‘Mad About Music’: Deanna Durbin Delights

(L–R) Felice (Helen Parrish), Gloria Harkinson (Deanna Durbin, L) and Olga (Marcie Mae Jones), in “Mad About Music.” Universal Pictures

NR | 1 h 40 min | Drama, Musical | 1938

America didn’t have a lot to cheer about in 1937.  The Depression still loomed: Unemployment still hovered above the streets, like a slowly rising balloon. Flooding around the Mississippi and Ohio rivers left millions homeless. And the New London School gas explosion in Texas left over 300 children and teachers dead.

So, when a stubbornly cheery musical, “Mad About Music” came along in early 1938, audiences weren’t just eager, they were exuberant. It helped that it featured excited children and excitable teachers at a school. Norman Taurog’s film secured four Academy Award nominations, largely thanks to its charismatic singing star, Deanna Durbin.

A Lonely Schoolgirl

In Switzerland, Gloria Harkinson (Durbin) studies at a boarding school for girls. In Hollywood, her mother Gwen Taylor (Gail Patrick) is a sultry, sought-after, widowed actress in her prime. Gwen’s manager Dusty Turner (William Frawley) forbids her from drawing attention to the fact that she’s a widow or talking about having a teenage daughter. “You’re supposed to be a glamor girl,” he warns.

Dusty Turner (William Frawley) and Gloria Harkinson (Deanna Durbin), in “Mad About Music.” Universal Pictures

But Gloria’s lonesome. Her dad died when she was a baby, and she never gets to see her mom. Longing to be as loved as her schoolmates, who speak glowingly of their dads, Gloria conjures up an imaginary father. Her self-written letters from him lend credibility to her yarn: that he’s an adventurous explorer, braving lions and elephants in Africa or polar bears in the North Pole. When the other girls get nosy, she must find a real-life man, kind-hearted and game enough to play her father, what with envious schoolmate Felice (Helen Parrish), determined to expose her prank.

Gloria convinces visiting composer Richard Todd (Herbert Marshall), who happens to be a bachelor, to play along so she can show off her in-the-flesh dad at school. The fun-loving girl’s scheme works until both Gwen and Richard turn up in Paris simultaneously. Only then does Todd discover that Gloria’s mother is the glamorous Gwen and decides to take matters into his own hands. But Dusty worries if Gloria’s pranks have gone too far, threatening her mother’s career as he’d feared. Is Gloria’s fantasy of a loving family beyond reach after all?

Durbin Dazzles

Norman Taurog may be director, but it’s producer, Joseph Pasternak, patron of Durbin the singing sensation, who made as many as nine other films with her.

Directors and cinematographers are usually careful to avoid close ups of stars who sing on screen but are dubbed off it by professional singers. Here, director Taurog and cinematographer Joseph Valentine confidently go in for repeated close ups as Durbin sings to Jimmy McHugh’s music and Harold Adamson’s lyrics: “Chapel Bells,” “A Serenade to the Stars,” and the catchy “I Love to Whistle,” which she performs in two scenes. One, with her schoolmates on bicycles in the countryside and another, with The Cappy Barra Harmonica Ensemble. As if that were not enough, she also stuns with a rendition in church of Bach’s “Ave Maria.”

Villains are seldom convincing in feel-good movies. Here, Felice is a villain of sorts in the first half, trying to ward off a father from Gloria, even if he’s imaginary. Dusty picks up the baton in the second half, trying to ward off a mother from Gloria, even if she’s real. You suspect that neither can pull off their villainy because Gloria is so ridiculously lovable. When she shows up furtively at a luxury hotel, wanting just a glimpse of her mother, Dusty knowingly tells her that if Gwen had her in her arms, even for a minute “she’d never let you go away again.”

Gloria Harkinson (Deanna Durbin, L) and schoolmate Felice (Helen Parrish), in “Mad About Music.” Universal Pictures

Several scenes play out too predictably, and a subplot around a boy’s infatuation proves so distracting it would’ve been better off cut. Still, there are magical moments. At one point, teachers smitten by Gloria’s colorful tales of her alleged father’s adventures invite Richard over for lunch. Eager to get back to his routine and rest, he’s about to set the record straight before the entire school when he notices Gloria. Eyes shut, she prepares for the worst. Mid-sentence, he decides, that for her sake that Mr. Todd must become Mr. Harkinson.

Durbin was 17 while filming, but her singing here shows she’d lost none of the purity or the power of her voice as a child. Unsurprisingly, she received a special Academy Juvenile Award in 1938 for “bringing to the screen the spirit and personification of her youth, and as a juvenile player, setting a high standard of ability and achievement.”

Lobby card for "Mad About Music." Universal Pictures

You can watch “Mad About Music” on Turner Classic Movies.

‘Mad About Music’ Director: Norman Taurog Starring: Deanna Durbin, Herbert Marshall, Gail Patrick, Helen Parrish Not Rated Running Time: 1 hour, 46 minutes Release Date: Feb. 27, 1938 Rated: 3 stars out of 5

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