Gangway **** (1937, Jessie Matthews, Barry MacKay, Nat Pendleton) – Classic Movie Review 9934

Director Sonnie Hale’s 1937 film Gangway is a cheerful and cheering Thirties British black and white musical set on a ship bound for New York, where English reporter Pat Wayne (Jessie Matthews) is mistaken for a jewel thief while masquerading as a movie actress’s maid to scoop a story on gangster Smiles Hogan (Nat Pendleton).

The big-eyed, bell-voiced star is on bright, effervescent form, the stalwart support is congenial company, and Matthews’s husband Hale handles the frothy affair with a nice light touch. Alastair Sim is an asset as a fussy detective, Detective Taggett.

The title song ‘Gangway’ (written by Sammy Lerner, Al Goodhart and Al Hoffman) is the standout number, still an evergreen vintage classic.

One of Jessie’s directors explained her appeal: ‘She had heat, it photographed’.

Also in the cast are Barry MacKay, Nat Pendleton, Noel Madison, Alastair Sim, Olive Blakeney, Noel Madison, Graham Moffatt, Michael Rennie, Patrick Ludlow, Liane Ordeyne, Danny Green, Edmon Ryan, Lawrence Anderson, Blake Dorn, Peter Gawthorne, Henry Hallett, Warren Jenkins and Doris Rogers.

The writer is Lesser Samuels, from Dwight Taylor’s story.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9934

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