Deanna Durbin
Actor · 1921 – 2013 · Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Edna Mae Durbin (December 4, 1921 – April 17, 2013), known professionally as Deanna Durbin, was a Canadian-born actress and singer, who moved to the USA with her family in infancy. She appeared in musical films in the 1930s and 1940s. With the technical skill and vocal range of a legitimate lyric soprano, she performed many styles from popular standards to operatic arias. In 1946, Durbin was the second-highest-paid woman in the United States, just behind Bette Davis; her fan club ranked as the world's largest during her active years. Durbin was a child actress who made her first film appearance with Judy Garland in Every Sunday (1936), and subsequently signed a contract with Universal Studios. She achieved success as the ideal teenaged daughter in films such as Three Smart Girls (1936), One Hundred Men and a Girl (1937), and It Started with Eve (1941). Her work was credited with saving the studio from bankruptcy, and led to Durbin being awarded the Academy Juvenile Award in 1938. As she matured, Durbin grew dissatisfied with the girl-next-door roles assigned to her and attempted to move into sophisticated non-musical roles with film noir Christmas Holiday (1944) and the whodunit Lady on a Train (1945). These films, produced by frequent collaborator and second husband Felix Jackson, were not as successful; she continued in musical roles until her retirement. Upon her retirement and divorce from Jackson in 1949, Durbin married producer-director Charles Henri David and moved to a farmhouse near Paris. She withdrew from public life, granting only one interview on her career in 1983.
Movies24
Movie7.4DocumentaryFamilyVarious MGM stars from yesterday present their favorite musical moments from the studio's 50 year history.
That's Entertainment!
1974 · 71 votes
Movie6.3DocumentaryThis 1940 presentation features highlights of earlier (1928 onward) Oscar ceremonies including Shirley Temple and Walt Disney, plus acceptance speeches for films released in 1939 with recipients and presenters including Vivien Leigh, Judy Garland, Hattie McDaniel and more, with host Bob Hope.
Cavalcade of the Academy Awards
1940 · 3 votes
MovieDocumentaryA two-hour in-depth exploration into the Hollywood musicals of the 1930s.
Movie6.4ComedyDramaJane is a nice girl and has had her eyes on a young man who seems more interested in his hand-built car than in Jane. She decides to shed her "nice girl" image when an associate of her father comes to town on his way to study Australian Aboriginal tribes.
Nice Girl?
1941 · 5 votes
Movie6.5CrimeDramaA young femme fatale realizes that the man she married is an incorrigible wastrel.
Christmas Holiday
1944 · 37 votes
Movie6.0DocumentaryThis is a two-hour in-depth exploration into the Hollywood musicals of the 1940s.
Movie6.5DocumentaryThe films, affairs and struggles of the iconic star of The Blue Angel as told by Rosemary Clooney, Roger Corman, Deanna Durbin and many more.
Marlene Dietrich: Her Own Song
2002 · 10 votes
Movie7.2ComedyDramaThree sisters who believe life is going to be easy, now that their parents are back together, until one sister falls in love with another's fiancé, and the youngest sister plays matchmaker.
Three Smart Girls Grow Up
1939 · 8 votes
Movie7.0DocumentaryA multi-studio effort to show the newsreel audience the progress of the Hollywood war effort.
Show-Business at War
1943 · 4 votes
Movie6.4ComedyMusicThe daughter of a struggling musician forms a symphony orchestra made up of his unemployed friends and through persistence, charm and a few misunderstandings, is able to get Leopold Stokowski to lead them in a concert that leads to a radio contract.
One Hundred Men and a Girl
1937 · 29 votes
Movie6.7ComedyDramaA missionary tries to outwit the U.S. government and smuggle Chinese orphans into the country.
The Amazing Mrs. Holliday
1943 · 10 votes
Movie6.5ComedyRomanceThe three Craig sisters – Penny, Kay, and Joan – go to New York to stop their divorced father from marrying gold digger Donna Lyons and reunite him with their mother.
Three Smart Girls
1936 · 27 votes
Movie6.7ComedyCrimeWhile watching from her train window, Nikki Collins witnesses a murder in a nearby building. When she alerts the police, they think she has read one too many mystery novels. She then enlists a popular mystery writer to help her solve the crime on her own, but her sleuthing attracts the attentions of suitors and killers.
Lady on a Train
1945 · 53 votes
Movie7.0DocumentaryTV MovieThe story of the short film from the beginning of the movies in the 1890s, when all movies were shorts, through the 1950s when short subjects virtually disappeared from theaters.
Added Attractions: The Hollywood Shorts Story
2002 · 1 votes
Movie6.4ComedyMusicAn aspiring actress is offered the lead in a major new play, but discovers that her mother, a more seasoned performer, expects the same part. The situation is further complicated when they both become involved with the same man.
It's a Date
1940 · 9 votes
Movie7.2ComedyRomanceA young man asks a hat check girl to pose as his fiancée in order to make his dying father's last moments happy. However, the old man's health takes a turn for the better and now his son doesn't know how to break the news that he's engaged to someone else, especially since his father is so taken with the impostor.
It Started with Eve
1941 · 32 votes
Movie6.2ComedyRomanceYoung girl gets a job at the White House as a switchboard operator and gets mixed up in politics.
For the Love of Mary
1948 · 7 votes
Movie6.0WesternWith the California Gold Rush beginning, Senator Frost's singing daughter Caroline loves a young army officer; the Senator can't stand him, and has him sent to California. Headstrong Caroline follows him by train, riverboat, and covered wagon, gaining companions en route: a vagrant Russian prince and gambler Johnny Lawlor, who just might take her mind off the army.
Can't Help Singing
1944 · 10 votes
Movie7.0ComedyMusicA grandson of a recently deceased millionaire mistakes a beautiful female disc jockey for her aunt, who once dated the grandfather.
Something in the Wind
1947 · 9 votes
Movie7.2ComedyMusicAspiring singer Ann Carter visits her stepbrother in New York, hoping to make it on Broadway.
His Butler's Sister
1943 · 9 votes
Movie7.6ComedyRomanceIn this reworking of Cinderella, orphaned Connie Harding is sent to live with her rich aunt and uncle after graduating from boarding school. She's hardly received with open arms, especially by her snobby cousin Barbara. When the entire family is invited to a major social ball, Barbara sees to it that Connie is forced to stay home. With the aid of her uncle, who acts as her fairy godfather, Connie makes it to the ball and meets her Prince Charming in Ted Drake, her cousin's boyfriend.
First Love
1939 · 17 votes
Movie7.0DramaMusicDeanna Durbin is all grown up in Hers to Hold, the unofficial sequel to her "Three Smart Girls" films of the 1930s. Durbin plays Penelope Craig, the starry-eyed daughter of wealthy Judson and Dorothy Craig (Charles Winninger, Nella Walker). Developing a crush on much-older playboy Bill Morley (Joseph Cotton), Penelope stops at nothing to land the elusive Morley as her husband. Highlights include Durbin's renditions of "Begin the Beguine" and the "Seguidilla" from Carmen, and a captivating sequence that includes highlights from Durbin's earlier films, presented as home movies!
Hers to Hold
1943 · 8 votes
Movie6.4MusicA newspaper reporter and the daughter of an immigrant maintenance man help expose political corruption in New York City.
Up in Central Park
1948 · 7 votes
Movie6.9ComedyMusicIn this light and lovely romantic musical, a Hungarian woman attends a Viennese fair and buys a card from a gypsy fortune teller. It says that she will meet someone important and is destined for a happy marriage. Afterward she gets a job as a baker's assistant. She then meets a handsome army drummer who secretly dreams of becoming a famous composer and conductor. Unfortunately the military forbids the young corporal to create his own music. But then Ilonka secretly sends one of the drummer's waltzes to the Austrian Emperor with his weekly order of pastries. Her act paves the way toward the tuneful and joyous fulfillment of the gypsy's prediction.
Spring Parade
1940 · 12 votes