16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
SONJA HENIE'S DEBUT, November 2, 2001
This review is from: One in a Million [VHS] (VHS Tape)
The finale of this pleasant little diversion from 1936 is Sonja Henie's (pronounced Sunya Henny) triumphant professional debut at Madison Square Garden where, in real life, she made her professional debut in March of that year. The movie gives the cute-as-a-button Norwegian Henie a chance to skate and have a screen boyfriend in the person of Don Ameche (in real life, during this time, she was going with Tyrone Power). 20th Century Fox had to cover its rink with frozen milk because the refrigeration pipes showed through ice water. Executives also had to train chorus dancers to be ice skaters because they couldn't train ice skaters to do chorus routines! Fox paid Henie $100,000 to appear in this film, an astonishing amount for an unknown actress in 1936. In 1927, when she was fourteen, Sonja won her first world's figure skating championship; in 1936, she took her third; this movie is actually semi-autobiographical - Hollywood-style.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
SONJA HENIE`S FILMDEBUT, June 27, 2000
This review is from: One in a Million [VHS] (VHS Tape)
One in a Million borrowed a lot from Sonja`s own life. For starters, Sonja`s father Wilhelm was Norway`s first World Champion ever - winning a bicycle race in the late 1890s. He didn`t have to give back his medal like Jean Hersholt`s character in the film though. The dilemma concerning professionalism in the film is also from Sonja`s life. Swedish ice-skater Vivi-Ann Hulten`s mother tried several times to diminish Sonja`s reputation and Papa Henie`s "unethical" methods. Anyway. ONE IN A MILLION is a showcase for Sonja and indeed Darryl F. Zanuck injected a lot of talent including the Ritz Brothers in order to secure the movie at the box-office. He needn`t worry. Sonja became a star of the first magnitude and was Queen at the box-office until 1939 when the skating craze had ended... It is a showfilm really, made like a music video 2 showcase its talents in the film. Not unlike THE GOLDWYN FOLLIES really...
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Sonja Henie's good film debut, August 10, 2008
This review is from: One in a Million [VHS] (VHS Tape)
I'm not really that big a fan of Sonja Henie's skating. Rather, it's her fresh-faced screen presence which I find so engaging. Sonja Henie was a Norwegian skating darling who won the figure skating gold medal in the 1928, 1932, and 1936 Olympics. In 1936, she successfully transitioned from skating into film acting with the delightful ONE IN A MILLION. Off the top of my head, the only other woman athlete who managed to finagle her sports stardom into a lucrative film career is gorgeous swimmer Esther Williams (although I could do without her swimming gimmicks as well). ONE IN A MILLION was only one of the many musical comedies which bombarded Hollywood in this era, but it stood out not only because of Sonja Henie's fine debut, but because of the acting of the rest of the cast, the lighthearted storyline, the catchy songs, and the breezy, slightly wacky comedy.
Showman Thadeus Spencer (Adolphe Menjou) is stranded in the Swiss Alps with his troupe of entertainers but with no funds. After watching the innkeeper's daughter Greta skating on the ice rink, Spencer hits on the idea of showcasing a new novelty act: Dancing on Ice, with Greta as the featured skater. Greta, aspiring to compete in the Olympic Winter Games as a figure skater, thinks that she's skating in a tryout performance, unawares that Spencer is raking in the dough. This now calls her Olympic eligibility into question, and, really, that's the main plot in a nutshell. Don Ameche plays a fast-talking American newspaperman and Henie's potential love interest, come to the Alps to investigate a hotel fire. He ends up sticking around to help Greta out of her jam.
For those who only know Don Ameche as that old dude in COCOON, it might come as a surprise that the guy can sing, and sing well. He proves that here in the song "Who's Afraid of Love?" To top it off, Ameche cut a dashing, romantic figure back in the day. In this film, Sonja Henie charmingly conveys her character's reciprocal interest to Ameche's advances. Beady-eyed Adolphe Menjou is at his cantankerous best as the seedy, conniving manager. Arline Judge plays his wisecracking, kind-hearted wife to perfection; she drops in some pretty funny lines ("As your wife and severest critic, it's time I told you off."). Meanwhile, one deranged highlight is the Ritz Brothers spoofing Peter Lorre, Charles Laughton, and Boris Karloff in the "Horror Boys of Hollywood" number. Those Ritz Brothers can always be counted on to provide the loopier antics. And, thru it all, Sonja Henie's excursions on ice provide several pleasant moments. Reportedly, interest in ice skating increased across the States after this film was released.
One downnote is that ONE IN A MILLION is still only out on VHS. In fact, I've noticed that there aren't too many of Sonja Henie's films out on Region 1 dvd. What's up with that? Whoever's responsible for this act of stinginess is decidedly *ahem* skating on thin ice.
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