Last night I was finally able to watch this film starring Deanna Durbin and David Bruce. It wasn't quite what I expected, but it was entertaining and it takes place during Christmas, so it was a good pick.
In a nutshell, Deanna plays a rich Nancy Drew-ish character that witnesses a murder from a train and then she investigates by herself because William Frawley is playing a lazy cop.
First of all, to completely enjoy this film, you have to expect a lot of unlikely situations, like a girl breaking and entering in a creepy mansion, wearing a cowhide (almost literally), lots of feathers in her hat and high heels, because that's how you discreetly investigate a murder.
If you accept things like that, then you can start enjoying the contagious good humor and goofy personality of Deanna's character; David Bruce's charm (he was handsome, reminded me a bit of Michael Redgrave), Edward Everett's usual absent minded character and Jacqueline deWit's comedy timing (she has a presence like Eve Arden's).
The movie maintains a good pace: it's never slow thanks to a script filled with many different and interesting situations (like Deanna pretending to be a club singer/heiress/chair to investigate...you'll get it when you see it).
It also keeps you intrigued, trying to guess which of the suspects --Ralph Bellamy, Dan Duryea, etc-- is the criminal (although I correctly guessed at once...please, please, no applauses).
There are a lot of funny/thrilling scenes and lines and of course three songs beautifully sung by Deanna (they are all in Youtube: Silent Night, Night and Day & Give me a little kiss )
In conclusion, if you haven't seen this one and you're looking for a very light and quite funny film, I recommend this one to you.
Here some photos from my wall:
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| With "Fred" |
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| At the cinema: one of the funniest scenes. |
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| With Ralph Bellamy. |
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| With Edward Everett, Fred Astaire's usual best friend. |
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| Siiiiilent Niiiight.... |
Have a great weekend!
PS - I'd like to know if you guys know more about director Charles David, seems that he just directed two movies in his whole life.
