Délicieuse

Tasteless movie with bad singing and worse acting or overacting

One of Deanna Durbin's early films, and one that showcases her acting and singing abilities like few others do. Watch out for how her facial expression changes when Herbert Marshall is about to expose her storytelling and then re-considers, or when she sings the serenade to the stars and is about to burst into tears. She was definitely one of the best teenage actors Hollywood ever attracted. Her singing is awesome, too, especially Gounod's Ave Maria: I never heard it sung better. Herbert Marshall is perfect for the role of willing Ersatz-father, and it is a pleasure to see Gail Patrick cast against type. Still, it is Deanna's film - next to her, all others, no matter how experienced, are no more than supporting actors.

I am a sucker for mistaken identity comedies, because it's always fun to see the awkward interactions that are created by each new scene as the person in question slowly realizes what is happening. Mad About Music has a crazy setup and for a good portion of the first act I was worried I wouldn't enjoy it. I understand the urge that kids feel to lie to their peers so that they aren't seen as different or lesser people. But the compounding fibs that Deanna Durbin's character tells in Mad About Music get to be more than any rational person's suspension of disbelief would allow. I was struggling to believe these girls thought she was being truthful in any way. However, once Herbert Marshall entered the film all was forgiven. Every far-fetched lie became worth it as he stumbled through becoming this man he was forced to portray.

Perhaps even funnier than the situation created in Mad About Music are all the little scenes with Arthur Treacher who gets caught in the middle of everything and must try to figure out what is going on with his employer. Every single scene with him made me laugh, and it's often the little throwaway lines that I found the funniest. If I could help in rewriting this film at all, though, I would shave some time off the beginning and put it onto the ending. They spend a little too long building up the conflict between Durbin and the other girls in her school, and not long enough resolving her relationship with her mother. I was watching the clock as the reunion with her mom approached and I could tell there wasn't going to be enough time to make it feel as heartfelt and warm as I wanted. Still, there's enough that entertained me in Mad About Music that I'm willing to forgive a rushed final act.

Universal Pictures spared no expense when it came to support its new teen sensation. After her first two movies became socko hits, the studio went all out in Deanna Durbin's third film, February 1938's "Mad About Music." Universal just re-signed Durbin to an adult-like salary of $1,250 per week with a $10,000 bonus for each of the films she made, an astronomical figure in those days for a girl just turning 16.

Durbin is known as the actress who saved Universal from bankruptcy. Her "Mad About Music" was 13th in the year's box office rankings. The film gave her a boast in confidence after rejected by Walt Disney as the voice of Snow White after he felt her voice was "too old" for the part. The studio assigned the Durbin film A-listed Herbert Marshall, whose services were much sought after, to play her fictitious father. Contemporary columnist Edwin Schallert noted, "The demand for Herbert Marshall's talents continues to spread far and wide. Even the newer and younger leading women, it is felt, need to have his proficient romanticism displayed in their pictures."

Universal spent a ton of buckaroos to construct a Swiss village on its studio lot for "Mad About Music," where Durbin's character Gloria Taylor attends school in Switzerland. Her mother in the film, Gwen (played by Gail Patrick, who was in real life only 10 years older than Durbin), is a Hollywood star whose studio as well as her manager Dusty Turner (William Frawley) want to keep secret the fact she has a daughter. Gloria's father died in the war when she was a baby, but incredulously she feels the need to invent a story that her father is alive and is a big-time explorer. One of her so-called friends, Felice (Helen Parrish), doesn't believe her story, forcing Gloria to say her father's arriving on a train to visit her. She picks a man at random at the station, who happens to be Richard Todd (Marshall), a music composer. Once he discovers Gloria's predicament, he goes along with her tall tale, with hilarious results.

Norman Taurog had just finished directing the first color-film version of Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer in 1938's "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer." "Mad About Music" showcased several Durbin songs, including one backed by The Vienna Boys Choir, touring in California at the time of the production.

The Academy Awards nominated "Mad About Music" in five categories, including Best Art Direction for the Swiss village sets. Joseph Valentine earned a nomination for Best Cinematography, Frank Skinner and Charles Previn (Andre's cousin) for Best Music Scoring, and Marcella Burke and Frederick Kohner for Best Original Story.

Widow Gail Patrick shows up at agent William Frawley's office, anxious to work for her and her babe in arms. Frawley tells her she can't be a young, glamorous movie star with a baby, so they park the infant in Switzerland. Fourteen years later, Miss Patrick (who was ten years older than Miss Durbin) is a successful glamor star, and her daughter is Deanna Durbin at a girls school in Switzerland, who makes up stories about her father, the explorer.

After some issues with her fellow student, Miss Durbin is with them at the train station, and announces Herbert Marshall is her father. He goes along with the gag, but Miss Durbin keeps showing up, much to the confusion of his valet, Arthur Treacher. They part, but then Deanna learns her mother is going to be performing in Paris, so off she goes, only to run in again to Marshall.

Little Miss Fix-it eventually fixes everything, sing "Ave Maria" and "I Love To Whistle", charms groundskeeper Christian Rub, and so does everything that her fans loved to see her doing. It's pleasant, it's fun, and will surprise no one.