Deanna Durbin: The Music and Romance Collection: Mad About Music / That Certain Age / Three Smart Girls Grow Up / Because of Him / For The Love of Mary

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Product Feature

• 5 Disc DVD-R Set

Product Description

Universal's beloved singing sensation receives the full star treatment with this five-disc DVD set. In "Mad About Music" (1938), vain movie star Gail Patrick decides she wants to forget about daughter Deanna Durbin, so she sends her to a Swiss boarding school. Songs include "I Love to Whistle." Then, smitten with journalist Melvyn Douglas, teenager Deanna ignores former beau Jackie Cooper until Douglas sets things right, in the romance "That Certain Age" (1938). Songs includes "You're as Pretty as a Picture." "Three Smart Girls Grow Up" (1939) offers Durbin as a young woman getting tangled up in her sisters' love affairs. Songs include "Because" and "The Last Rose of Summer." Then, eager for a shot at Broadway stardom, would-be actress Deanna works to become the protege of veteran stage star Charles Laughton, in the comedy " Because of Him" (1946). And, in her final film, "For the Love of Mary" (1948), Deanna plays a White House telephone operator who gets help from her unseen chief executive boss in straightening out her romantic problems. 7 3/4 hrs. total. Standard; Soundtrack: English. **Five-disc set also includes "Mad About Music," "That Certain Age," "Three Smart Girls Grow Up," "Because of Him," and "For the Love of Mary."**

Deanna Durbin: The Music and Romance Collection: Mad About Music / That Certain Age / Three Smart Girls Grow Up / Because of Him / For The Love of Mary Review

What's this? A quote from TCM host Robert Osborne about Deanna Durbin? He states: "She was a teenager playing a teenager, dressed as teenagers dressed in those days, but few teens ever had been able to hit those high singing notes that she could." Back in the 1930s and early '40s, it was Deanna Durbin - and not Judy Garland - who was Hollywood's darling and America's sweetheart, never mind that she was Canadian. And in her heyday she was a bigger box office attraction than even Shirley Temple. Deanna projected a radiant wholesomeness; she had this unaffected quality. And gifted? Say, haven't you heard her sing? Her fabulous soprano voice soars so winsomely angels would weep, maybe tear off their wings in jealous fits... or to put it in a more down-to-earth fashion, Deanna Durbin could sing the hell out of a song.

DEANNA DURBIN - THE MUSIC AND ROMANCE COLLECTION offers up five mostly terrific, hard-to-find movies starring Deanna Durbin, the teenaged girl what pulled reeling Universal Studios out of bankruptcy. And as you'll see, what makes her movies so watchable is that they aren't primarily just vehicles for her to sing. These movies deliver plot and humor and fine acting and that incomparable feel of Americana, and, yes, they occasionally showcase Ms. Durbin's phenomenal singing talents. Presenting each movie on its own disc, Turner Classic Movies does a proper solid for all Deanna Durbin fans. TCM even loans out Robert Osborne for intro honors for each film.

- MAD ABOUT MUSIC (1938)

It's Deanna Durbin's third feature film. At this stage, Deanna was only sixteen years old but she already counted as Universal's most bankable star. And you can see why in MAD ABOUT MUSIC, one of her best (and most uproarious) musicals. The film plot goes like this: To maintain her glamour girl image, world-renowned movie actress Gwen Taylor (Gail Patrick) is persuaded by her agent to conceal her 14-year-old daughter, Gloria Harkinson, in a Swiss boarding school. To keep her true identity a secret, Gloria invents a fictitious father, claiming him to be a globe-trotting explorer and big game hunter. But you and I know this deception won't hold water for long, especially when a rival student begins to snoop around.

Pressured to produce her fictional dad, Gloria coaxes a visiting composer (Herbert Marshall) to play the role. And I have to mention that this is the least stuffy I've seen Herbert Marshall. His chemistry with Durbin is amazing. I never laughed harder or longer than during those early scenes in which Marshall is first going along with the charade. He does the most exquisite double takes. And you can't discount Deanna's performance, which is absolutely delightful. Her character thinks fast on her feet, and I snicker at how, as per Gloria Harkinson, each complication so very earnestly falls within the category of life and death." Hey, quick, what are the odds that Gloria's mom and the fake dad will get together?

Songs include "A Serenade to the Stars," "Chapel Bells," three versions of "I Love to Whistle" (including a really fun one with Cappy Barra's Harmonica Ensemble), and Durbin's rendition of "Ave Maria." MAD ABOUT MUSIC co-stars character actors William Frawley as the shady agent and the splendid Arthur Treacher who - surprise! - plays a butler.

Bonus features: an intro by TCM host Robert Osborne; an interview with John Pasternak who talks about Deanna Durbin and his brother, movie producer Joe Pasternak, who more or less discovered Deanna (00:07:29 minutes long); Behind the Scenes photos; lobby cards; publicity stills; movie posters; and an article & bio from the TCM Database.

- THAT CERTAIN AGE (1938)

This one predates the Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland musicals, and in fact may have even inspired MGM to put together its own teen-oriented "Let's put on a show" picture. When dapper foreign correspondent Vincent Bullitt (Melvyn Douglas), recuperating from his recent outing in the Spanish Civil War, is invited to stay at newspaper tycoon Gilbert Fullerton's home for a stint of peace and quiet, peace and quiet elude him like a mother. It's all to do with Fullerton's teenaged daughter Alice (Durbin). Alice and her friends are putting on a show and rehearsing in her family's guest house, but then they're told to halt production to accomodate the recovering reporter. Alice and the gang play pranks on the poor gent to try to get him to leave. But this is Melvyn Douglas they're bracing, and he brings with him an indomitable pencil mustache and that worldly flair. Alice is soon smitten, never mind that her almost boyfriend (Jackie Cooper) is glaring daggers. Vincent, for an observant reporter, spends most of the film clueless about Alice's crush, and when it does finally dawn on him, he may find it hard going to dissuade a girl of "that certain age."

I think this may be the film in which Deanna belts out the most tunes. She performs "Be A Good Scout," "You're As Pretty As A Picture," "My Own," "Daisy" (a brief duet she sings acapella with Melvyn Douglas) and the classical pieces "Les Filles de Cadiz" and "Je veux vivre dans ce reve," an aria from the opera Romeo et Juliette. THAT CERTAIN AGE, enlivened by a lively cast, chugs along at a good pace and hits those predictable beats. But it's not my favorite Durbin movie, and I think it's largely to do with the unconvincing fashion in which Alice's infatuation is resolved, a side effect of which is that it puts Melvyn Douglas's character in a bad light in the eyes of Durbin's character. All in all, in spite of Durbin's vibrant presence and Douglas's wry wit, I'm more inclined to steer you towards THE BACHELOR AND THE BOBBY-SOXER, a superior similarly-themed picture. Despite being co-scripted by Billy Wilder, THAT CERTAIN AGE lacks that sparkling touch so prominent in other Durbin films.

Bonus features: Robert Osborne's intro; Behind the Scenes photos; publicity & scene stills; movie posters; and a TCMDb article.

- THREE SMART GIRLS GROW UP (1939)

I guess Ray Milland and John 'Dusty' King's characters - the two romantic leads in THREE SMART GIRLS - must've gotten their walking papers. THREE SMART GIRLS GROW UP is the heartwarming middle child in a trilogy, after THREE SMART GIRLS (which was Durbin's star-making film debut) and followed in 1943 by HERS TO HOLD. The plot catches us up to the three Craig sisters a few years later, with the youngest sister Penny (Durbin) not having gotten shy and passive in the interim. This time she tries to sort out her sisters' romantic entanglements, what with Joan and Kay having fallen for the same guy. Most of the cast is back, with Helen Parrish subbing for Barbara Read as Kay. Robert Cummings, in his first of three co-starring roles with Durbin, steps in as a piano-playing charmer who just may be the solution that Penny's been looking for. I really like the ending to this one, as we get to see the final and well-done payoff to the hat and coat running gag, as well as Charles Winninger's absent-minded father taking charge and masterminding a happy ending for everyone at the wedding. Durbin sings "Invitation to the Dance," "La Capinera," "The Last Rose of Summer, and the lovely "Because" (a song Deanna sang at her sister's wedding in 1936).

Bonus features: Robert Osborne's intro; Behind the Scenes photos; publicity & scene stills; movie posters; and a TCMDb article.

- BECAUSE OF HIM (1946)

Charles Laughton, who was so very good in IT STARTED WITH EVE, reunites with Durbin five years later and submits a much hammier (but still very fun) performance. He plays a distinguished stage actor who requires a promising young actress to play opposite him for his next play, titled Strange Laughter. Here comes Kim Walker (Durbin), waitress and aspiring actress, who somehow passes herself off as an experienced thespian and lands the coveted part, with Laughton in on the deception. Playwright Paul Taylor (Franchot Tone) - who authored Strange Laughter - is the film's fly in the ointment. He'd rather that a more seasoned actress assume the leading lady role. He doesn't hesitate to label Kim Walker a manipulative sort. With all this friction and bluster in the air, you just know someone's bound to fall in love.

Laughton's wickedly grandiose acting steals the film from Durbin, that is, until Durbin starts to sing. Disappointingly, she only sings three songs, but they're memorable: "Danny Boy," Tosti's "Goodbye," and "Lover." "Lover" happens to be one of my favorite Durbin renditions as she sings counterpoint to her own recording of the Rodgers and Hart classic. BECAUSE OF HIM is a less venomous precursor to ALL ABOUT EVE, except that Deanna Durbin never does lose her girl-next-door appeal. Putting aside the engaging dialogue and Laughton's ham and Durbin's opportunistic hijinks, I remember this movie most for Durbin's singing of "Lover" and "Goodbye" (this last song while she amusingly pursues Franchot Tone) and also for the bit concerning Durbin's clever use of the eminent stage actor's autograph. Note that this film also features Franchot Tone's third outing with Durbin (after NICE GIRL? and HIS BUTLER'S SISTER), and, honestly, how better to end this segment than with a Franchot Tone comment?

DVD's bonus stuff: Robert Osborne's intro; publicity & scene stills; movie posters; and a TCMDb article.

- FOR THE LOVE OF MARY (1948)

This is Durbin's 21st and final starring vehicle, after which, at the ripe old age of 27, she walked away from the movie industry and into quiet, married life in a French village. Efforts to pull her back into cinema would fail abjectly, and you have to respect her standing her ground. FOR THE LOVE OF MARY, a madcap romantic comedy, isn't a bad way to go out on. Durbin plays Mary Peppertree, a White House switchboard operator plagued by three suitors: an attorney (Jeffrey Lynn), a naval officer (Edmond O'Brien), and a fish peddler - okay, he's more of an ichthyologist (Don Taylor). One of the elements which makes this movie fun to watch is that you're never actually certain until the third act just with whom Mary will end up. Mary develops a case of the hiccups whenever she's emotionally stressed, and I suppose that's a clue. But everyone is all up in her business, what with four Supreme Court justices giving her unsolicited romantic advice. Even the President of the United States, disembodied voice that he is, gets into the act. There's some irony in a telephone operator so popular that she fields more personal calls than lines from outside parties. You'll groan but I'll say it anyway: There's something about Mary.

Deanna Durbin sings two songs ("Moonlight Bay" and "I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen") with a barbershop quartet comprised of the four Supreme Court justices. On the classic side, she sings Johann Strauss' "On the Wings of a Song" and, for what would be her final musical performance on cinema, a comic rendition of "Largo al Factotum" from the opera Il Barbiere di Siviglia, after which she promptly trips and falls into a pond, exhibiting that refreshing lack of pretentiousness up to the very end.

Bonus features: Robert Osborne's intro; Behind the Scenes photos; publicity & scene stills; movies posters; and a TCMDb article.

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