City Music Hall without first being previewed. Reception In his February 1, 1935, review, New York Times critic Andre Sennwald found much to praise in the film : "When it is hitting its stride... (it) is so priceless that it arouses in one the impertinent regret that it is not the perfect fantastic comedy which it might have been...it proves to be an engaging and often uproariously funny work...it contains some of the most painfully hilarious merriment of the new year... For almost everything that is best in The Good Fairy, you may thank Mr. Morgan's lovely performance..Reginald Owen is quite perfect as the eccentric waiter. Herbert Marshall is less desperately crazy... but he manages to be entirely effective..Although Miss Sullavan is not the expert comedienne that her rôle demands, she is frequently able to persuade us that she is at home in a part for which she is temperamentally unfitted. The Good Fairy is so admirable that it causes this department to regret that it is not perfect." Variety's assessment in the December 31, 1934 issue, was more critical of the film: , observing that "Preston Sturges has translated Ferenc Molnar’s dainty stage comedy for the screen, and has turned out a somewhat vociferous paraphrase. Slightly idealistic atmosphere of the original is missing, and in its place is substituted a style of comedy closely akin to slapstick... Picture is fairly peppered with closeups which, delaying production, brought U and the director, William Wyler, to the mat. These closeups are so beautiful that they seem worthwhile even if a bit profuse. Frank Morgan... makes his points rapidly and surely. Reginald Owen... is an excellent foil and contributes some telling pantomime. Sullavan is uneasy in the asylum opening as she does not suggest the child. Later she performs more surely." In the April 15, 1935, issue of Maclean's, Ann Ross observed: "It is all about an idealistic little orphan, Luisa, who ... believes that the outer world is simply the setting for a larger fairy tale, and when she suddenly finds herself actually out in it she is delightedly ready to accept sables, cheques and motor cars from a rich, middleaged admirer, looking on them as a fairy gift rather than as a basis for practical negotiation. The plot thus skates along very gracefully for an hour and a half over the thinnest possible ice; but in the end Luisa finds