By the time that Deanna Durbin made this film she was approaching seventeen
and looked every minute of it. Maybe more at certain times. That presented
a problem for Universal because Durbin was their child star, their child musical
prodigy - cute like a root beer float and as innocent as mother's milk. This
was only her fourth film and they had an entire PR apparatus built around
her - answering letters from her adoring fans, getting her mentioned in magazines,
booking appearances for her - for the child star. She was - as I just read
recently - a big star in Japan and she was soon the number one box office
star in England. But she was growing up fast - too fast Universal thought
- moving from cute to very pretty - and she was beginning to demand older
more grown-up roles - something that was to become a recurring issue between
her and the studio. So they compromise in this film and the whole thing just
feels uncomfortable and mildly creepy. Now no doubt more than back then.
She is back among the hoi-polloi in this one - Alice, the daughter of a
wealthy father, doting society mother living on a large estate. She is the
queen of her group of friends and is putting on a musical to pay for some
Boy Scouts to go to camp (Deanna became an Honorary Boy Scout!). She even
sings a ditty about the Boy Scouts. These kids are putting on a show and
rehearsing at her parent's guest house. Her parents invite a famous reporter
Vincent (Melvyn Douglas) to stay at their guest house thereby evicting the
kids from their space. In a fairly amusing segment they do everything they
can to persuade him to leave with ghosts, sounds and nasty insects. It doesn't
work though and Alice gets a crush on him. A big one much to the disappointment
of the boy who loves her (Jackie Cooper).
Vincent never returns this growing affection at all but also doesn't recognize
it as they begin to spend a lot of time together. And yet it still feels kind
of icky. She persuades herself into believing that he loves her too. Tries
to be grown-up and it just never sat right with me. Durbin though is growing
as an actress and is totally believable in this. Funny moments occur along
the way and Douglas is Douglas. She does manage to squeeze in about five
songs but nothing that she knocks out of the park. Still trying to figure
out what to do with Durbin, Universal takes a time out with her next film
by putting the Three Smart Sisters back together again.
