Love and scandal are the best sweeteners of tea. —Henry Fielding

15 July 2021

Two with Sonja Henie & Tyrone Power


Thin Ice
is a totally absurd Sonja Henie picture with Tyrone Power as her love interest. He's some Swiss prince or somesuch nonsense. This whole thing is stupidly absurd and delightful, and I enjoyed myself. Both this film and Second Fiddle (two years later) were directed by Sidney Lanfield.


Second Fiddle
is a truly charming little Irving Berlin musical. This is fundamentally a much better musical than Thin Ice. All of the songs are diegetic, and of course Tyrone Power does not sing – although he writes a song and croaks out a few lovesick bars while writing it. I have to say that I don't think Sonja Henie is that interesting, but she's pleasant enough, and this film has Edna May Oliver doing tons of great comic shtick, and of course Tyrone Power. He's quite funny in this, and just as handsome as ever. This is a nice little riff on the formula established with Thin Ice, and Second Fiddle has great Irving Berlin tunes.

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