Search

» » The Man from Toronto (1933)

Short summary

The rich widow Leila disguises herself as a maid and falls in love with her employer Fergus who is a rich Canadian bachelor. Their wealth depends on each getting married within the next year. Whose fooling who in this comedy love affair?

User reviews


  • comment
    • Author: Adoraris
    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
  • comment
    • Author: Anardred
    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.
  • comment
    • Author: JOGETIME
    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.
  • comment
    • Author: Shakar
    This is the first time I have seen Jessie Mathews as I'm only 41 years old. I was absolutely delighted to see a star of the past that id never seen before. From the first time we see her its love at first sight and it just draws you right into the movie. I understand Jessie Mathews was a superstar in her time and its easy to see why. You could transpose her to any movie of today and she would still be a superstar, in the Julia Roberts or Reese Witherspoon etc (or maybe even better) League of today.

    The uncle lawyer gave a good performance as well. It was interesting to see the movie from a historical perspective as well like the motor cars which was quite amazing.

    Overall a great movie.
  • comment
    • Author: Dangerous
    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.
  • Credited cast:
    Jessie Matthews Jessie Matthews - Leslie Farrar
    Ian Hunter Ian Hunter - Fergus Wimbush
    Frederick Kerr Frederick Kerr - Bunston
    Ben Field Ben Field - Jonathan
    Margaret Yarde Margaret Yarde - Mrs. Hubbard
    Kathleen Harrison Kathleen Harrison - Martha
    George Turner George Turner - Povey
    Herbert Lomas Herbert Lomas - Jake
    Lawrence Hanray Lawrence Hanray - Duncan (as Laurence Hanray)
    Kenneth Kove Kenneth Kove - Vicar
    Sybil Grove Sybil Grove - Vicar's Wife
    Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
    Percy Parsons Percy Parsons - Hogbin
    Bill Shine Bill Shine - Butcher's Delivery Boy (as Billy Shine)
    George Zucco George Zucco - Squire
    All rights reserved © 2017-2024 hd.thomson-multimedia.com