IT STARTED WITH EVE

It Started with Eve
Universal, 1941, B/W, 92 minutes, ***½
Released September, 1941

Jonathan Jr.'s (Bob Cummings) wealthy father (Charles Laughton) is terminally ill, and he wants to meet Junior's new fiancé before he passes on. But Gloria (Margaret Tallichet) is traveling abroad, and Jonathan Jr. is worried that his father will pass away before Gloria returns to New York. At a night club, Jonathan encounters a beautiful hat-check girl (Deanna Durbin) who is just getting off work. He offers to hire her to pose as his fiancé and meet his father, figuring that since his father is about to die it won't really matter. Deanna reluctantly goes along with the plan because she needs the money.

Anne finds Jonathan Sr. to be a perfectly charming man, and he is smitten by her as well. Not only that, but the old man has many contacts in the music world, and (of course) Anne is an aspiring opera star. The old man makes a sudden miraculous recovery and plans a party to introduce Anne to his musical friends. But now that his father has recovered, Jonathan Jr. wants Anne out of the house before his real fiancé shows up. Anne flirts with Jonathan in order to stay around and attend the party. In fact, she and Jonathan end up falling in love. Things get really complicated for Jonathan Jr. as he tries to keep Gloria, who is now back in New York, out of the way while he woos Anne. A funny film with lots of laughs, featuring a climax with Durbin and Laughton dancing La Conga - a classic moment in musical comedy!

Produced by: Joe Pasternak
Directed by: Henry Koster
Assistant Director: Philip Karlstein
Screenplay: Norman Krasna, Leo Townsend
Based on the story "Almost an Angel" by Hans Kraly
Musical Director: Charles Previn
Musical Score: H. J. Salter
Vocal Coach: Andres de Segurola
Art Director: Jack Otterson
Associate: Martin Obzina
Set Decorations: R. A. Gausman
Gowns: Vera West
Sound Director: Bernard B. Brown
Technician: Joseph Lapis
Director of Photography: Rudolph Maté
Film Editor: Bernard W. Burton

Awards: Academy Award nomination for Best Score - Musical (Charles Previn and Hans J. Salter)

Cast: Deanna Durbin [Anne Terry], Charles Laughton [Jonathan Reynolds], Robert Cummings [J. Reynolds, Jr.], Guy Kibbee [Bishop], Margaret Tallichet [Gloria Pennington], Catharine Doucet [Mrs. Pennington], Walter Catlett [Doctor Harvey], Charles Coleman [Roberts], Leonard Elliott [Reverend Stebbins], Irving Bacon, Gus Schilling [Ravens], Wade Boteler [Newspaper Editor], Dorothea Kent [Jackie], Clara Blandick [Nurse]

Musical Program: [0:34] Sleeping Beauty Waltz (sung by Deanna Durbin at the piano onscreen); [0:56] Clavelitos (sung by Deanna Durbin at the piano onscreen); [1:06] unidentified instrumental (played by Orchestra); [1:15] Goin' Home (sung by Deanna Durbin at the piano in her apartment); [1:24] La Conga (instrumental played by Orchestra, danced by Deanna Durbin and Charles Laughton at nightclub -- a classic moment in movie history); Several instrumental numbers are played at the nightclub