Sadly Over-hyped

Just perfect...

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Jessie Matthews is due to inherit a quarter million pounds if she marries Ian Hunter. They've never met, since he is the titular Man from Toronto. When he comes to England to meet this proposed bride, Miss Matthews wants to get to know him before he knows she's worth a fortune to him, so she disguises herself as her own parlor maid and convinces him that the dotty Margaret Yorke is her. When they have fallen in love, Mr. Hunter explains that he loves her in large part because she would never lie to him. And it's off to the races with this silly plot.Miss Matthews is very charming and the movie is quite funny, despite the fact that she only does about thirty seconds of dancing and never sings. Mr. Hunter is very masculine in his role; most of Miss Matthews' leading men seem to be frightened of women.The cast is ably eked out with Frederick Kerr as Miss Matthews' grumbling uncle, and Kathleen Harrison in her fourth screen role as her maid. If this movie makes no serious point except for Miss Yorke's frequently repeated "We must have money!", it is still a delightful trifle.

Small town England, of all places, is fun in "The Man from Toronto". It is well-paced and written in a charming, spirited manner. Jessie Matthews is lively, charismatic and shows why this film helped make her a star. Old thespian Frederic Kerr ("Frankenstein") is funny and extremely watchable as a curmudgeonly lawyer with certain responsibilities under an odd will. Ian Hunter's low-key acting style works well in this role. Hunter, often miscast in films, is OK here as he is understandably overshadowed by the powerhouse Matthews.All of the cast is talented and the whole thing is just for fun, its a romantic comedy that works and never at any point really takes itself seriously. You are guaranteed to get a smile out of it.

The Man from Toronto (1933) is a perfectly cute and entertaining movie. Jessie Matthews (Leslie Fararr) shines in her role as the rich girl who pretends to be a maid. This is the first movie I've seen her in and I was very much impressed by the way she carried herself throughout the film. The love interest is unfortunately plain and not particularly attractive, but the romance is believable. Some scenes are too long and unnecessary, but on the whole a well directed and edited movie. This little known film should get more recognition because it is quite cute and funny at times. Good clean fun from the magical world of the '30s. 6/10

A fairly simple and predictable love story vehicle for Jessie Matthews. I found it watchable as a slice of life in 1933. What it might have been like living in a village where everybody knew each others business and rumors spread like wild fire. I liked seeing a village parade complete with brass bands and floats. It was interesting to see manual phone exchanges with switch board operators connecting overseas calls and cars starting to gain a foothold. A bit of visual history with an agreeable story line.