Three Smart Girls (1936)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Henry Koster

Writer:

Adele Comandini (original story and screenplay)

Release Date:

20 December 1936 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical | Romance

Plot:

The three Craig sisters, in Switzerland with their ten-years-divorced mother, run away to New York to...

Plot Keywords:

Switzerland | Gold Digger | Marriage | Fistfight | Mistaken Identity

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Oscars.

Cast

Binnie Barnes	...	Donna Lyons
Charles Winninger	...	Judson Craig
Alice Brady	...	Mrs. Lyons
Ray Milland	...	Lord Michael Stuart
Mischa Auer	...	Count Arisztid
Ernest Cossart	...	Binns
Lucile Watson	...	Martha Trudel
John 'Dusty' King	...	Bill Evans (as John King)
Nella Walker	...	Dorothy Craig
Hobart Cavanaugh	...	Wilbur Lamb
Nan Grey	...	Joan Craig
Barbara Read	...	Kay Craig
Deanna Durbin	...	'Penny' Craig

Runtime:

84 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #2730) | USA:TV-G (TV rating) | Finland:S

Filming Locations:

Big Bear Lake, California, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Goofs:

Continuity: In the gymnasium, Penny's hair ribbon changes when her father comes in.

Quotes:

Judson Craig: I'm not a gentleman, I'm a father.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003)

Soundtrack:

My Heart Is Singing

Delightful entertainment with a light weight story and a teenage charmer.

It has been said that Deanna Durbin invented teenagery. This first film was one of the best. The humorous story presented a delightful 14 year old Deanna, a little beauty with a gorgeous voice, as the "Miss Fixit" in a family split by divorce. For plot summary, see other IMDb entries, but quickly Deanna and her two older sisters plan to go to America from Switzerland to prevent their father from remarrying. With an excellent supporting cast especially Barbara Read and Nan Grey as the sisters, good direction and editing, the film succeeds in captivating one even on subsequent viewings. Of Deanna's three songs, only "Il Bacio" is from the classical repertoire, but when she sings it in that police station scene, the film's place in history is assured. At least it was for this viewer who at the age of 15 was smitten for life with both Deanna and classical music. One of the many nice touches that occur throughout THREE SMART GIRLS is the brief glimpse of the drunk stretching his neck for a final glimpse of Deanna as the cops hustle him by! One unfortunate result of the success of this film was that subsequent writers for Durbin vehicles became locked into the "Miss Fixit" theme, which quickly became stale. Deanna herself never did. Her stature as an actress is more questionable than her charisma, which she certainly had. It seems to me that, like many another film personality, she substituted "naturalness" for the histrionic ability that she lacked. The ploy worked well for 21 feature films.