grade Movie Reviews

• Reviewed by MartinHafer grade 5 / 10

  Too much singing and a thin plot make this a slight film from start to finish.

  Deanna Durbin was a HUGE star in the 1930s-40s--and for a while she was the highest paid actress in Hollywood. However, today most folks probably haven't heard of her. This is because Miss Durbin walked away from her film career when she was in her 20s and going strong-- apparently because she got bored with films and the very formulaic films they put her in over the years. This sort of problem is pretty obvious in "Something in the Wind"--a film where Durbin did quite well but the writing of the film was clearly well below her. Little did Universal Studios realize that in giving her crap scripts like this, they were also pushing their big money-maker out the studio door!The film begins with Mary Collins (Durbin) leaving work at the radio station when an obnoxious and ill-informed lawyer accosts her and tries to get her to sign some release. She has no idea WHAT he's talking about and finds his comments insulting. However, when she gets home, she learns from the aunt that the lawyer mistook Mary for the aunt--who is also named Mary! It seems that long ago, Aunt Mary was involved with some rich guy but he dumped her and married another woman to please his snobby family. Apparently out of feelings of guilt, the old man had been sending Aunt Mary checks...and the man's family ASSUMED that the money was hush money!Here is where it starts to get a tad dumb. Because Mary wouldn't talk with the lawyer, the family has her kidnapped and they once again ask young Mary to take some sort of settlement to shut up and go away forever in order to 'preserve the family name'. Out of anger, she lies- -telling them that she had the old man's baby!! Now, she insists they give her a million bucks! She has no intention to take the money--she just wants to make the jerks sweat. Contrived? Yup! But it gets much worse--as the handsome son inexplicably and very, very, very quickly falls in love with Mary (Durbin--not the old lady!). In addition, there is tons of music and dancing--so much so that it really looks like padding since the plot is so thin. So why does it still manage to get a 5? Well, Durbin, when not singing, is very funny and proves she was simply too good for this tripe.

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• Reviewed by bkoganbing grade 5 / 10

  This One Is Downwind

  Few I suspect at Universal Studios thought that Something In The Wind would be one of Deanna Durbin's last films. If they thought that they might have taken more care with her material.Teaming Deanna with Donald O'Connor another one of their juvenile mainstays was probably inevitable. Both O'Connor and Deanna are served well by the songs obviously written both in mind. Deanna's Turntable Song sold a few records back in the day and O'Connor's I Love A Mystery song and routine are well suited to his talents. But the highlight is an aria from Il Trovatore that Durbin sings with Jan Peerce of the Metropolitan Opera playing an opera singing cop.The plot is truly a silly one. Older brother John Dall comes marching into Deanna's radio studio all full of himself demanding that she cease and desist demands for payments that his grandfather has been paying regularly to her. In fact grandfather was making payments to Durbin's aunt Jean Adair and a cursory examination of the records would show that the payments started before Durbin was born. But no one said Dall was too bright. In any event this stupid error becomes the basis for the rest of the film causing complications for Dall, Durbin and O'Connor playing Dall's younger brother. Dall also has a fiancé played by Helena Carter who takes a dim view of it all as does his grandmother Margaret Wycherly.Others besides Durbin and O'Connor fans might like Something In The Wind. But both have done better work than this.

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• Reviewed by blanche-2 grade 7 / 10

  so save a studio from bankruptcy, and this is what you get

  Is it any wonder that Deanna Durbin, with the world at her feet, couldn't wait to get out of movies? "Something in the Wind" is one of her last films, for good reason: a paper-thin plot, only saved by the presence of Durbin, Donald O'Connor, and opera megastar Jan Peerce.Durbin plays Mary Collins, a young woman with a radio show. She's approached by the Read family - the patriarch, Henry, has just died and the family is under the impression that Mary was getting an allowance from him. Henry wanted to continue the allowance; the family is hoping to settle with her. Actually, it's not Mary at all, but her grandmother (Jean Adair); at first, Mary doesn't know that. She rebuffs Donald Read (John Dall); she is then kidnapped by Donald and his cousin Charlie (O'Connor), as the family is desperate to have her sign the agreement. Complications ensue.Durbin's first song in the film was a hit (her last in fact), "The Turntable Song" and throughout the film, every note that comes out of her mouth is pure gold. O'Connor performs "I Love a Mystery," which foreshadows "Make 'Em Laugh." The highlight of the film is Jan Peerce as Tony the cop, who sings the Miserere from Il Trovatore with Durbin. It is glorious. It's not a role she ever would have sung in opera, but they are both wonderful. The Williams Brothers also do a number - someone wrote on this site that they couldn't find Andy. He was the first one on the left.Durbin sings several Johnny Green songs: "You Wanna Keep Your Baby Lookin' Right" "Something in the Wind," "It's Only Love," and of course, "The Turntable Song." Though the stars manage to pull this thing off, one would think that Universal would have gone to any lengths to get material that matched Durbin's enormous talent. In the only interview she's given since leaving show business, she told the interviewer that her last four films were duds and that she was very unhappy. One can't blame her. And it wasn't just Universal's loss; it is all of ours.

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