Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

BallWubba Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

Keeley Coleman The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Deanna 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.

sbasu-47-608737 A struggling actor, badly needing publicity, a publicity man, ready to anything for his studio and its stars, a naive girl, catapulted in limelight as the fresh new face, and the system, for which humans don't matter, the money they bring it does, and there can be no wrong methods,if it can spin in money. That in brief is what the movie was about. Did I like it? Frankly no, since the plot was too near reality, and who likes reality ? When one watches off beat movies, one is mentally prepared for that, but not in these type of movies. This dislike of course shows,to me, that the movie was well made and there were not many irritants, which would have brought it into the fantasy zone, and I would have dismissed it. Of course it was all well, till the ending. naturally I won't like the black-guard to go with the reward. There was that steady Lyle Talbot, who unfortunately almost always got the role of the sacrificial lamb, this was no exception. In this case, he could as well had been the winner, since the change of heart of the heroine wasn't called for since (a) there is the steady man (b) She at least considers herself to be in love with some one (c) there is a third person, who might be in love with her, but for her, he didn't exist, till the director told her he did, on rebound, she would have rather hated him, than being in love.The ending was rather forced and unnatural. It was made to make a hero of hero. Probably the hero could have been the one who stayed home, like in say Bucking Broadway (1917). I don't think a girl would reverse the affection. That is the other factor of my not being high on the movie.

spotted-owl "Second Fiddle" (1939) is a beautiful ice skating musical, starring Sonja Henie, the Norwegian figure skater who won Olympic gold medals in 1928, 1932 and 1936.Sonja Henie is charming and sweet as a schoolteacher who becomes a Hollywood star. Tyrone Power is her clever and energetic studio publicist, who secretly falls in love with her, while promoting her phony public romance with Roger Maxwell (played by Rudy Vallee), another studio star.There are some beautiful figure skating scenes. In one scene, Sonja Henie skates gracefully in an elegant arena, dressed in a glittering skating costume. Later, she skates on a frozen lake, which reflects the shadows of winter tree branches. On the frozen lake, she skates a wonderful routine, with many spins, jumps and point footwork, in a lovely white skating dress.This is an excellent movie, with beautiful figure skating, great music and songs, and a fun storyline. I hope a DVD is released soon.

Neil Doyle 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.

Ron Oliver 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.