''No, No, Nanette'' is a 1940 American film directed by

Herbert Wilcox Herbert Sydney Wilcox Order of the British Empire, CBE (19 April 1890 – 15 May 1977) was a British film producer and film director, director. He was one of the most successful British filmmakers from the 1920s to the 1950s. He is best know ...

and based on both the 1919 stage play ''

No, No, Nanette ''No, No, Nanette'' is a musical with a book by Otto Harbach and Frank Mandel based on Mandel's 1919 Broadway play ''My Lady Friends''; lyrics by Irving Caesar and Harbach; and music by Vincent Youmans. The farcical story centers on three coup ...

'' and the 1930 film ''

''. It was one of several films the British producer/director made with Anna Neagle (whom he married in 1943) for

RKO RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, is an American film production and distribution company, historically one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Kei ...

studios in the U.S.

Plot

Personable Nanette helps her philandering millionaire uncle Jimmy out of several embarrassing situations with beautiful women he's promised careers to; and in the process, Nanette becomes romantically involved with both a musical comedy producer, and a young artist.

Cast

Anna Neagle Dame Florence Marjorie Wilcox (''née'' Robertson; 20 October 1904 – 3 June 1986), known professionally as Anna Neagle, was an English stage and film actress, singer, and dancer. She was a successful box-office draw in British cinema for 2 ...

as Nanette * Richard Carlson as Tom Gillespie *

Victor Mature Victor John Mature (January 29, 1913 – August 4, 1999) was an American stage, film, and television actor who was a leading man in Hollywood during the 1940s and 1950s. His best known film roles include '' One Million B.C.'' (1940), '' My Darli ...

as William Trainor *

Roland Young Roland Young (11 November 1887 – 5 June 1953) was an English-born actor. He began his acting career on the London stage, but later found success in America and received an Academy Award nomination for his role in the film '' Topper'' (19 ...

as Mr. "Happy" Jimmy Smith * Helen Broderick as Mrs. Susan Smith *

ZaSu Pitts ZaSu Pitts (; January 3, 1894 – June 7, 1963) was an American actress who, in a career spanning nearly five decades, starred in many silent film drama film, dramas, such as Erich von Stroheim's 1924 epic ''Greed (1924 film), Greed'', along wi ...

as Pauline Hastings *

Eve Arden Eve Arden (born Eunice Mary Quedens, April 30, 1908 – November 12, 1990) was an American film, radio, stage and television actress. She performed in leading and supporting roles for nearly six decades. Beginning her film career in 1929 an ...

as Kitty *

Billy Gilbert William Gilbert Barron (September 12, 1894 – September 23, 1971), known professionally as Billy Gilbert, was an American actor and comedian. He was known for his comic sneeze routines. He appeared in over 200 feature films, short subjects a ...

as Styles * Tamara as Sonya *Stuart Robertson as Stillwater Jr. / Stillwater Sr. *

Dorothea Kent Dorothea Kent (born Dorothea Jane Schaeffer; June 6, 1916 – December 10, 1990) was an American film actress. She appeared in more than 40 films between 1935 and 1948. A former model, she often played dumb sidekicks of the heroine, and rarely ...

as Betty *

Aubrey Mather Aubrey Mather (17 December 1885 – 16 January 1958) was an English character actor. Career Mather was born in Minchinhampton, Gloucestershire, and began his career on the stage in 1905. He debuted in London in ''Brewster's Millions'' in ...

as Remington, the butler * Mary Gordon as Gertrude, the cook *

Russell Hicks Edward Russell Hicks (June 4, 1895 – June 1, 1957) was an American film character actor. Hicks was born in 1895 in Baltimore, Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the ...

as "Hutch" Hutchinson

Production

Victor Mature was borrowed from Hal Roach.

Soundtrack

* Anna Neagle – "No, No, Nanette" —

Vincent Youmans Vincent Millie Youmans (September 27, 1898 – April 5, 1946) was an American Broadway composer and producer. A leading Broadway composer of his day, Youmans collaborated with virtually all the greatest lyricists on Broadway: Ira Gershwin, ...

(music) and

Otto Harbach Otto Abels Harbach, born Otto Abels Hauerbach (August 18, 1873 – January 24, 1963) was an American lyricist and librettist of nearly 50 musical comedies and operettas. Harbach collaborated as lyricist or librettist with many of the leading B ...

(lyrics) * Anna Neagle and Roland Young – " I Want to Be Happy" — Vincent Youmans and Irving Caesar * Tamara – "I Want To Be Happy" * Eve Arden – "I Want To Be Happy" * Sung by Anna Neagle and Richard Carlson – "I Want To Be Happy" * Anna Neagle and Richard Carlson – "Tea For Two" — Vincent Youmans and Irving Caesar * "Ochi Chornya" — Russian cabaret song, music derived from Florian Hermann's ''Valse Hommage'', op. 21 (1879); lyrics by

Yevhen Hrebinka Yevhen Pavlovych Hrebinka (; ; 2 February 1812 – 15 December 1848) was a Ukrainian romantic prose writer, poet, and philanthropist. He wrote in both the Ukrainian and Russian languages. He was an older brother of the architect . Life and car ...

, first published in ''

Literaturnaya Gazeta ''Literaturnaya Gazeta'' (, ''Literary Gazette'') is a weekly cultural and political newspaper published in Russia and the Soviet Union. It was published for two periods in the 19th century, and was revived in 1929. Overview The current newspa ...

'' (17 January 1843)

Reception

Box office

Although the film was popular, its cost meant it made a small loss of $2,000.

Critical

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' wrote:

Musical comedies rarely have much story. That's all right. No one expects them to. Plot is compensated for in a hit tune show by good music. That's an elementary show business lesson taught in a class that producer Herbert Wilcox must have skipped. In making a film version of the 1925 Broadway hit ... Wilcox saves all the book but very little of the music. 'Tea for Two' and 'I Want to Be Happy', as well as the title tune, 'No, No, Nanette' have been reduced to virtually incidental music. Even at that, Wilcox has been fortunate. Nanette has a pretty good plot as musical comedy plots go. He has erred, however, in complicating it instead of simplifying it, as was needed. Wilcox has been lavish, however, in instilling production values in Nanette and there's no denying, despite their age, the lilt of the Vincent Youmans tunes.

References

External links

* * 1940 films 1940s English-language films American black-and-white films 1940 musical films Films directed by Herbert Wilcox Films based on musicals American musical films RKO Pictures films 1940s American films English-language musical films {{musical-film-stub