Really sweet film with a simple premise that I'm surprised hasn't been more remade: three girls find out their father is marrying a gold digger and set out to get him back. Really mother should go along but she is kept back in Europe - probably good idea since she's a bit dull.
Their main plan involves getting a gigolo to seduce the gold digger which is fun - only they accidentally get a genuinely rich guy, Ray Milland, whose family "own half of Australia". Milland plays a lord but I guess he's... an Australian lord?
It's really sweet and fun. Deanna Durbin was the X factor and she's charming - I don't like her singing (the genre not the ability, she's obviously very good) but there's not too much of it. She is bright and sparky and full of fun and is wonderful getting that final close up, delighted at her reunited parents.
Her sisters don't have her star power but they are fun too - Nan Grey and Barbara Read. Actually the whole cast is very strong - Mischa Auer as the genuine gigolo, Ray Milland (stepping in for Louis Hayward who was sick a few days into filming), Binnie Barnes as the gold digger, Alice Brady as her even greedier mother, Charles Winninger as the dad (the film is really a love story between Durbin and him).
They probably could have added another complication or two but this is lovely and it's no surprise it became a big hit.
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