I'm sure that in 1935, a very young Anna Lee had no idea that 50 years later, she'd be beloved as the wealthy matriarch on an American soap opera. TV was barely in its infancy and soap operas were just catching on on radio. But within a few years, she would be venturing to Hollywood and appearing in several classics, getting billing in a 1940 comedy with Ronald Colman as "introducing" Anna Lee, even though she appeared in a bunch of British films prior to that. Among those films is this silly but fun musical comedy with a Latin beat and a hysterical performance by hefty Vera Pearce as a greedy songbird who feels that her singing makes her irresistible to men, even those who couldn't get their arms around her.
The future Lila Quartermain of "General Hospital" plays the "veddy British" daughter of the President of a fictional country who mistakenly overhears Albert Burdon ordering an excessive amount of vegetables and mistakenly believed it's code for illegal arms. Lee flirts with him to get more information, creating all sorts of silly plot twists that has obvious money hungry Spanish military men making plays for the porky Pearce. Amusing Groucho Marx like wisecracks turn Percy into a younger variation of Margaret Dumont, and a musical number with Pearce trying to be seductive is hysterically funny. This is far from being a classic, but it definitely has many very amusing moments. Several moments are delightfully risqué, showing that the British cinema had no qualms about fighting censorship rules. So while this is not quite "Duck Soup", there's enough body here (other than Percy's) to keep this stew full of spice.
The future Lila Quartermain of "General Hospital" plays the "veddy British" daughter of the President of a fictional country who mistakenly overhears Albert Burdon ordering an excessive amount of vegetables and mistakenly believed it's code for illegal arms. Lee flirts with him to get more information, creating all sorts of silly plot twists that has obvious money hungry Spanish military men making plays for the porky Pearce. Amusing Groucho Marx like wisecracks turn Percy into a younger variation of Margaret Dumont, and a musical number with Pearce trying to be seductive is hysterically funny. This is far from being a classic, but it definitely has many very amusing moments. Several moments are delightfully risqué, showing that the British cinema had no qualms about fighting censorship rules. So while this is not quite "Duck Soup", there's enough body here (other than Percy's) to keep this stew full of spice.
