Mad About Music (1938)

In memory of Deanna Durbin, who passed away recently at the age of 91, I thought I would review 1938's Mad About Music, which I watched about a month ago.  The third feature film for Miss Durbin, who was 16 years old at this point in time, Mad About Music also stars Herbert Marshall and features William Frawley, Arthur Treacher, and Gail Patrick in small, supporting roles.

Sent off to a Swiss boarding school because her teenage presence is a detriment to the glamour-girl image her actress mother's agent wants for her, Gloria Harkinson (Deanna Durbin) has invented a make-believe life for herself.  Although her Navy flier father died when she was a baby, she has never revealed that to her friends and, instead, has bragged that he is an important explorer.  Through weekly letters presumably from her dad, Gloria charms her schoolmates with tales of his African adventures.  One girl, however, doesn't believe a word Gloria says and is determined to prove she's lying.

Having made the claim that her father would be stopping at the school for a 1-hour visit, Gloria suddenly finds herself in completely over her head.  With all the students and even the headmistress congregating at the train station to welcome Mr. Harkinson, Gloria realizes the need to produce a father.

Composer Richard Todd (Herbert Marshall), who has traveled to Switzerland for a bit of R & R, alights the train at the school's stop, and Gloria immediately pounces on him, hugging him and welcoming him to town.  She convinces him to pose as her father, and though he is at first reluctant, he may just end up embracing the role.  How it all plays out is the balance of the film.



Nominated for four Academy Awards, Mad About Music is a sweet, enjoyable, very charming film.  Herbert Marshall is his dashing, wonderful self, and Deanna is pure delight.  She sings several songs, including "I Love to Whistle" and "Ave Maria." This is a very solid, entertaining, 3-star viewing experience.

Out on DVD, this film should be fairly easy to track down.  I think it's a film all Deanna Durbin fans will want to see.

Happy viewing!!

The Letter (5 stars)

It's no secret that Bette Davis is my all-time favorite actress.  I think she was positively brilliant in every role she ever played...she was especially good when she was being bad.  The Letter, from 1940, is a film in which Bette is particularly bad...which means her dramatic abilities shine brightly here.  Directed by William Wyler, and also starring Herbert Marshall, The Letter begins with several gunshots being fired and Bette, in the character of Leslie Crosbie, standing---gun in hand---over the body of a motionless man.

Leslie, along with her husband Robert (Herbert Marshall), lives on a rubber plantation in Singapore.  As Leslie tells her husband and the police, the dead man, family friend Jeff Hammond, had arrived at the plantation in a state of drunkenness and began making advances toward her.  Although she asked him to leave, he continued forcing his unwanted attentions upon her, and with self-protection in mind, she shot him. 

Robert Crosbie is caring and supportive and never once doubts his wife's story; Leslie's lawyer, however, begins to be suspicious, especially when his associate indicates that there is a letter from Leslie to Mr. Hammond, written on the day of his death.  That letter, which makes clear that Leslie's relationship with Jeff Hammond was not quite what she had revealed, is in the possession of Hammond's widow, who is willing to sell said letter for a price.

Is the letter legitimate?  What was Leslie's relationship with Jeff Hammond?  Did she really shoot him in self-defense?  Or is there more to it than that?  These are the questions which will play out in this fabulously-acted film.  Bette, who was nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award for this role, is totally stellar.  Herbert Marshall is very good as her faithful, loving husband.  And Gale Sondergaard, who portrays Hammond's widow, was spectacular...and she barely uttered ten words.  She spoke more with her eyes and facial expressions than the average person speaks with a hundred words.  To my way of thinking, she ought to have garnered a Best Supporting Actress nomination.

Anyhow, The Letter is a definite must-see Bette Davis film.  It's out on DVD and should be quite easy to track down.  Happy viewing!!!