Saturday, September 28, 2019

Movie review - "For the Love of Mary" (1948) **1/2

Deanna Durbin's last movie isn't bad - not as good as her best films but inoffensive. She's actually in terrific form - bright, sparky, pretty, lively, full of energy. You would never know she was over filmmaking.

The plot is slightly creepy. She's a telephone operator at the White House and everyone in Washington is obsessed with her love life, trying to get her back with dull Jeffrey Lynn. She gets escorted around by Edmond O'Brien, still not looking like he should be a romantic lead, and is chased by Don Taylor. None of them is good enough for Durbin. O'Brien is too old, Taylor too odd (he's obsessed with fish and grew up on and island but doesn't look it... this role needed someone like Jon Hall) and Lynn looks ill.

I did like it that the President got involved in Durbin's love life, setting her up with Taylor... this is what the film should have been, Durbin dealing with a specific cupid, someone Charles Laughton could have played. If they couldn't show the President they should have narrowed the group down - like three congressmen or something, and had them act as her guardian angels. But they have too many people interfere and too many of them are pushing for her to get back with Lynn which she clearly doesn't want to do.

There's a few songs but it isn't really a musical. I wish Durbin had tried to do something on her own rather than just help Lynn - her later films were better when she had a specific goal, normally to become a singing star or to solve a murder, instead of just hanging off a man.

Still this is better than I thought it would be. She made worse movies.



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