Three Smart Girls (1936)
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Three Smart Girls Movie Review
Three Smart Girls is a 1936 musical comedy film directed by Henry Koster and starring Deanna Durbin and Ray Milland. It’s one giant mediocrity.
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“I’m not pig headed,
I’m strong minded“
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This movie follows the travails of 14-year-old Penny Craig and her two older sisters as they attempt to reignite a romance between their mother and their estranged father before he weds a fortune-hunter. Leaving their home in Switzerland, the three young women journey to New York City and hire a washed-up count to break up their father’s engagement, wreaking plenty of wholesome havoc for all concerned.
Let’s first talk about this plot. It’s a standard family storyline which has its charms, but it was executed in such a boringly light, repetitive manner that it never was particularly engaging nor memorable. It’s just barely serviceable.
But the major problem this movie never overcome lies in the odd presence of Deanna Durbin. She was not only the star of this picture, but she also became the star of two other Oscar nominees in the subsequent two years and I simply cannot understand why.
The bulk of the movie is Deanna getting into trouble and then suddenly singing these huge opera numbers to get out of trouble or to prove herself or whatever else. Not only did it seem unrealistic that they portrayed a kid being cool while singing opera, but it also seemed very stupid in the context of the story as all of those scenes and especially her are very annoying.
The other players are fine with Ray Milland delivering an expectedly good performance, but none of them really got anything more substantial to do in this film which relied so heavily on a debuting child actress to expectedly questionable results.
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So basically, Three Smart Girls is an opera musical and all of its songs are dated and odd as is this whole movie which has a childlike, family picture tone to it, but kids would never like it so it’s just a questionable film when it comes to its potential audiences. But it was apparently a hit and it actually garnered three Oscar nominations. The sound nod was okay, but I don’t know what’s worse – this being nominated for best original screenplay or for Best Picture.
Three Smart Girls is a very mediocre movie which is technically well made and it has its charming scenes, but most of it felt very odd, unappealing in musical numbers and very silly in many of its scenes. Deanna Durbin was a big star during this period, but now she seems very annoying above all else. The whole movie is a silly affair that ranks among the oddest Best Picture nominees without a doubt.
