One Hundred Men and a Girl (1937)
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One Hundred Men and a Girl Movie Review
One Hundred Men and a Girl is a 1937 teen musical comedy film directed by Henry Koster and starring Deanna Durbin and Leopold Stokowski. It’s another annoying Durbin vehicle.
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“When are you going to stop playing
these cheap childish tricks on me?“
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The daughter of a struggling musician forms a symphony orchestra made up of his unemployed friends and through persistence, charm and a few misunderstandings, is able to get Leopold Stokowski to lead them in a concert that leads to a radio contract. That’s another very slight premise behind this Durbin excursion, and it’s another weak one, though maybe a bit better than ‘Three Smart Girls’.
It was very odd, but also fun seeing Leopold Stokowski in this movie, in its third act to be precise. This came out before his turn in ‘Fantasia’, but it cemented its status as a movie star in a way, and not just a renowned conductor as he here had to act and not just conduct, and he did a surprisingly good job with his role. This smaller part of the movie is the only thing here that worked for me, but then again, it’s just a bit part.
But Deanna Durbin herself continues to annoy me to no end. This brat of a child is so frustratingly chipper, and so not charming or sweet as these movies made her out to be. I especially hated that she was made so important within the context of the story as that made the entire plot laughably implausible. It worked for the audiences back then, but now it makes for a very odd watch.
One Hundred Men and a Girl also is very oddly titled, infinitely boring and pointless in its many orchestra/opera sequences that go on forever, and ultimately not really a movie as it has only a couple of plot points, most of which are so mediocre and unbelievable.
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Some of the acting is fine for sure, the movie looks and sounds good, and I did love the use of some wonderful classical music in it, but again the music has no influence on the story itself, the plot which ain’t no real story, and I truly wonder how could this be nominated for Best Picture despite its enormous popularity. It’s baffling to me.
One Hundred Men and a Girl is another very annoying, mediocre Deanna Durbin picture which does have a fun third act featuring the renowned conductor Leopold Stokowski himself, but the rest of the movie is filled with endless music that serves no purpose to the story, and that plot itself is so implausible, silly and ultimately very slight. Durbin was once again very annoying, and again, perplexingly so, her movie wound up receiving a Best Picture nomination.
