Since I am a "Durbin freak", I do bother, but it's never much of a pleasure. The "spoiler" box is checked, but I am not sure there is anything to "spoil". Based apparently on one of those usual mittel-Europa authors' Vienna romances, this glitzy romantic comedy quickly becomes close to farce. Deanna is "Ilonka", a peasant girl from a small village far out in the boondocks, with the "hayseed" still literally sticking to her. A hawker at the village fair sells her a "fortune" which predicts she will marry an "artist" in Vienna, meet the Emperor, and other nonsense which "Ilonka" swallows whole. Arriving in Vienna almost by accident, she immediately starts rubbing her hayseed customs up against the sophistication of the city, with close to disastrous results in some cases, and situations the writers seem to have thought funny in others. Witness the scene in a ritzy Vienna café when "Ilonka" haggles with the waiter about the price of a serving of asparagus, and the waiter gives in! This kind of humour palls rather quickly. One could go on as "Ilonka" pursues her "fortune", but you get the idea. If this isn't enough for Deanna to deal with, there is the constant sabotage from those two most annoying brats of all cinema, sometimes known as "Butch and Buddy". This is something of a departure for Deanna, who tries valiantly against heavy odds, especially having to sing a succession of boring waltz songs! And contend with Bob Cummings boisterous performance at the same time.
One doesn't know how well this did at the box office when in general release, but since Universal never issued a VHS or DVD they must have written it off as a regrettable mistake. Not even in the UK, where the rest of the Durbin "canon" is available in PAL format, is a good VHS or DVD available. This is a shame, for the movie is beautifully and lovingly photographed despite its shortcomings.
One doesn't know how well this did at the box office when in general release, but since Universal never issued a VHS or DVD they must have written it off as a regrettable mistake. Not even in the UK, where the rest of the Durbin "canon" is available in PAL format, is a good VHS or DVD available. This is a shame, for the movie is beautifully and lovingly photographed despite its shortcomings.