It's a Date (1940)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

William A. Seiter

Writers:

Jane Hall (story) &
Frederick Kohner (story) ...

Release Date:

22 March 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical | Romance

Plot:

An aspiring actress is offered the lead in a major new play, but discovers that her mother, a more seasoned performer...

Plot Keywords:

Actress | Marriage Proposal | Grandmother | Singing | Professional Rivalry

Cast

Deanna Durbin	...	Pamela Drake
Kay Francis	...	Georgia Drake
Walter Pidgeon	...	John Arlen
Eugene Pallette	...	Gov. Allen
Henry Stephenson	...	Capt. Andrew
Cecilia Loftus	...	Sara Frankenstein
Samuel S. Hinds	...	Sidney Simpson
Lewis Howard	...	Fred 'Freddie' Miller
S.Z. Sakall	...	Karl Ober
Fritz Feld	...	Oscar, the Headwaiter
Virginia Brissac	...	Miss Holden, Summer Stock Teacher
Romaine Callender	...	Mr. Evans, Summer Stock Teacher
Joe King	...	First Mate Dan Kelly
Mary Kelley	...	Lil Alden, Governor's Wife
Eddie Polo	...	Quartermaster

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | USA:Approved (PCA #6122)

Filming Locations:

Honolulu, O'ahu, Hawaii, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

S.Z. Sakall's American film debut.

Quotes:

Karl Ober: I can't work in New York anyway. Is this place far from here?
Pamela Drake: Oh, no, Mr. Ober, it's only Maine. You know where Maine is!
Karl Ober: No.
Pamela Drake: Oh, it's practically a few minutes from here! You could write fine there.
Sidney Simpson: 'A few minutes'!
Pamela Drake: [to Sidney, blithely] Yes!
[to Ober]
Pamela Drake: That's all, really.
Karl Ober: [wagging his finger] Then it isn't quiet enough. I have to go further away from New York.
Pamela Drake: Oh, good - it *is* far away! Takes a whole day to get there.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Remade as Nancy Goes to Rio (1950)

Soundtrack:

Hawaiian War Chant (Ta-Hu-Wa-Hu-Wai)

Deanna chases older man in hackneyed musical comedy

Six films and four years after her auspicious starring debut in THREE SMART GIRLS (1936), the luster of Deanna Durbin began to dim, but just a little. In IT'S A DATE (1940), she's saddled with two high-profile grown-up co-stars, Walter Pidgeon and faded 1930s star Kay Francis, both of whom considerably slow down the normally hyperactive Deanna.

The plot involves aspiring actress Deanna being offered a part that was originally promised to her stage diva mom (Kay). Then, in Hawaii, the plot shifts to a romantic triangle as the two women grapple, not for a part, but for the attentions of a pineapple tycoon, Pidgeon, who's more interested in the mother. The inherent drama in such a situation is jettisoned in favor of standard Universal Pictures sitcom antics, leaving the mother-daughter fireworks to Joan Crawford and Ann Blyth in Warner Bros.' MILDRED PIERCE five years later. Kay Francis overacts but is never given any good lines, forced too often to simply react to the bubbly, aggressive Deanna.

The first section of the film offers the flavorful ambience of a theatrical milieu, both Broadway and regional theatre, but then, after Deanna's offered the part of St. Anne, the action shifts to a cruise ship, where Deanna meets Pidgeon, and finally to Hawaii where she reunites with Mom. Once Deanna boards the ship, she leaves behind her quirky boyfriend Freddy, an aspiring actor played by the funny Lewis Howard, who then disappears from the movie. Freddy has a great bit early on where he tries to impress a casting director by acting like a `dope fiend' which is what he thought Deanna said when she told him to try out for the part of the Dauphin. He starts going into withdrawal tics, rubbing his nose and scratching his arms, a daring bit at a time when the Production Code strictly forbade drug references.

Norman Krasna's script (from a `story' credited to three writers) offers plenty of bright dialogue and funny bits, but the shifts in setting make it play like three movies crammed into one. William Seiter's heavy-handed direction seems more intent on showing off the lavish (for Universal) sets and less on showing off the actors, giving a bloated feel to the whole enterprise. Deanna's earlier films were leaner, zippier and bursting at the seams with youthful energy. The soundtrack is short on original songs and big on choral standards: Deanna's big numbers are `Loch Lomond' and `Ave Maria.' No wonder Judy Garland became the bigger star.