Can't Stop Singing (1944)

The world might have been at War in 1944, but Hollywood was still cranking out the movies, including this singing Romantic Comedy.

This month I've been going through Deanna Durbin films. Most can be classified as "cookie cutter" and "light entertainment," which is not to say they're not somewhat enjoyable to watch... but this film had me smiling almost all of the way through. Great comedy, great use of technicolor -- maybe the best technicolor film I've ever seen, or at least the best one I've seen in quite some time.

Basic plot: Caroline (Deanna Durbin) is a senator's daughter -- so, rich and privileged. She's in love with a military man, Lt. Robert Latham (Robert Latham), but he's just a social climber, previously in love with the daughter of another senator, until that senator lost reelection.

Actually, I think that's a little harsh. Latham might actually love her, too, but that Caroline is a sitting senator's daughter is just a bonus. Anyway, Latham gets reassigned out West, and Caroline runs away to find him and marry him.

The film seems to be shot on location, and I liked the shots of the wagon train going out west. I also liked some of the running gags, including the two "foreigners" who keep trying to steal Caroline's chest, but somehow never manage to... It's a big chest, to be sure, but it always seems very light when they're carrying it off. It's supposed to be full of dresses, but as big as it is, I have no idea how it would hold all of the dresses that Caroline wears throughout the film.

Speaking of clothes, most of the people in the wagon train are always well dressed and seemingly clean, even if they only have one outfit to their name. By the way, there's a pretty cool singing number that takes place in an outdoor "bath house." In the final shot of that sequence, we get a nice overhead shot of all the people taking individually baths -- maybe 20 or more. This, in fact, is where Lawler (Robert Paige) originally hears Caroline sing.

Lawler is a card shark, but eventually he and Caroline fall in love. Everything in the plot works. It's tight and all comes together nicely at the end. In the end sequence, she and Lawler are together, happily ever after, with no explanation for why the Senator would be happy with a card shark as her daughter's husband... but maybe he recognizes that his daughter is actually happy AND the card shark doesn't expect to use his father-in-law's political connections.

Just a pleasant surprise, this one. Definitely worth a rewatch. By the way, "Abe" even makes an appearance... more an easter egg than anything else, but a cute throw away that shows the film's attention to detail.

Rating: 5/5

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