Deanna Durbin Sweetheart Pack (Three Smart Girls / Something In the Wind / First Love / It Started with Eve / Can't Help Singing / Lady on a Train)

Delivery Time: 7 to 15 Working Days Format: DVD

The song-filled romantic comedy "Something in the Wind" (1947) finds singing disc jockey Durbin kidnapped by John Dall, who thinks she was involved with his tycoon grandfather; she "Can't Help Singing" (1944) as an 1840s senator's daughter who heads west to be with her beau; "First Love" (1939) features Durbin as an orphan adopted by a wealthy but nasty family; she's a spunky hat-check girl who poses as Robert Cummings' fiancee in "It Started with Eve" (1941); after witnessing a murder from a train, she teams with a mystery writer to find the culprit in "Lady on a Train" (1945); and in her feature film debut, Durbin is one of "Three Smart Girls" (1936) who go to great lengths to stop their father's marriage to a golddigger. 9 hrs. on two discs. Standard; Soundtrack: English Dolby Digital mono.
Universal wasted no time in exploiting 14-year-old Deanna Durbin's star power; after screening the dailies from her feature debut, Three Smart Girls, studio execs expanded Durbin's supporting role and doubled the budget. Their investment paid off: this breezy comedy-musical, about a young singer determined to reunite her parents, earned a then-extraordinary $2 million and three Oscar nominations (including Best Picture).

Durbin's charm, good songs, and a solid supporting cast (including Alice Brady, Mischa Auer, and Charles Winninger) make Girls a delight many decades later. It's also a notch above the affable sequel, Three Smart Girls Grow Up. --Steven Smith