Can't Help Singing (1944)
Grade: 44
Deanna Durbin is one of Hollywood's forgotten stars from the 1940s. She was energetic and wholesome, and had a very impressive singing voice, suitable for the opera. She was a perfect role model for young teenage girls. But when her career was at a peak, she turned her back on stardom to live in seclusion in France.
"Can't Help Singing" was her only technicolor film, and of course it was a musical. Good production values and costumes keep it watchable. The plot is minimal however, and the story wanders aimlessly along, resulting in a pleasant but forgettable movie.
"Can't Help Singing" apparently takes place during the 1850s. Durbin plays the daughter of a U.S. Senator. She loves a military officer, but her father despises him, and sends his regiment to California. Durbin impetously runs away to find him. Along the way, she picks up companions: a pair of thieves (Akim Tamiroff and Leonid Kinskey) and a card shark (Robert Paige). She 'hates' Paige at first, but soon predictably falls for him and must choose between Paige and her soldier boy.
Tamiroff, a noted Hollywood supporting actor who had just won a Golden Globe for "For Whom the Bell Tolls", is wasted here. Tamiroff and Kinskey are obligated to provide comic relief as blundering thieves who mistakingly believe something valuable is in Durbin's trunk. They are given terrible lines and direction by Frank Ryan, who was responsible for both.
The songs were composed by Jerome Kern. They pass the hummability test, but otherwise aren't particularly good. The title song is reprised enough times that, after viewing the picture, you may find the tune reprised in your own head for the next few days.
kollers@shell.mpsi.net http://members.tripod.com/~Brian_Koller/movies.html
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