My Lucky Star (1938)

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

publicity stunt makes no sense at all students resent KristinaIn the 1930s and 40s, Hollywood made a ton of films set at college. Oddly, however, almost all of them had one thing in common...they never actually showed the students in class or studying!! One of the few exceptions, even more oddly, is the Marx Brothers' "Horsefeathers"!! "My Lucky Star" is yet another college film where students seem to do anything but go to class. In fact, in watching this film you'd assume all students do is sing, dance and ice skate!! It's all complete nonsense...the sort of nonsense audiences of the day ate up but which have aged poorly. I love old movies but must admit this to be the case.When the film begins, you learn that a big department store owner has an irresponsible playboy son (Cesar Romero) and the idiot just got himself married...and was served with divorce papers!! Soon, the plot becomes even more nonsensical and the son sends one of the department store's clerks, Kristina (Sonja Henie) to college as some sort of convoluted advertising campaign that makes no sense. The plan is to have her change clothes ALL THE TIME and thereby be a living model for the store's clothes. Huh?! In the process, Kristina goes through a few bumps here and there...such as the other students thinking she's a weirdo or snob since she changes clothes so often and dresses so extravagantly. So, she wins their hearts the way any red-blooded American would....with ice skating!! And, after she captures their hearts and she is forced to leave, the students, en masse, show up and sing her a tearful goodbye!!!Does any of this make sense to you? If so, then I suggest you make an appointment with a psychiatrist or psychologist as soon as possible or stop taking whatever intoxicant you are currently using! But it gets worse. To impress his papa, the son decides to throw an ice carnival at the store...in a department store!!!!The film has a few nice moments but is a waste of Cesar Romero's talent and the film is just bafflingly stupid. And, while you have to suspend disbelief for most 1930s musicals, here it goes much further...to the point of absurdity.

Inane college farce without the academics, of course.When the wealthy son (Cesar Romero) marries a fortune-hunter all hell should have broken lose. Instead, a silly story ensues.Romero finds Sonja Henje and decides with his father to send her off to college to promote the store's clothing line. There, she finds love with Richard Greene, but our fairy tale falters when she is named correspondent by the scheming wife of Romero.There is a good song sketch by "college" students Buddy Ebsen and Joan Davis.Ironically, both Davis and Arthur Treacher costarred with Henje in the much better "Thin Ice" with Tyrone Power.The people lacks any form of intelligence and Henje only really does some real skating at about the last 10 minutes of the film.

I bought this movie because I am a huge Richard Greene fan and I have always wanted to watch Sonja Henie.I was not disappointed.This movie is definitely worth seeing and/or buying. It has wonderful, catchy swingy tunes and a great cast. Sure, the story is cliché, but weren't most musicals like that back then? Well, it is actually a little bit more original than others, because Sonja wraps packages at a department store, and after meeting her, and to keep her away from his jealous wife (Gypsy Rose Lee a.k.a Louise Hovick), Caesar Romero, the son of the big department store Sonja works for, sends her to fictional Plymouth University as a "living mannequin" to promote their store's women's' sporting goods section. While there, Sonja befriends student Buddy Ebsen and his girlfriend Mary Dwight (Joan Davis), does some enjoyable skate routines (best one is COULD YOU PASS IN LOVE? first sung by Buddy and Joan, then skated by Sonja and a chorus of skating guys in bowler hats), gets tricked by a nasty Southern girl who is a bad ice skater (played nicely by Patricia Wilder) gets accused of being involved in a scandal (courtesy of Gypsy Rose), and falls in love with super-duper handsome senior Richard Greene. They and others sing a very lovely ballad on a hayride. (I don't know the name.) But it's very charming, and it was stuck in my head for a week after I watched it. The musical numbers are fun, though they come nowhere near MGM or early Busby Berkeley musical splendor. Sonja dos live up to her name as great ice skater, though. In the big production "Alice in Wonderland" finale, she shines, and the costumes and music and charming. The other big musical number, I'VE GOT A DATE WITH A DREAM, showcases a myriad of showgirls wearing beautiful furs and evening gowns, and other fashionable outfits, and a tenor who sings the song admirably. Later into the number, Buddy and Joan do a short, comedic rendition of the song.In all, MY LUCKY STAR is a good way to pass the time and a good film to start with if you want to explore the works of Sonja Henie.

A pretty Norwegian coed finds plenty of romantic complications while working as an undercover campus mannequin at old Plymouth University.Sonja Henie was Norway's ice queen when she won Olympic gold medals in 1928, 1932 & 1936. After going professional, she began a celebrated movie career at 20th Century Fox in 1936 with ONE IN A MILLION, which was her American film debut. Beautiful & talented, as well as being a natural in front of the cameras, she carved out her niche during Hollywood's Golden Age. Although Henie's ice routines may look antiquated by comparison to modern champions, there was nothing antique about her dazzling smile or sparkling personality. In this regard, some of today's snowflake princesses could still learn a great deal from her.As her career progressed, it became increasingly difficult for Fox to find decent stories for Henie and the excuses for the lavish ice dancing numbers were often implausible. No matter. Audiences did not flock to her films to watch Sonja recite Shakespeare. The movies were meant to be pure escapist fantasy, plain & simple.MY LUCKY STAR is no exception and its story is often quite silly - relying a bit heavily on impromptu singing from its middle-aged college student cast, and borrowing too much from its predecessor, HAPPY LANDING. However, the moments on the ice never bore (especially the Alice in Wonderland sequence -with music from Victor Herbert's Babes in Toyland - which closes the film) and the co-stars are rather interesting.Stalwart Richard Greene is fine as Sonja's romantic interest, while Cesar Romero once again gets to display his comedic talents as a zany Romeo. Joan Davis grabs a lot of the laughs as Sonja's rubber-limbed roommate; Buddy Ebsen is her slow-talking, fast-dancing beau.George Barbier is enjoyable as an apoplectic tycoon, as is laconic Arthur Treacher as his factotum. Miffed minx Gypsy Rose Lee and gung-ho student Elisha Cook Jr. are given little to do, but Billy Gilbert easily steals his few scenes as a soda jerk besotted by pistachio nuts.Ultimately, though, this is Sonja's show. She glides effortlessly into the viewer's heart, while balancing on a thin edge of silver, suspended over frozen water.