Second Fiddle (1939)

the audience applauded

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Fox certainly knew what kind of material to give their skating star, SONJA HENIE--a light but diverting plot, lots of musical interludes, a few skating sequences, a handsome co-star, some comedy relief and as many Sonja close-ups as possible.They scored on every point with SECOND FIDDLE. It's light entertainment for the masses who came to see Sonja skate with everyone else playing second fiddle to her in importance. But TYRONE POWER manages to be impressive as her leading man, more charismatic than usual and spirited, suggesting that there was a lot more to him than the kind of roles he was getting at the time. It doesn't hurt that he's at his handsomest in this early film. And EDNA MAY OLIVER had no peer when it came to stealing the spotlight on an almost regular basis whenever she could.Furthermore, RUDY VALLEE gets a chance to warble a couple of Irving Berlin tunes. He's part of a scheme by Power, a publicity agent for a Hollywood studio, to revive Vallee's fading career by getting a phony romantic buildup pairing him with Henie. Henie, of course, knows nothing of the scheme and therefore she and Power have romantic misunderstanding until the final reel.It's a diverting piece of entertainment, one of the better Sonja Henie films produced by Fox and well worth seeing for the skating sequences alone, if you're a Henie fan. Her graceful routines are well choreographed for the camera.

Tyrone Power is a publicist who does his job too well in "Second Fiddle," also starring Sonja Henie. Power plays Jimmy Sutton, who is helping in the search for a star of a movie being made from a best-selling book. This was perhaps inspired by the search for Scarlett. When they find their girl, she's a Norwegian schoolteacher living in Minnesota. Power sets up a publicity stunt, which is a fake romance between her and another star (Rudy Vallee). He then is responsible for the flowers, the love poems, and finally writes her a song. By now, of course, he's madly in love with her, and she's in love with Rudy. This is much to the consternation of Rudy's girlfriend, played by Mary Healy.The two stars are delightful, but of course, some of the best lines are from Edna May Oliver, who is hilarious as Henie's aunt. One line not Oliver's that certainly got a laugh in theaters is from Henie to Power: "You'd be handsome if you took care of yourself." He's pretty dazzling as is.The Irving Berlin music is okay, but I have to admit my favorite is "Back to Back" which I found lively and fun.Though skating styles have changed a great deal over the last 66 years, Sonja Henie's skating holds up. She was a graceful, fast skater who could dance and spin magnificently. Back then, the jumps were all singles and landed low, but it's obvious that if she were a young skater today, she would still have what it takes.Very entertaining.

Surprisingly good teaming of the two fox stars in tale of Hollywood publicity man bringing Minnesota school teacher to test for role in epic "Girl of the North Country." the film is a satire of the "gone With the wind" search that had plagued the country a year before.Sonja is very appealing as a real type person instead of a potential Olympic star waiting to be discovered.Tyrone Power surprises as a lovesick publicist after Sonja.it was nice change of pace from the he=man hero roles he had been doing.Rudy Vallee,Mary Healy are fun as other couple. Edna Mae Oliver steals scenes as Sonja's aunt Phoebe.Mary Healy socks across a couple of Irving Berlin songs with gusto,proving she should have had bigger career.Rudy Valle has a couple of nice songs,too.It's niether prime Power or Sonja but it's fun and lively with its inside look at Hollywood publicity schemes and the like.

A publicity agent finds himself playing SECOND FIDDLE when he fabricates a phony romance for a lovely new movie star he secretly adores.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 her American film debut, ONE IN A MILLION. Beautiful & talented, as well as being a natural in front of the cameras, she carved out her own special niche during Hollywood's Golden Age. Although Miss 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 Miss 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.SECOND FIDDLE is no exception and its story is often quite silly. Also, Sonja is not given nearly enough skating time to really satisfy her fans. However, Sonja's costars do offer some compensation.Although the role was certainly not one of his best, Tyrone Power is a lot of fun as the agent who must sublimate his own desires for the good of the Studio. Consequently, he has almost no romantic time with Sonja whatsoever, so instead he makes his somewhat unappealing role as charming as possible. His best moments are with marvelous character actress Edna May Oliver, playing Henie's sharp-tongued aunt, watching rather helplessly as she steals her every scene.Rudy Vallee is onboard mostly to sing a few songs, but he deftly underplays what could have been a boring good guy character and makes him standout well in contrast to the much more manic Power.Lyle Talbot has the small role of Sonja's Minnesota suitor. Movie mavens will recognize the voice of Charles Lane as that of the Studio Chief.Irving Berlin composed the songs, all of which are pleasant, but none of them come close to being counted among his best.Notice the sly script reference to 'Ferdinand.' This would be an allusion to Ferdinand the Bull, the somewhat less than masculine hero of Munro Leaf's 1936 story (and made into an Academy Award winning cartoon by Walt Disney in 1938). Since the line is spoken to Power, it could be that the scriptwriter had more than one inference in mind...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.