GAIETY GIRLS stars Jack Hulbert and Patricia Ellis as very French people. Everyone is very French, even Googie Withers and Finlay Currie, even though they speak and behave exactly like Britons.
Actually, it's one of those movies which is set in Paris for no reason whatsoever. It might have been set in London or New York City or any place where some one might be expected to put on a leg show. There is one joke about Devil's Island that would have had to be rewritten, but that's about the limit of its Frenchness
Also, the characters would have to be renamed. Hulbert is Rene Martin, a very rich financier. Miss Ellis is Jeannette DuPont, a dancer in a leg show, who gets a lift from Hulbert's chauffeur in his swanky saloon car, so of course, their names are linked. Arthur Riscoe promotes her to the star of the show to convince creditors that they should trust him and to meet Hulbert to get him to put money in the show. In the meantime, Jack Hulbert hears about this rumor, investigates in person and falls in love with Miss Ellis at first sight. She mistakes him for a newspaper reporter, but asks him to impersonate Jack Hulbert....
The complications come fast and very amusingly, the songs are unmemorable but not too bad, and for some reason the financier can dance like...well, he can dance like Jack Hulbert, which is pretty good. It's all absolute nonsense that doesn't take itself seriously for a moment. It entertains with no strains. As the French would say, it's a pip.
Actually, it's one of those movies which is set in Paris for no reason whatsoever. It might have been set in London or New York City or any place where some one might be expected to put on a leg show. There is one joke about Devil's Island that would have had to be rewritten, but that's about the limit of its Frenchness
Also, the characters would have to be renamed. Hulbert is Rene Martin, a very rich financier. Miss Ellis is Jeannette DuPont, a dancer in a leg show, who gets a lift from Hulbert's chauffeur in his swanky saloon car, so of course, their names are linked. Arthur Riscoe promotes her to the star of the show to convince creditors that they should trust him and to meet Hulbert to get him to put money in the show. In the meantime, Jack Hulbert hears about this rumor, investigates in person and falls in love with Miss Ellis at first sight. She mistakes him for a newspaper reporter, but asks him to impersonate Jack Hulbert....
The complications come fast and very amusingly, the songs are unmemorable but not too bad, and for some reason the financier can dance like...well, he can dance like Jack Hulbert, which is pretty good. It's all absolute nonsense that doesn't take itself seriously for a moment. It entertains with no strains. As the French would say, it's a pip.