La telefonista della Casa Bianca

After seeing one of Deanna Durbin's movies on tv I decided to buy a video and chose this one for a start. As I love music anyways, you can't go wrong with any selection of hers, such a lovely singing voice, she does credit to any song. The story is well acted by each, and it has a quick wit with an interesting twist at the end. Also it's nice to see Harry Davenport in a film I hadn't seen before; he's been a reliable staple in many good movies of that era. It's entertaining and leaves you with a happy feeling after. We need not take life so seriously because after all it can be lighthearted and cheerful too. This film proves it.

What a way to go! "For The Love of Mary" was Deanna Durbin's swansong. She proves what a charming, sparkling entertainer she was in her role as Mary Peppertree, a White House operator. This film (in it's acting, casting of veteran character actors, such as Harry Davenport and Louise Beavers, and it's lyrical though swift pacing) really marks the end of romantic comedy as practiced by the practitioners of screwball comedy. Romantic comedies would never again be this light, unpretentious, and wholesome, in my opinion.

Deanna Durbin shines as a comedic actress in this film as she never did as an adult performer because she never had a comedy script as bright and as fresh as this one. The chemistry between her and Edmond O'Brien is strong and sexy. This is one of the few romantic comedies to believably transport one to an idyllic world in which everyone can be lighthearted and in love with life if one were only in the right place and with the right kind of people.

"For The Love of Mary" deserves far more widespread viewing and critical praise than it currently has. It is great that it is now on video for all to appreciate.

When Washington insider Deanna Durbin gets a job on the White House switchboard, her friends, which includes senator Ray Collins and four or five Supreme Court justices, try to arrange her life for her. Young men cluster around her, too, including Navy lieutenant Edmond O'Brien, lawyer Jeffrey Lynn, and marine biologist Don Taylor.

Miss Durbin sings 'largo al factotum', and 'On Moonlight Bay'. And as she so often does, shows a real emotional connection with an unlikely elderly man or two. The story itself is nonsense. This may seem like a standard complaint for Miss Durbin's vehicles, but individual plot points are rushed over so you don't notice.

This movie, as well as Miss Durbin's previous few, had not performed well at the box office. Her star persona was Little Miss Fix-it, and she was no longer age-appropriate for it. Tired of the Hollywood grind, she left Hollywood a year later. Despite pleas from producers ranging from Joe Pasternak at MGM to Lerner & Lowe for MY FAIR LADY. She turned them all down, and only gave one interview in the remaining 65 years of her life. She died in 2013 at the age of 91, just where she wanted to be: out of the public's eye.

The commercial Hollywood product for the family consumption in the 1930s, after Shirley Temple, was Deanna Durbin: sappy, covered in bows, singing at every opportunity with that kind of voice that Hollywood called lyrical, with always bright eyes of emotion, she was considered "the ideal daughter"

In 1948, not the cute singing young girl anymore, but still smiling a lot and singing too much, Deanna made a couple of boring musical comedies after the war. She had tried to change for more dramatic roles, but without success.

This kind of film reminds you that not everything was gold in the golden age, and while Hollywood could still afford 8 or 9 masterpieces every year, it produced many forgettable films as this one.

Absolutely dated, with no artistic or entertaining value, the film shows a somewhat tired Durbin as everyone's spotlight in the White House.

Corniest, tackiest musical numbers ever, stupid plot, no laughs, boring dialogue, and uninterestingly directed, it's a safe option for those who love oldies without requiring quality.

Probably targeted for Durbin club fan, but finally as somebody tells Durbin in the film: it's idiotic even for young people.

Deanna Durbin is an interesting case when it comes to Hollywood stars. While she was among the most popular stars of her day, she retired when she was in her 20s. Why? Apparently she disliked the scripts she was being offered by Universal Studios and instead of making more, she decided to stay home and raise a family. Well, after seeing her final film, "For the Love of Mary", I can certainly understand why she retired...the writing was incredibly convoluted and, need I say, ridiculous. So, despite her charm in the lead, the film is at times a chore to watch.

When the story begins, Mary (Durbin) is going to her new job as a switchboard operator at the White House. It seems that she had been working at the Supreme Court and she was apparently beloved by the Justices...who keep phoning her and keep getting involved in her life. In addition to these guys meddling with her and her love life, the film gets really weird when the President himself starts meddling in her love life! What's next and which of her three suitors, if any, will she choose?

There is MUCH more to the plot than this...a lot more. So much more, in fact, that the story is incredibly complicated and nearly impossible to believe. After all, you'd THINK the President and Supreme Court justices would have a lot more to do than manage Mary's love life! Additionally, the role Durbin plays didn't give her much in the way of broadening her acting abilities and is a lot like her earlier child roles...but with added romance and the usual obligatory songs.

Overall, I didn't hate the film but I really did strongly dislike the writing. It was riddled with impossibilities, silly situations and cliches. As a result, I think Durbin was probably right to change her life radically after making this movie. And, radically she did change it...moving to France, shunning the spotlight and raising a family.