Nice Girl? (1941)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

William A. Seiter

Writers:

Richard Connell (writer)
Phyllis Duganne (play)

Release Date:

21 February 1941 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

A young girl finds herself attracted to one of her father's business partners. |

Plot Keywords:

Scientist | Puppy Love | Patriotism | Based On Play

Cast

Deanna Durbin	...	Jane 'Pinky' Dana
Franchot Tone	...	Richard Calvert
Walter Brennan	...	Hector Titus
Robert Stack	...	Don Webb
Robert Benchley	...	Prof. Oliver Wendel Holmes Dana
Helen Broderick	...	Cora Foster
Ann Gillis	...	Nancy Dana
Anne Gwynne	...	Sylvia Dana
Elisabeth Risdon	...	Martha Peasley
Nana Bryant	...	Mary Peasley
Georgie Billings	...	Pinky Greene (as George Billings)
Tommy Kelly	...	Ken Atkins
Marcia Mae Jones	...	Girl

Also Known As:

Love at Last (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

91 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

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

In the British version of this film, Deanna Durbin's finale was the patriotic favorite, "There'll Always Be an England" (music by Ross Parker and Harry Parr Davies, lyrics by Hugh Charles). Miss Durbin's "Thank You America" (music and lyrics by Walter Jurmann and Bernie Grossman), a song which didn't become popular despite Deanna's commercial single on Decca, closed the U.S. print. Both endings are included on the VHS release of the movie from Universal Studios.

Soundtrack:

Love at Last

ALL that adulthood entails!

What is not to like about 'Nice Girl?'? It needs hardly be among the very best of Deanna Durbin's films to still warrant at least a viewing. And it certainly does.

Robert Benchley is wonderful as the father raising three daughters with the help of his housekeeper in a small American town. Durbin plays the middle daughter, Dana, and she has her sights set on sophistication, however improbable that prospect seems. Her boyfriend, hunky, blond Robert Stack, is often filmed, bless him, in a skimpy shoulder-less undershirt whilst busying himself under the hood of the beloved car that he seems to value more than Durbin herself. When a mature man of the world, the charming Franchot Tone, shows up to do business with Dad Benchley, all three sisters fall in love with him, and Durbin decides that now is the time to take that final step towards adulthood, with ALL that it entails! "Who wants to be just useful and contented? After all, I am not a cow", Deanna Durbin complains, as she is about to flirt with disaster, preparing to be ravished by Tone in his boudoir of exotic trophies. Durbin hardly looks the Jezebel she makes a stab at, but she does look like a million bucks in her borrowed turban and black evening dress.

The dialog is snappy, often surprisingly racy for its time, the songs are classics ('The Old Folks at Home', 'Beneath the Lights of Home' etc.) and felt as well as beautifully sung by Durbin. It may not have quite the giddy strength of other Durbin movies such as 'First Love', but it is still a delightful experience.