Three Smart Girls Grow Up

THREE SMART GIRLS GROW UP (Universal, 1939), directed by Henry Koster, is a continuing story about the trials and tribulations of New York City's daughters of high society, the three Craig Sisters, first introduced in THREE SMART GIRLS (1936). Three years later, the sisters, mature and vibrant, as portrayed by Deanna Durbin (the talented singer), Nan Grey (the attractive blonde) and Helen Parrish (enacting the role originally enacted by brunette Barbara Read), along with Charles Winninger and Nella Walker as their parents, this original screenplay by Bruce Manning and Felix Jackson, is almost reminiscent to the Fannie Hurst's based story, FOUR DAUGHTERS (Warners, 1938) that served as a star attraction for both the Lane Sisters and Gale Page in the title roles, where romantic problems revolve around two of the four sisters in love with the same man. For this well intentioned sequel, two of the "three smart girls" encounter similar situations, but less dramatically.

The story opens with the credit titles imposed over Kay (Helen Parrish) and Joan (Nan Grey) rehearsing their younger sister, Penny (Deanna Durbin), on how to address her birthday party guests with "How do you do?" and correctly pronouncing the name of the visiting Mrs. Kithaven (Kathleen Howard), a friend of the family who's not really "dead." As Penny entertains with her singing, Bostonian Richard M. Watkins II (William Lundigan) proposes marriage to Joan. While this is pleasing news for everyone, Kay, who is secretly in love with Richard, holds in her true emotions. Penny discovers something terribly wrong when she sees Kay placing her diary that expresses her true feelings for Richard into the fireplace and crying herself to sleep. The next morning, Penny stumbles upon an idea from Binns (Ernest Cossart), the family servant, by obtaining a new beau for Kay so she'll forget the one she loved and lost. Penny locates one in a music school she attends, Harry Loren (Robert Cummings), a flute player in the orchestra formerly from New Hampshire, whom she feels to resemble that of actor "Clark Gable." Inviting him over for dinner so she can play matchmaker, Penny finds Richard paying more attention to Joan than to Kay, and for this orders him from the house, much to the surprise the family. Plans continue to backfire for Penny as she intends to set things right, causing the embarrassed Kay to publicly give her intrusive sister a facial slap in front of Richard, thus, bringing some very hard feelings and unhappiness for all, especially on the eve of Joan's wedding.

While THREE SMART GIRLS GROW UP gives indication of being a story devoted equally to the Craig sisters, which it actually is, the main emphasis is on Deanna Durbin as it was in her first starring role, THREE SMART GIRLS, as the kid sister making every effort getting her divorced parents together again. With the parents united again, they're hardly together this time around, with Mother busy with society functions and wedding preparations, and Judson, "The Wizard of Wall Street," keeping his absent-mindedness more towards business and long distance phone calls from Paris. The scene where Penny has her father realize how out of touch he is with family troubles is so well written that it comes close to ringing true, though much of the story is a screenwriter's notion of a rich American family.

Other highlights within the story include Durbin's singing of "Invitation to the Dance" (by Carl Maria Von Weber); "Faradoe" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; "The Last Rose of Summer" by Richard Allen-Miller and Thomas Moore; and "Because" by Guy D'Hardelot and Edward Techemoschler. Robert Cummings takes part with some piano playing to a composition by Johann Strauss. Supporting players consist of Felix Bressart (The Music Teacher); Thurston Hall (The Senator); along with familiar stock players as Grady Sutton, William B. Davidson, Charles Coleman, Jack Mulhall and John Hamilton assuming smaller roles.

As entertaining as THREE SMART GIRLS GROW UP can be, which can't compete with other 1939 blockbusters, it certainly ranks one of the finer ones of the year. In spite of limited television revivals (on PBS) that turned up in the 1980s, and distribution to home video in 1995, this latest edition on the Craig sisters is as forgotten as its third installment, HERS TO HOLD (1943), with Durbin, Winninger and Walker once again playing the Craigs, but without her two older sisters. Overall, THREE SMART GIRLS GROW UP is further indication of how a simple story can work itself to a fine motion picture. (***1/2)

This follow-up to the charming "Three Smart Girls" is almost as pleasant and enjoyable as the original. The story is similar to the first one in some respects, but with enough new ideas to keep it from becoming stale. Most of the cast is back, most importantly Deanna Durbin and Charles Winninger. Durbin's energy and charm make even the more implausible moments seem natural, and Winninger gets some even better moments as the befuddled but good-hearted father in "Three Smart Girls Grow Up" than he did in the first picture. Ernest Cossart also gets some good moments as Binns.

Durbin's character again gets a chance to try to straighten out some romantic mis-matches, and to show her musical talents along the way. It's a simple combination that can be quite enjoyable when handled well. There are not a lot of new ideas here, but it has the same good-natured, unpretentious atmosphere and sympathetic characters as its predecessor. It delivers just what it promises, and it makes for a very nice way to pass an hour and a half.

What more is there to say about the child wonder that was Deanna Durbin. Famous as legend goes for saving the studio known as Universal, the girl is the epitome of naturalistic acting, fervent commitment and exceptional and beautiful singing. Three smart girls grow up is the follow up to the movie, you guessed it, Three smart girls. A movie I have not seen but I will definitely be picking up. The story is about unhappiness that three sisters go through as love enters asunder between the older two sisters. But one politely keeps quiet not wanting to offend the other. Little Deanna finds this out and goes ahead to fix things. Throw in a dithering, forgetful and slightly senile and the makings of a family movie is all in place. It should be noted that Hollywood does not know how to make movies like this any more. Witness the failed adventures of Hillary Duff in The Perfect man. But then again, Hillary is no Deanna. It seems as if there is no sin without Deanna in it, and the movie is all the better for it; the sass, the impudence, the lack of restraint, the forward thinking, the ambition, so charming. When Joe Pasternak moved to MGM, he tried to recreate the magic of the movies he made with Deanna there with the young starlet, Jane Powell. The movies, unofficial remakes of the Universal hits were big hits too but they lacked the spark of Deanna pictures. There is something to be said for star power. Back to the movie, everything is resolved in a charming and Hollywod formula that might seem half-baked if the movie had not earned it. And this movie earned it. It earned every moment of it.

I'm not sure why this movie gets a higher rating than the first one. Although I've read that they replaced Barbara Read as one of the "girls" because she was too grown up, Deanna Durbin seems older than her character as well, but pulls it off with her youthful charm. Unfortunately, the script requires her to be dishonest for no apparent reason, and the writers decided to pit the girls against each other, which totally messes with their chemistry. The father has become obsessed with work, undermining his originally sympathetic behavior in the first movie. Also, the ending is contrived and left partially unresolved. Meanwhile Binns, an integral part of the first film, is given little to do. I give this an extra star because Deanna is always a joy to watch. Otherwise, in the parlance of the times, I say phooey!

Although it's meant to be a sequel to 'Three Smart Girls,' this film starts out with a clean slate, so to speak - we have the same family but there's no references to anything that happened in the earlier film, and to make way for the older sisters' romantic woes, their charming original love interests are completely out of the picture. The plot is entertaining, but seems just a trifle improbable in places - it may be only my personal opinion, but the sisters seemed to match better with the men Deanna originally tries to set them up with before the mix-ups begin! The scene during the wedding preparations bothered me a little bit too - why does no one have the nerve to call it off if they know they're not going to be happy? The brightest spot in the film is Robert Cummings, all of whose scenes just sparkle. He has great chemistry with Deanna, and some wonderfully hilarious scenes with the family butler. Charles Winninger as the father is also uniformly enjoyable throughout. Helen Parrish is a little bit subdued as the middle sister, but she has one very touching scene in which she tearfully advises her younger sister on not hiding her feelings for someone lest she lose him. It's a nice way to spend an hour or so and of course the musical numbers are great, but in my opinion the original 'Three Smart Girls' remains far superior.