NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Tymon Sutton The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Lachlan Coulson This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

lugonian IT'S A DATE (Universal, 1940), a Joe Pasternak production, directed by William A. Seiter, and starring Deanna Durbin, the studio's top box-office attraction, ranks another popular roaster to the Durbin movie lineup. Like many of her feature films (1936-1948), they were extremely popular, yet most have become forgotten through the passage of time. Not quite a movie about a dating service agency, IT's A DATE is one that tends to look like a best selling novel-type story told in chapter form with different backdrops. As with her earlier success of MAD ABOUT MUSIC (1938), Durbin once again plays the daughter of an actress, this time a theatrical one with whom she's inherited both talent for acting and singing ability, with her main ambition to carry on the family trait.The plot summary revolves around Georgia Drake (Kay Francis), a successful Broadway actress just completing her 400th and final stage performance of "Gypsy Lullaby." In attendance are its producer, Sidney Simpson (Samuel S. Hinds) and his friend, Carl Ober (S.Z. Sakall), a playwright visiting from Vienna. In a separate balcony are Georgia's daughter, Pamela (Deanna Durbin), and her escort boyfriend, Freddie Miller (Lewis Howard). Ober is seeking for an particular leading lady for his upcoming production of "Saint Anne," and feels Georgia too old for the part. After meeting with Pamela, however, he finds she'll make the perfect Saint Anne. Awarded the title role, Pamela accepts, unaware that this is the role her mother is eager to play. With Georgia already vacationing in Honolulu, Pamela, knowing her mother to be her best acting coach, arranges to meet with her in Hawaii. While on board the ship, S.S. Honolulu, Pamela lives her part to the fullest by reading her script, thus, causing John Arlen (Walter Pidgeon), a businessman and fellow passenger, to mistake her for an extremely unhappy young girl. To keep her mind off her troubles, John pretends to be a stowaway hiding in a lifeboat and allowing her to assist him with food and water during the voyage. After the misunderstandings are resolved, situations occur as Pamela learns the truth about the Saint Anne play. To spare her mother's feelings, Pamela uses Mr. Arlen as the source to keep her mind off the play, followed by some unforeseen circumstances.Other appearing in the cast include: Eugene Palette (Governor Allen); Henry Stephenson (Captain Andrews); Cecilia Loftus (Sara Frankenstein, Georgia's personal maid and no relation to the Mary Shelley novel character); along with the familiar faces of Charles Lane, John Arledge, Eddie Acuff, Fritz Feld and Virginia Brissac, among others. Because the Drake women are depicted as part of a generation of actresses, maybe Cecilia Loftus should have played the actress grandmother discussed in conversation rather than the personal maid to make this family generation of actresses more bonding and acceptable to the plot.The musical program includes: "Gypsy Lullaby" (voice dubbed "sung" by Kay Francis); "Love is All"(sung by Deanna Durbin); Traditional Scottish song of "Loch Lamond," "It Happened in Kaola" (by Ralph Freed and Frank Skinner); "Hawaiian War Chant," "Rhythm of the Islands," "Musetta's Street Song" from the opera, LA BOHEME by Giacomo Puccini; and "Ave Maria" by Franz Schubert. Durbin's rendition to "Ave Maria" is beautiful, but her earlier effort, "Love is All" is one of nicest songs ever sung by her. Producer Joe Pasternak must have loved "Ave Maria" enough to use it again for Jane Powell's HOLIDAY IN Mexico (MGM, 1946), which also featured Walter Pidgeon, as well as the story for a remake, NANCY GOES TO RIO (MGM, 1950) with Jane Powell and Ann Sothern in the Durbin and Francis roles. Because of the Pasternak style and Pidgeon in the cast, IT'S A DATE could easily be mistaken for an MGM film rather than one by Universal.Still a teenager of about 18 or 19, Durbin has developed into an attractive young lady. For the movie in general, 103 minutes is quite a drawn-out process in storytelling, thus, standing apart from Durbin's 87 to 95 minute feature film presentations. Yet, what makes it so watchable, other than Durbin's song interludes, are the veteran players as former Warner Brothers star, Kay Francis; the debonair Walter Pidgeon on loan-out assignment from MGM; and soon-to-be character actor for Warner Brothers, S.Z. Sakall. With this being Francis' only assignment opposite Durbin, she would later appear opposite Gloria Warren, a Deanna Durbin look-a-like songstress, in a Durbin-type musical drama, ALWAYS IN MY HEART (Warner Brothers, 1942). While Durbin's film career extended until her retirement by 1948, Miss Warren, following a few more screen roles for other movie studios, disappeared to obscurity by the end of the decade.Due to the aforementioned MGM remake, the 1940 original was reportedly unavailable for viewing for many years until the wake of cable television where it turned up on cable networks as Showtime (1985), a decade later on Turner Classic Movies, and availability on video cassette in the 1990s. To the film's credit, IT'S A DATE offers more than its share with amusements, songs, and story in the finest Durbin-style tradition. (***1/2)

MartinHafer "It's a Date" is a pleasant little film with Deanna Durbin. I think the best part of this one is that although there is some singing, it's not jam-packed full of music and has a decent plot.Deanna plays Pamela Drake and Kay Francis plays her mother, Georgia. Georgia is already a famous and accomplished actress and Pamela dreams of becoming one herself. Well, it soon looks like Pamela's dreams will come true when she reads for a relatively small part--but they offer her the lead! However, she needs to cram and learn the part and goes on a cruise. During this trip, she stays to herself and works on her lines but the Captain and a guest, John Arlen (Walter Pidgen) see her talking to herself and don't know she's rehearsing! They think, incorrectly, that she's really depressed--and John decides to use a scheme to get her to focus on him and his supposed problems. He hasn't got any problems and soon she sees through his ruse--but they become good friends.When they land, Pamela introduces John to her mother--and tells her that she is in love with John, although he's twice her age. However, over time you aren't certain WHICH lady John is smitten with but things get worse. Soon Pamela realizes that her mother ALSO thinks she's getting the same part that Pamela is rehearsing for--and she doesn't want to disappoint her mother. So what's going to happen? See this cute little family comedy.As far as Deanna Durbin films go, it's a bit better than average due to a nice cast. In particular, although it's a relatively small role, it's also the first for S. Z. 'Cuddles' Sakall---one of the most likable supporting actors in history. This alone make it a must-see!By the way, I would love to know what audiences of the day thought about their sweetheart, Miss Durbin, falling for an old guy like Pidgeon. I know that a similar May-December pairing in "That Hagen Girl" was NOT good and audiences hated the film. I think seeing a young lady who everyone adored as a child now with a much older man was just too much-- and this might have also been a problem with Durbin.

morrison-dylan-fan With my dad having picked up a DVD boxset titled "The Complete Deanna Durbin Collection" a few months ago,I decided to take a look on Durbin's IMDb page,to too the reaction that her films have received.Taking a look at Deanna's page,I was amazed to discover that she appeared to be credited for more titles then what was contained in the set.Taking my time to look down the list,due to wanting to make sure that I had not made a mistake,I was shocked to discover that the "complete" boxset had actually left out 2 of Durbin's feature film titles.Franticly searching round for one of the 2 titles,in the hope of being able to pick at least 1 of them up in time for my dad to receive it as a Christmas present,I sadly found myself almost giving up,due to the only edition that I could find for one of Durbin's "left out" titles (It's A Date),being a very expensive Video.Deciding to take one last shot at tracking it down,I decided to E-Mail a DVD seller about the title,who ended happily catching me by surprise,by revealing that she had actually just recently tracked down the movie,which led to me excitingly getting ready to go on a date with Deanna Durbin.The plot:Prepairing to stage their next play,theatre director Sidney Simpson and writer Carl Ober decide to offer the main role to leading actress Georgia Drake,after witnessing Georgia deliver a stunning performance in her latest production.Taking advantage of Simpson and Ober's full attention being currently on her mum,Pamela Drake decides to invite both of them to see her current stage production,in the hope that they will be able to help her get on to bigger and better things.Attending the play half-heartedly,Sidney and Carl soon find themselves left completely speechless,after Pamela delivers a breathtakingly elegant performance.Feeling that she would be a much better fit for the lead role than her mum (a casting decision that Pamela does not know about),Ober and Simpson decide to offer Pamela the lead role.Astonished to get such an offer,Drake gladly accepts their invitation.Heading out to visit her mother on a sea crew,Pamela finds herself falling for a fellow passenger called John Arlen,who joins Drake in her visit to her mother.Getting set to give her mum the great surprise news,Pamela soon discovers that her mum appears to think that she herself has the lead role,which Pamela has been recently cast in.View on the film:For the first half of the film,the screenplay by Norman Krasna,Jane Hall,Frederick Kohner and Ralph Block take a delightfully gentle,satirical shot at the stage and acting world,with the writers setting the movie in a world where everyone's fragile ego is desperate for their "big break",whilst director William A. Seiter joins in the fun by superbly showing moments that initially look to be intimate,to in fact be scenes from auditions.After Pamela Drake is joined by John Arlen and her mum,the writers sadly allow the satirical side to fade away,to instead be replaced by a family Drama focus,which despite containing a surprisingly open ending,does lead to the film losing some of its charm and sparkle.Despite only being 19 at the time,Deanna Durbin gives an excellent performance as Pamela Drake,with Durbin showing that she is far from one note,by not only delivering each of the songs in the movie with a full force of emotion,but also display a real sense of venerability,as Pamela starts to fear that her dreams may be harder to archive then originally expected.Joining Durbin,Kay Francis gives a terrific performance as Georgia Drake,with Francis showing Georgia to be someone who knows her time in the lime light is about to fade,but is unable to turn down the chance of reaching the main stages with a major role.

blanche-2 Deanna Durbin stars in "It's a Date," a 1940 comedy also starring Kay Francis, Walter Pidgeon and S.Z. Sakall. Durbin plays Pam Drake, an aspiring young actress whose mother is a theater star, Georgia Drake. After the successful run of a play, Georgia and her maid Sara Frankenstein (Cecilia Loftus) head for Hawaii for R&R before she starts her new play. However, the author (Sakall) isn't sure she's right for the role; he thinks Georgia is too old. Ultimately he sees Pam perform and gives her the role. Not realizing her mother thinks it's hers, she takes a ship to Hawaii so her mother can help her prepare. On the ship, she meets a man (Walter Pidgeon) that she thinks is a stowaway - he's actually John Arlen, a successful businessman. Once in Hawaii, Pam finds out the truth about the role and tries to keep it from her mother; John, meanwhile, has fallen in love with Georgia, but Pam thinks she's in love with him and it's mutual. It's a mess.In Durbin's earlier films, I found her speaking voice high-pitched and a little annoying and her acting overly energetic to the point of being hyper. Here, she's delightful, bubbly without being manic, and she looks very pretty. Her singing voice has matured as well - she sings "Musetta's Waltz," "Ave Maria" and "Loch Lomond." The whole voice is richer though I will never be a fan of the way sopranos in those days were trained to back off of their high notes. She puts a little too much weight in the middle voice and therefore has a somewhat screechy Bb at the end of "Quando M'en Vo." Still, however, she is one of the best classical singers in film.Though Durbin was a huge star at Universal, the studio never bought big properties for her. This is a nice film with good performances but that's about it. Kay Francis is lovely as Georgia and Loftus is funny as Sarah. The handsome Pidgeon does his usual good job.Deanna Durbin in the end out-Garboed Greta Garbo, retiring at the age of 27 and moving to the outskirts of France, and I don't believe she's been seen since or even interviewed. The image and voice of the young girl live, and thanks to TCM, she undoubtedly has new fans. She deserves them.