DVD Review Three Smart Girls DVD Review - Recommended (1 Viewer)

I'm gonna pick this one up for my "Best Picture Nominees" collection; I mean, i have in the Deana Durbin pack, but this is a better edition... Now if they'd only release 100 Men and a Girl...

Warren, you and I are of a mind there.
Maybe Universal will release that one MOD.

Kevin> I was hoping they would release another Deanna Durbin Collection with His Butler's Sister and 100 Men and a Girl, but probably no such luck. :/

I guess the Sweetheart Pack didn't sell all that well, but I certainly enjoyed every film in the set and am glad to have them. I have her others on VHS (except Spring Parade) or DVD-Rs I've made over the years. I guess her style of singing just doesn't translate well to the present generation and the films are (with one exception) in black and white which seems to be an anathma for youthful filmgoers.

Siodmak's CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY and THE AMAZING MRS. HOLIDAY (partially directed by Jean Renoir)?

MattH. said:

I guess her style of singing just doesn't translate well to the present generation and the films are (with one exception) in black and white which seems to be an anathma for youthful filmgoers.

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I'm not sure age has anything to do with it. I'm 60 and find Ms. Durbin's trilling shrill and unpleasant and her on screen persona a bit treacly for me. Except for the nostalgists, I doubt there are many breathlessly awaiting DVDs with Durbin, Kathryn Grayson, Jeanette MacDonald, Jane Powell and other sopranos so popular in the 30s and 40s.
For the record, certainly not a slight at fans of those ladies. Just keeping it real.

I'm only 28, and four of my top ten favourite films predate 1943, three of them are silent, and four of them are black and white.

Metropolis, Wings, The Adventures of Robinhood, Casablanca, The Ten Commandments, Murder By Death and The Shawshank Redemption and The Artist (I loved it) are just some of the top ten.

I guess I'm an anomally when it comes to young people and thier taste for movies.

When I watched all 485 best picture nominees. I had to go through many films with female singers, and sometimes I had to fast-forward through the singing... it was just too much. To me, that's not singing (but it is, I know)...

I had no idea that Universal re-released this. If it means anything I'm 23 and I adore this movie. I think I'll still stick to my Deanna Durbin Sweetheart pack though.
I just wish Universal would release the rest of Durbin's movies, I was hoping that they would team up with TCM to release another box set of her films. Does anyone know if Universal still doesn't own the rights to Spring Parade?
Kevin, I had no idea that Henry Koster was your grandfather, the other night I watched Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation and greatly enjoyed it.

I collected both the Sweetheart Pack and the laserdisc 4-movie set. I have a few others on VHS that were handed down to me, but I'm sure they're not in the best condition.

To my knowledge, Spring Parade is still unavailable. The last I remember hearing, the rights were tied up with the family of Ernst Marischka, who wrote the original story on which it's based. The movie is actually based on an earlier film Henry Koster had made in Europe that was written by Marischka. I believe that the rights were granted to Universal to do a theatrical release of a remake, but no other rights were granted. By the time home video came around, it was a bit late to be renegotiating with the Marischka family, so I believe Universal decided to wait until the property went into the public domain. (See the Classic Films Piracy thread, by the way...) The sad thing is that Spring Parade was actually nominated for 4 Oscars, and like all the other Deanna Durbin films, has still wound up in obscurity. I actually got to see it over ten years ago at a special event that honored Peggy Moran Koster. But I've never seen a legitimate home video release.

Thomas, I think you're right that there isn't a large contemporary audience looking for a collection of movies with popular actress/singer personalities from the 1930s and 1940s. If there were, sets like the Sweetheart Pack would have sold much better. I figure that these things always reflect the tastes of the moment. Soprano singers were very popular in Europe and the US in the 30s, and having a good singer in your movie was a great way to get people to come see it. If that same audience were to look at the various musicals over the last three decades, they'd probably really wonder what the heck was going on. To each their own.

My gut says that we've likely seen the only individual DVD to be released of the Deanna Durbin Universal collection. Unless sales were through the roof, and I strongly doubt they were, there just isn't any incentive for mass production. On the other hand, they could make several of them for MOD.

Kevin, Dad did not direct the Austrian version, Frühjahrsparade (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026389/), Geza von Bolvary did. But Pasternak did produce it for Universal, and apparently was under the impression that if he re-shot it in America he wouldn't have to pay Marischka anything more for the story. The two movies are very similar. A lot of the same dialogue also. A shame that it is not widely available. It is a truly charming film, good performances by Bob Cummings and Szoke Sakall, not to mention Anne Gwynne. Brilliant performance by Henry Stephenson as the Emperor Franz Joseph. N.B The prop man, Laszlo, had been in Austrian army in the 1910s. The first time he saw Henry Stephenson in costume and makeup he was so startled that he snapped to attention with his broom as a rifle, Love Dad (Bob Koster)

Thanks much for the correction.

Bumping this thread, by the way - 100 Men and a Girl was indeed made available by Universal as an MOD release a couple of years ago, and I picked it up as such.

Kevin EK said:

Bumping this thread, by the way - 100 Men and a Girl was indeed made available by Universal as an MOD release a couple of years ago, and I picked it up as such.

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How good is it? What is the quality like?

Does Universal have any plans to release Durbins on Blu?

From what I can tell, the MOD DVD of 100 Men & A Girl is the same transfer that had previously been used for video releases, including the laserdisc collection and I believe an R2 release at some point. I would say the quality is fine - it's not spectacular, but I don't recall having any major qualms with it. And even if I did, it wouldn't matter - this is as good as we'll get it.

I do not believe there are any plans for HD releases of Deanna Durbin pictures. I'm happy they've given us what we have.

It looks like
My favourite - His Butlers Sister - will never come to region one, either.

battlebeast said:

It looks like
My favourite - His Butlers Sister - will never come to region one, either.

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I love that one, too. I just watched Can't Help Singing and Lady on a Train a few weeks ago. I think maybe Nice Girl? is my favorite.

Matt Hough said:

I love that one, too. I just watched Can't Help Singing and Lady on a Train a few weeks ago. I think maybe Nice Girl? is my favorite.

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My friend LOVES Butler, and I was able to get Deana Durbin’s autograph off EBay twice (both authentic) and got them each framed with a vintage production still. My friend loved them!