feaito Posted February 10, 2005 Share Posted February 10, 2005 Since a fellow poster has made an excellent work sharing his deep knowledge on the great Deanna Durbin in another thread, I wanted to contribute with a small "grain of sand", with this short, simple review I wrote upon buying this collection of DVD's, a great purchase, by the way. TCM I sincerely hope you can lease some of Deanna's films, it will be a success! Here's the capsule-review: First of all I have to admit that although I'm an ardent "classics" movie buff, I had never seen any of Deanna Durbin's movies, mainly because they were never shown on TV, at least in my country. Since I had read a lot about her persona, amazing voice, her status as Universal's prime superstar, etc., I was eager to watch her on film. I got this wonderful package last year as a gift and sincerely, after watching the first of six feature films, I had to watch them all, as soon as possible, because I fell completely under the spell of Durbin's lovely screen persona: unaffected, sincere, pretty, down-to-earth, sweet, etc. The films included in this collection are at least good and most of them very good. In spite of what I've read from other customers, I have to say that almost all the copies of the films are in very good condition, with the only exception perhaps, of "Three Smart Girls", which is somewhat grainy and not so sharp as the others, but then, it is the oldest of the lot (1936), and anyway is in pretty decent conditions. "Three Smart Girls" is her best known film included here, because it was her breakthrough film, the one which made her a star, as a young girl-she is not even top billed here- who helps her elder sisters to try to bring their estranged parents together. There's some fine comedy, nice songs and expert supporting players. In my humble opinion, the best films of the bunch are "First Love" (1939) and "It Started with Eve" (1941), both lovely Cinderella-type tales in which her natural talent and unaffected acting shine thoroughly. There's also a "whodunit"-mystery film, "Lady On a Train" (1945), directed by her second husband, French director Charles-David, a fine and absorbing movie. On the other hand, "Can't Help Singing" is a glorious Technicolor musical with a score by the legendary Jerome Kern, with Deanna looking ravishingly beautiful in period costume, surrounded by "western" outdoors. "Something in the Wind" (1947), maybe the weakest of the films which belong to this pack, but is a nice, engaging, mistaken-identity-comedy with Deanna as a discjockey. In these films she acts with and is supported by some of the finest actors in Hollywood, such as Mischa Auer, Robert Cummings, Robert Stack, Charles Laughton, Donald O'Connor, Guy Kibbee, Akim Tamiroff, Binnie Barnes, Charles Winninger, Alice Brady, Ray Milland, Eugene Pallette, Kathleeen Howard, Ralph Bellamy and Edward Everett Horton. Since I only saw Deanna on film for the first time last year, for me she was really Hollywood's best kept secret! Enjoy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
classicsfan1119 Posted February 11, 2005 Share Posted February 11, 2005 Feaito, some "grain of sand"! Give yourself some credit, you silly boy, you! This is a very nice review, and I learned from it. Thanks for sharing! :)ML Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d120421 Posted February 14, 2005 Share Posted February 14, 2005 I agree with the other poster, Feaito, a great review of the six films in the SWEETHEART PACK: informative, concise and affectionate. Well done! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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