In 'His Butler's Sister' Deanna Durbin plays Anne, a small town girl who arrives in New York to make it on the stage. She intends to live with her older half-brother Martin (Pat O'Brien) whom she has not seen for years and who turns out not to be the millionaire she expected but something much better: The butler of a successful song writer (Charles Gerard, played by Franchot Tone), for whom Anne wanted to sing in any case. There are mistaken identities and other misunderstandings, some dastardly intrigues, a troop of butlers who all fall in love with Anne and any number of situations that will make you laugh out loud. Most importantly, this charming comedy-romance offers Deanna a lot of chances to demonstrate what an amazingly good soprano she was. In fact, I don't think Hollywood ever attracted a better classical singer - no wonder Maria Callas and Joan Sutherland were among her fans. In 'His Butler's Sister' Deanna sings some modern numbers, a Russian medley (in Russian), and towards the end an astounding interpretation of Nessun Dorma. The Russian medley is historically remarkable: Remember, back then the Soviet Union and the US were allies and there was a lot of sympathy for Russia. Also, the Universal Studios may have aimed at the Russian 'market', such as there was (earlier films with Deanna, for example 'One Hundred Men and a Girl', did appear in Russia). What did not convince me is the character of Anne's half-brother Martin, or rather, why both Anna and Charles keep forgiving him his really nasty intrigues. But that does not change the fact that 'His Butler's Sister' is one of the best of Deanna Durbin's films - not quite at the level of 'One Hundred Men and a Girl', but still very very good. Don't miss it!
