Director: Henry Koster
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Top Billed Actors: Binnie Barnes, Charles Winninger, Alice Brady
Won 0 Oscars
Nominated for 3 more:
Outstanding Production - Universal
Best Original Story - Adele Comandini
Best Sound Recording - Homer G. Tasker
Plot: Three girls cross the ocean to stop their daddy from getting married to a gold digger by every means necessary, including singing, crying, and breaking furniture.
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Top Billed Actors: Binnie Barnes, Charles Winninger, Alice Brady
Won 0 Oscars
Nominated for 3 more:
Outstanding Production - Universal
Best Original Story - Adele Comandini
Best Sound Recording - Homer G. Tasker
Plot: Three girls cross the ocean to stop their daddy from getting married to a gold digger by every means necessary, including singing, crying, and breaking furniture.
Universal Pictures was hurting financially in 1936. It seems as though the major studio (one of the Little Three) didn't have as much skin in the game critically speaking as well. Three Smart Girls (1936) helped tremendously on both fronts as it made enough money to propel the studio forward as well as provide the lone Universal Best Picture nominee at the 9th Awards (and first since the 7th). The film also propelled the career of a young Deanna Durbin, who is all but fourteen in her feature debut. It has been said that the decision to increase her screen time came during the filming of the movie, when dailies were being reviewed. This is speculation on my part, but this decision likely made the film more of a musical as well.
Durbin showcases her voice throughout. The opening scene involves her singing on a sailboat. We also see her serenade her father as well as a bunch of cops after she runs away. Its an incredible voice, not only for such a young girl, but for anybody. Its no wonder why she became featured and the spotlight started to turn on her. Durbin's vocal chords aren't the only redeeming quality of this lesser-seen nominee. Charles Winninger plays a bumbling and somewhat insecure fool for a father that plays for comedy and, later in the film, for sentimentality. Its a joy to see his character, as lighthearted as the movie is, evolve over the course of seeing his daughters for an extended amount of time for the first time in a decade. On a cinematic sidenote, there's this really clever edit that made me a bit giddy. When the mother of the gold digger proclaims what she would have said in a situation, half of her sentence is in dialogue with her daughter and the other half is exactly what she would have said (but is now saying) at the dinner table. There's a couple of other neat moments that is pieced together well by Henry Koster and his editor.
The aforementioned spotlight on Durbin is alright for laughs and joviality. However, the movie is kind of all over the place. Durbin is a driving force in the picture for a better part of the first half and she kind of disappears as her sister, played by Barbara Read, gets her moment in the sun. It turns into pure romance for a bit and when Durbin returns, its back to being a musical/comedy. Sure, many genres can be incorporated into a single film, but the flow feels disjointed to say the least. And as for the mechanics of the story, the mistaken identity element feels overplayed in the 1930s. This has been incorporated in many of these Best Picture nominees that I've reviewed for this Project. Its funny for a few scenes, but the concept doesn't have legs - we are just waiting for the girls to finally figure out they are using the wrong guy.
Overall, Durbin's voice is good for some impressive singing and Winninger's performance is good for some laughs. The film often gets lost in what its trying to do and the mistaken identity plot element has overstayed its welcome.
My Score: 6/10
Durbin showcases her voice throughout. The opening scene involves her singing on a sailboat. We also see her serenade her father as well as a bunch of cops after she runs away. Its an incredible voice, not only for such a young girl, but for anybody. Its no wonder why she became featured and the spotlight started to turn on her. Durbin's vocal chords aren't the only redeeming quality of this lesser-seen nominee. Charles Winninger plays a bumbling and somewhat insecure fool for a father that plays for comedy and, later in the film, for sentimentality. Its a joy to see his character, as lighthearted as the movie is, evolve over the course of seeing his daughters for an extended amount of time for the first time in a decade. On a cinematic sidenote, there's this really clever edit that made me a bit giddy. When the mother of the gold digger proclaims what she would have said in a situation, half of her sentence is in dialogue with her daughter and the other half is exactly what she would have said (but is now saying) at the dinner table. There's a couple of other neat moments that is pieced together well by Henry Koster and his editor.
The aforementioned spotlight on Durbin is alright for laughs and joviality. However, the movie is kind of all over the place. Durbin is a driving force in the picture for a better part of the first half and she kind of disappears as her sister, played by Barbara Read, gets her moment in the sun. It turns into pure romance for a bit and when Durbin returns, its back to being a musical/comedy. Sure, many genres can be incorporated into a single film, but the flow feels disjointed to say the least. And as for the mechanics of the story, the mistaken identity element feels overplayed in the 1930s. This has been incorporated in many of these Best Picture nominees that I've reviewed for this Project. Its funny for a few scenes, but the concept doesn't have legs - we are just waiting for the girls to finally figure out they are using the wrong guy.
Overall, Durbin's voice is good for some impressive singing and Winninger's performance is good for some laughs. The film often gets lost in what its trying to do and the mistaken identity plot element has overstayed its welcome.
My Score: 6/10