Deanna Durbin on DVD and VHS

Are you craving a Deanna Durbin film and wonder if it is available for home viewing?  We've put together a list of Durbin films  and explain which are currently available for home viewing and in what format. (Please note that all DVD information on this post refers to Region 1 DVDs)

DEANNA DURBIN ON DVD

Deanna Durbin made 21 feature films for Universal Studios and 1 short subject for MGM. Only 11 Durbin feature films are on DVD.

• Universal released The Sweetheart Pack in 2004. It is a set of six Deanna Durbin films on DVD: Three Smart Girls, Something in the Wind, First Love, It Started With Eve, Can't Help Singing and Lady on a Train. You can buy it at Universal Studio's website, TCM.com, Amazon.com or in stores.

• In August 2010, Universal banded together with Turner Classic Movies to release another set of Durbin films in the Deanna Durbin: The Music and Romance Collection. Five DVDs are in this set: Mad About the Music, That Certain Age, Three Smart Girls Grow Up, Because of Him and For the Love of Mary. These films are available as a set or individually at TCM.com and on Amazon.com.

DEANNA DURBIN ON VHS

VHS cover for 3 Smart Girls

Although there are only 11 official Durbin DVDs, there are 18 feature length Durbin movies on VHS. Some movies are available in both formats.

In 1995, Durbin's movies were made available for home viewing for the first time. According to this Washington Post article from January 24, 1995, Universal released four Durbin movies on VHS : Three Smart Girls, One Hundred Men and a Girl, Three Smart Girls Grow Up and It Started With Eve. Universal would later release more Durbin films throughout the late 1990s. They are available  for purchase at Amazon.com. 


Universal Studios owns the rights all Deanna Durbin feature films except one. After leaving Universal to work at MGM Studios, producer Joseph Pasternak bought Ms. Durbin's light comedy It's A Date (1940) from Universal and used it in a remake for his new employer. On September 1, 1998, MGM/UA released It's A Date (1940) on VHS.

VHS - MGM's release of It's a Date

Contact Universal for more information and to request that the remainder of Durbin's films be released on DVD.

Universal Studios Home Entertainment
100 Universal City Plaza Universal Studios, CA. 91608
General Phone: 818.508.9600
www.universalstudios.com

Contact MGM about It's a Date (1940)
MGM Studios
10250 Constellation Boulevard Los Angeles, CA. 9006
Phone for DVD Questions: 888-223-2369

Just for the sake of clarity, the following is a list of all Durbin films (and the short subject), whether they are officially available for home viewing and in what format: DVD or VHS. Click the titles for more information on the movie.

LIST OF DEANNA DURBIN FILMS

VHS cover for 100 Men & a Girl

EVERY SUNDAY(1936) 
Deanna Durbin's 11 minute short subject is owned by MGM and co-stars Judy Garland; you'll find it on the two following Garland films.

Available on DVD? Yes.  A bonus feature on For Me and My Gal (1942)
Available on VHS? Yes.  A bonus feature on Summer Stock (1950)

THREE SMART GIRLS (1936)

Available on DVD? Yes. In the Sweetheart Pack released in 2004
Available on VHS? Yes. Released by MCA/Universal in 1995


ONE HUNDRED MEN AND A GIRL (1937)
Available on DVD? No.
Available on VHS? Yes. Released by MCA/Universal in 1995.

MAD ABOUT MUSIC (1938) 
Available on DVD? Yes. Released in TCM's Deanna Durbin:The Music and Romance Collection in 2010.
Available on VHS? Yes. Released by MCA/Universal in 1996.

THAT CERTAIN AGE (1938)
Available on DVD? Yes. Released in TCM's Deanna Durbin:The Music and Romance Collection in 2010.
Available on VHS? Yes. Released by MCA/Universal in 1997.

THREE SMART GIRLS GROW UP (1939) 
Available on DVD? Yes. Released in TCM's Deanna Durbin:The Music and Romance Collection in 2010.
Available on VHS? Yes. Released by MCA/Universal in 1995

VHS cover for It Started With Eve

FIRST LOVE (1939)
Available on DVD? Yes. In the Sweetheart Pack released in 2004
Available on VHS? Yes. Released by MCA/Universal in 1996.

IT’S A DATE(1940)
Available on DVD? No.
Available on VHS? Yes. Released by MGM/UA in 1998.


SPRING PARADE (1940)
Available on DVD? No.
Available on VHS? No.

NICE GIRL?(1941)
Available on DVD? No.
Available on VHS? Yes. Released by MCA/Universal in 1997.

IT STARTED WITH EVE(1941)
Available on DVD?Yes. In the Sweetheart Pack released in 2004
Available on VHS? Yes. Released by MCA/Universal in 1995

THE AMAZING MRS. HOLLIDAY (1943) 
Available on DVD? No.
Available on VHS? Yes. Released by Universal in 1999.


HERS TO HOLD (1943)
Available on DVD? No.

VHS cover for His Butler's Sister

Available on VHS? No.

HIS BUTLER’S SISTER(1943)
Available on DVD? No.
Available on VHS? Yes. Released by MCA/Universal in 1996

CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY(1944) 
Available on DVD? No.
Available on VHS? No.


CAN’T HELP SINGING(1944)
Available on DVD? Yes. In the Sweetheart Pack released in 2004
Available on VHS? Yes. Released by MCA/Universal in 1997.

LADY ON A TRAIN(1945)
Available on DVD? Yes. In the Sweetheart Pack released in 2004
Available on VHS? Yes. Released by MCA/Universal in 1996.

BECAUSE OF HIM(1946) 
Available on DVD?Yes. Released in TCM's Deanna Durbin:The Music and Romance Collection in 2010.
Available on VHS? Yes. Released by Universal in 1999.

VHS cover for Up In Central Park

I’LL BE YOURS(1947)
Available on DVD? No.
Available on VHS? Yes. Released by Universal in 1999.


SOMETHING IN THE WIND(1947)
Available on DVD?Yes. In the Sweetheart Pack released in 2004
Available on VHS? Yes. Released by MCA/Universal in 1998.


UP IN CENTRAL PARK(1948)
Available on DVD? No.
Available on VHS? Yes. Released by MCA/Universal in 1998.


FOR THE LOVE OF MARY (1948)
Available on DVD?Yes. Released in TCM's Deanna Durbin:The Music and Romance Collection in 2010.
Available on VHS? Yes. Released by MCA/Universal in 1998.

Read More

Life Magazine July 3, 1944 - on Deanna Durbin's dramatic film debut

Child Star to Adult

Life Magazine
(click to enlarge)

For many reasons, including her eternally youthful visage, Deanna Durbin made a relatively easy transition from childhood to adulthood in Hollywood. Other child stars often struggle to maintain the same level of fame after they grow a few inches or their voices begin changing.

Though she maintained box office hit status beyond puberty, unfortunately for our buxom brunette, the roles she played onscreen were not always as grownup as she was. So you’d have a once-divorced, mature, 24 year old actress bouncing around in pigtails, as she does in Lady On A Train (1945).

Life Magazine
(click to enlarge) 

Christmas Holiday (1944)
To mix it up a bit, Deanna Durbin appears in the taut, unrelenting drama, Christmas Holiday (1944) (read the review here). As Tom mentions, the title is deceptive. Deanna Durbin in a Christmas movie suggests she will sing old standards and generally make everyone feel good, as she always does.

Not this time.



Christmas Holiday is a brooding W.Somerset Maugham novel adapted by Herman Mankeiwicz for the screen, which follows a young lady who discovers dark secrets in her husband’s family closet and how she copes.

Life Magazine Publicity
Life Magazine was all too eager to help our star shed the cheeriness and dive into the dark with this Jul 3, 1944 spread on Ms. Durbin.

“Christmas Holiday marks several  important firsts in Deanna‘s career. It is the first picture in which she plays a married woman. It is also the first time her singing has been subordinated to her acting. With her characterization of a cynical honky-tonk singer, she leaves no doubt that she is capable of handling almost any mature role.”

Life Magazine
(click to enlarge) 

It also seems to be the first time that she’s lightened her hair for a part; she would play a blonde in her next two films as well.

The Life Magazine columnist goes on to mention her salary and, perhaps to underpin the assertions that she isn’t a child anymore, mentions her divorce from Vaughn Paul, stating that she now lives in the house with her sister and nephew.

The article ends with a series of still shots from the movie to whet your appetite for this film.

However, in all of the “candid” shots of her at home, Ms. Durbin seems distant, perturbed, or just plain tired. The photos seem a bit intrusive; but such is the life of a star.

Read More

Deanna Durbin in "Christmas Holiday" (1944)

If you happen to think this Deanna Durbin film is all about gingerbread and mistletoe, forget it. The title of this noirish drama (based on the novel of the same name by W. Somerset Maugham) is a bit misleading, in my opinion. And I'd rank this among my top 10 films taking place at Christmas, yet aren't necessarily "Christmas films".

Dean Harens plays an American soilder on his way home for the holidays in San Francisco. He's forced to spend time in New Orleans when his plane has to make an emergency landing. Stranded and alone on Christmas eve, he walks into a house of ill repute and meets lonely singer/prostitute Jackie Lamont (Deanna) who wants to spend the holidays with him. Does she want to go to bed with him? No, she wants to go with him to midnight Christmas mass (!) Needless to say, she has some deep, dark issues.

The film, mostly told in flashback, is about the complex situtation of Deanna's troubled character and her involvement with her husband, played by Gene Kelly, a two-faced, convicted killer. Kelly makes his film entrance from beyond the shadows of Deanna' bedroom as she sleeps. Creepy. Though Dean Harens' character is reluctant to get involved, how can he not? It's Deanna, after all.

Memorable for being Durbin's darkest film, one of Kelly's earliest films, and the one where she sings "Always". Her version became a WW2 staple. With Gale Sondergaard. Directed by Robert Siodmak. The music score by Hans Salter was nominated for an Oscar. Deanna is very good in this dramatic role, and she's beautifully photographed in every scene she's in. The film leaves you wondering why she didn't make more movies like this. Or more films, period.

Here are a few other reviews:
Classic Movies Digest.
Grand Old Movies

Read More