with her well-publicised love life including sleeping with the future Edward VIII, sex scandals and stories about her wearing see-through clothing is like finding out that Snow White has made a porn film. She was the ultimate sex symbol of the 1930s and although this particular film is terrible, her star quality just about manages to make it quite fun.

Why would I watch this again? Because I think I've fallen in love with Jessie Matthews.

...but back to this particular film; the premise is that a Royal Navy ship's crew are to put on a concert but none of the crew have any talent. That's the joke, ok, not a very funny one but it makes for interesting viewing such as Dr Watson being a pantomime horse - when else would you will watch three whole minutes of Nigel Bruce dancing as a pantomime horse? The concert is therefore meant to be bad but that ethos seems to have imbued this whole film.....it's a bad film. It is however so bad that it's almost good - or at least weirdly entertaining. The acting isn't what most people would call acting - reading words would describe that more aptly. Direction cannot be criticised because there does not appear to have been any so the overall result is that this looks more like a rehearsal than a motion picture from a major film studio.

The other strand to the story concerns a crusty old politician visiting this ship which is inevitably full of sex-starved sailors. Inexplicably he brings along his beautiful daughter and because the script seems to have been written by one of those same sex-starved sailors, this gorgeous dream-girl spends the rest of the film flirting with whichever sailor is walking past. The beautiful daughter is of course the beautiful Jessie Matthews.

This is probably her worst picture so anyone not familiar with her should definitely not start with this. This is a picture strictly for the converted but even for us fans her acting feels forced, her character is completely one-dimensional, she's not actually very good but none of that matters too much. Just her joyous, effervescent screen presence is all that's needed to make this stupid, badly made un-funny comedy peculiarly entertaining.

Although Clara Bow is remembered these days as the 'it girl' really nobody had 'it' as much as Jessie Matthews. What's so intriguing and dizzying about her is how your mind tries to reconcile that face which is the absolute epitome of innocence, sweetness and purity with her sexually charged, strong willed and naturally vibrant personality. That dichotomy coupled with her well-publicised love life including sleeping with the future Edward VIII, sex scandals and stories about her wearing see-through clothing is like finding out that Snow White has made a porn film. She was the ultimate sex symbol of the 1930s and although this particular film is terrible, her star quality just about manages to make it quite fun.

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