sbasu-47-608737 I wonder how many movies I have in my collection on this same theme. It has to be more than a dozen, all languages included, with minor changes here and there. With a mésalliance on the horizon, the girl escapes the iron-grip of her progenitor and goes off in a wild run (the field differs. Here it is wild-wild west, in "It happened One Night" it was just country-side, Roman Holiday it is town, and so on. On the way she meets some-one who was never in her scheme of things (nor her fathers obviously) and finds that this was the true love, the other one was just the rebellion, and naturally in the end, probably in all the cases, all has to lead to logical conclusion (except in Roman Holiday of course). Of all the versions (naturally Bollywood or other Indian versions excluded), I think only this one is musical. Naturally (as one would expect), almost none of the movies give credit to where it is due. In fact most likely even the very first one has been plagiarized ? I am not too sure, but there has to be one of the fairy tales of this model, by Grimms or Andersson, or some other. If it is, at the moment, it is missing the neuron connection in my brain. When I talk of the very first one, it is not 'It happened One Night (1934), who does give credit to Samuel Hopkins Adams - though not mentioned, for his short story Night Bus (1933), This one too credits "Girl Of the Overland Trail" of Warshawsky (Brothers?), Roman Holiday doesn't credit any external person. The first one, in my list, is Jessie Matthew's - There Goes The Bride - which is of 1932, that is one year senior to even the short story 'Night Bus' . The only difference is that here Jessie runs away to escape the mésalliance and not to jump into it (which the father tries to impose onto her). After this, whether the story, or the movies were all 'Influenced' by this. The movie story is known in first five minutes. The moment a rich girl, the main protagonist, wants to marry a handsome in look but not in character man, and it is hinted, or clearly said, that it is only since the father hates, she wants to do it, we know where it is going to lead. However with the interest gone, it still is watchable, mainly due to Deanna, though she looks too sweet to be of rebellious kind (Colbert had a tougher look, Audrey had a whimsical one), but still the movie didn't become too dull., and that was despite big holes in the plot, in fact some of these could have been well avoided, for example the Marshall failing to recognize., with her photograph published everywhere ? Even the India scene was a bit too derogatory, but at least that was better than other westerns, where they are shown as blood-thirsty killing machines... or was this depiction worse? Well I can give 2 stars to Deanna, and about 4 to 4.5 for the execution, and it goes to just above average, but watchable, that is not boring.

MartinHafer "Can't Help Singing" isn't a bad movie. It's a pleasant time-passer. However, the film isn't any more--mostly due to too many forgettable songs and a paper-thin plot. Because of such movies as this, you can easily understand why the star, Deanna Durbin, only made 28 films and then retired--even though she was a top box office star.The film begins with Caroline (Durbin) insisting that she's going to marry some dashing cavalry officer. However, her father, the Senator (Ray Collins), isn't about to let her marry the guy. So she does what any impetuous and goofy young lady would do--she runs off and joins a wagon train heading west so she can find her sweetie. However, this incredibly naive lady ends up getting into no end of trouble. Eventually, she ends up going west with a professional gambler--and because they dislike each other so much, you just know that by the end of the film they'll be in love--such are the clichés in this movie.I would consider this brainless fun. As I mentioned above, the songs aren't very good and distract from the plot--not a major plus for the film. But the characters are kind of cute--even if Caroline is a bit flighty. Not a bad film, as it will keep your interest...except whenever she breaks into song!By the way, as a retired history teacher I should point out that the guns in this film are anachronistic. Everyone with a gun in this film has a revolver, though the film is set around 1847 and such weapons weren't widely used until around the Civil War.

adamshl This Durbin vehicle had just three songs worthy of Jerome Kern and E. Y. Harburg: "More and More," "Californ-i-ay," and the title song. These are really wonderful pieces, which fortunately recur throughout on a regular basis.The Technicolor is indeed glorious, and there's nothing wrong with the casting. It's also true that Durbin looks radiant in her first color film.Alas, the rest of the score is a disappointment, simply lacking in inspiration. They try to beef it up with production values, to little avail. Likewise, the script's just not quite up to Deanna's standards. One can admire the costumes, staging, photography--and those three songs. Durbin fans will be probably be pleased with everything here; others, probably less so.It's easy to see the Durbin magic as she lights up the screen with charisma and her beautiful voice. A pleasant trifle for the Durbin DVD "Sweetheart Pack."

Terrell-4 There is a reason Deanna Durbin was one of the top Hollywood stars from the mid-Thirties through the Forties. She was a natural actress with a fine face and figure and a deep- throated soprano she knew how to use. She was one of those people the camera loves. Her personality, direct and warm, comes straight across to the audience. She could handle all the immaculate make-up Hollywood gave her as she matured into a young woman, but there always was something of the tomboy about her. She had a natural exuberance, a sense of humor and a good-natured willingness to take pratfalls or march into mud-holes. And she was a professional at her craft. In this movie, Can't Help Singing, watch how she manages to wander through the woods singing, through bushes and over hillocks, avoiding branches, and periodically fronting pretty scenery. This scene is shot in long takes. I have no idea how many takes it took, but Durbin manages to move, sing, smile, emote a bit and hit all of her marks without any sign of effort or evidence of an editor's scissors used to mask mistakes. By the time Durbin was 14 she was major box office, and stayed there until she retired in 1950 at 29. She never liked the glitz and fan adulation of stardom. She and her third husband left for France right after she retired and that was that. She still lives just outside Paris, has turned down any number of film offers and hasn't granted an interview with anyone since 1949. As a person who was grounded in reality and decided to live her own life, Deanna Durbin gets a tip of my hat. Can't Help Singing is a lush, colorful musical about a young woman, Caroline Frost, daughter of a wealthy senator, who leaves Washington against the wishes of her father to meet the man she intents to marry. He is a cavalry lieutenant, and the senator has seen to it that his regiment has been sent to California to guard gold during the start of the Gold Rush. Caroline is determined, and along the way has to deal with steamboats, Russian con-men, a cross-country wagon, Indians, finaglers, grafters, boss-men and card sharps. The card sharp winds up holding more than cards. He turns out to be the romantic lead. After 90 minutes of songs, comedy, adventures and the occasional kiss, all ends well for everyone. This was Deanna Durbin's only color movie and the studio went all out. Can't Help Singing is stuffed with wide-open vistas, detailed studio sets and costumes that would make Vincente Minnelli envious. What makes the movie memorable, however (in addition to Durbin), are two songs from the score by Jerome Kern and E. Y. Harburg. From the moment the movie starts and we see Durbin driving a two-horse carriage singing "Can't Help Singing," it's time to sit back and smile. The number is one of those big, fat, intensely melodic songs that few composers besides Kern could pull off. She sings it twice, the last time part of a production that takes place in an outdoor western bath house. It pops up now and then as a melodic background line. The song works every time. The second Kern/Harburg show-stopper is "Californ-i-ay," where "the hills have more splendor; the girls have more gender." It's another major production number with a big melody and clever lyrics. Everyone and everything from the two leads to giant vegetables take part. The movie is pleasant enough, although the two Russian con-men get tedious and Durbin's leading man, while manly enough, doesn't make much of an impression. The movie belongs only to Deanna Durbin, as all of her films did. With those two songs from Kern and Harburg, it's worth spending some time with.