Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Movie review - "One in a Million" (1936) **

The film which launched Sonja Henie to movie stardom - Daryl Zanuck tried to reduce his risk as much as possible, keeping her dialogue to a minimum, surrounding her with some top support actors (Jean Herscholt and Adolphe Menjou), giving her the experienced Don Ameche as a love interest, and minimising her time on screen.

She's not in this film very much - the bulk of shenanigans involves dodgy Menjou and his singing protege (not Lyn Bari but the girl who plays her looks like Bari and it was known as the Lyn Bari part), journo Ameche, the Ritz brothers (who do lots - and lots - of routines). Henie pops up every now and then to skate and smile smugly as Ameche romances her - there's a serious story about her father having been kicked out of amateur sport because he made some money to help her, but she isn't given much of the action. The general feeling is like an old style 30s musical revue, with lots of different acts on the bill.

Henie comes across as a smug, chubby, pretty enough Nordic who is good on the ice but not that comfortable with her fellow actors, although Ameche does what he can. It doesn't take much to imagine this Henie heil Hitler-ing it, or being obsessed with money, fame and cock, like the real Henie was. (Part of this is set during the 1936 Winter Olympics which were held in Bavaria, making it a rare Hollywood film set in Nazi Germany which is quite positive about the country, even though politics isn't discussed - is this why the film wasn't well distributed?)

If you like the Ritz Brothers you'll enjoy this because there's plenty of them. But it doesn't have the charm of later Henie vehicles.

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