Can't Help Singing
Universal, 1944, Color, 90 minutes, ***½
Released December, 1944
Deanna Durbin . She's positively delightful as Caroline Frost, daughter of Senator Frost (Ray Collins), who runs away to marry her true love (David Bruce), stationed at a Cavalry post in the wild-west. Along the way she encounters Johnny Lawlor (Robert Paige) and falls in love with him.
Hunted by the law (her father wants her found!), Deanna joins a wagon train and makes her way to California with Paige. Kinskey and Tamiroff play a pair of bumbling immigrants who tag along in hopes of finding an opportunity to grab some gold. Comic scenes abound, and the Harburg / Kern song score is wonderful. Highlights include "Can't Help Singing" (performed by Durbin and Paige in an outdoor bath-house), Deanna's "Any Moment Now" and "More and More," and the production number, "Californ-i-ay." If you want to see Deanna at her best, this is the film.
Produced by: Felix Jackson
Associate Producer: Frank Shaw
Directed by: Frank Ryan
Assistant Director: William Holland
Screenplay by: Lewis R. Foster and Frank Ryan
Story by: John Klorer, Leo Townsend
Based on: "Girl of the Overland Trail" by Samuel J. & Curtis B. Warshawsky
Music by: Jerome Kern
Lyrics by: E.Y. Harburg
Musical Score and Direction: H. J. Salter
Musical Director for Miss Durbin: Edgar Fairchild
Orchestrations by: Frank Skinner
Vocal Coach: André de Segurola
Art Direction: John B. Goodman, Robert Clatworthy
Set Decorations: Russell A. Gausman, Edward R. Robinson
Costumes: Walter Plunkett
Make-Up Director: Jack Pierce
Director of Sound: Bernard B. Brown
Technician: Joe Lapis
Directors of Photography: Woody Bredell, W. Howard Greene
Technicolor Color Director: Natalie Kalmus
Associate: William Fritzsche
Film Editor: Ted J. Kent
Awards: Academy Award Nominations for Best Score - Musical (Jerome Kern and Hans J. Salter) and for Best Song ("More and More")
Cast: Deanna Durbin [Caroline Frost], Robert Paige [Johnny Lawlor], Akim Tamiroff [Prince Gregory], David Bruce [Lt. Robert Latham], Leonid Kinskey [Koppa], June Vincent [Frances MacLean], Ray Collins [Senator Frost], Andrew Tombes [Sam Archer, "Sad Sam"], Thomas Gomez [Jake Carstairs], Clara Blandick [Aunt Cissy], Olin Howlin [Bigelow], George Cleveland [Marshal], Additional Cast: Edward Earle [President Polk], Almira Sessions [Old Woman], Chester Conklin [Old Man]
Musical Program: [0:00] Overture (played by Orchestra); [0:02] March (played by military band at Presidential reception); [0:04] Can't Help Singing (sung by Deanna Durbin); [0:24] Elbow Room (sung by Wagon Train Ensemble); [0:30] Can't Help Singing (sung by Deanna Durbin, Robert Paige and Chorus at bath house); [0:36] Honky-Tonk (instrumental in bar scene); [0:56] Any Moment Now (sung by Deanna Durbin and Chorus); [1:05] Swing Your Sweetheart (sung by Olin Howlin and Chorus, danced by wagon train travelers); [1:10] More and More (sung by Deanna Durbin); [1:14] Californ-i-ay (sung by Robert Paige, Deanna Durbin and Ensemble; danced by Chorus); [1:26] Finale: Californ-i-ay (reprised by Robert Paige, Deanna Durbin and Ensemble) / More and More (sung by Deanna Durbin, Robert Paige and Chorus) / Can't Help Singing (sung by Deanna Durbin, Robert Paige and Chorus)
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