This is one of the last of Deanna Durbin's movies, and as I knew that by this time she was on the point of leaving the film industry I hesitated to watch it: I just did not expect much, as I assumed it would be evident that Durbin was at this point pretty much fed up with acting. What a mistake. This an intelligent comedy with a surprising ending and a very good cast. Durbin in particular is in top form; her comic timing is impeccable. For me, the high point is her rendition of a piece from the Barber of Seville that is intended for a baritone. She sings this with great good humour (and with a moustache) - it is an absolute lark; you are just left smiling and wishing it would go on. It is an eternal pity that Durbin stopped making films. Had she been around in the 1950s and -60s, Doris Day (almost exactly her age) would have had a much harder time establishing herself as the leading singing comedienne.
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Philipp_Flersheim7 September 2021
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lugonian19 September 2022FOR THE LOVE OF MARY (Universal-International, 1948), directed by Frederick De Cordova, with original screenplay by Oscar Brodney, goes on record as the final movie starring Deanna Durbin. Being Universal's main attraction since her studio debut in THREE SMART GIRLS (1936), elevating her status from teenager soprano to adult actress/singer, Durbin has come a long way since then, ranging from musicals, comedies and one "film noir" melodrama, all showcasing her personality and singing talents. Durbin remained popular with the public throughout her career. Though FOR THE LOVE OF MARY is no masterpiece in Durbin's resume of motion pictures, and her movie from start to finish, it's amusing fluff comedy that neither hurts nor helps her appealing reputation.
Set entirely in Washington, D. C., this 90 minute story revolves around Mary Peppertree (Deanna Durbin), a new White House employee where her father, Timothy (Griff Barnett) works as a guard. She shares her duties with other girls as a switchboard operator for the President of the United States. Having previously worked two years for the Supreme Court, and broken her engagement to Justice Department Attorney Philip Manning (Jeffrey Lynn) for his supposed involvement with a Miss Wentworth, Mary's next male problem turns out to be Donald Paxton (Don Taylor), an ichthyologist constantly calling and wanting to be connected to the president involving political issues, but is refused connection by orders of her supervisor, Miss Harkness (Katherine Alexander). Donald, better known as a "fish peddler," happens to be arrogant and persistent, using his whims on Mary to get to speak to the president, but to no avail. Learning that Mary, single and living at home with her father, to have no escort to an upcoming ceremony, the president hires Lieutenant Thomas J. Farrington (Edmond O'Brien), a Naval aid for the White House as her date. Situations arise when Samuel Litchfield (Frank Conroy), a newspaper publisher, discovers Farrington, who is engaged to his daughter, Doris, spending time with Mary. As much as Mary has allowed herself to help Donald, and Philip still wanting to marry her, complications ensue as Farrington professes his love for her along with Donald, a American citizen having served in the United States Navy during World War II, to be deported. Co-starring Ray Collins (Harvey Elwood, the president's secretary); Harry Davenport (Justice Peabody); Louise Beavers (Bertha, the cook); and Hugo Haas (Gustav Heinrich, a foreign born restaurant proprietor wanting to become a United States citizen).
While FOR THE LOVE OF MARY could have been a straight comedy with no song interludes involved, no Durbin movie would be complete without any, including "Viennese Waltz," "On Moonlight Bay," "I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen," "Let Me Call You Sweetheart," "On the Wings of a Song" and Largo Al Factotum from THE BARBER OF SEVILLE.
With Durbin's Mary character with a profession that requires her to be single, and having more men than she can handle at one time, she also acquires hick-ups whenever emotionally upset. As much as Harry S. Truman was president of the United States in 1948, his character is never addressed by name but only as "Mr. President." Never seen, his presence is felt solely through his unseen association with Mary by playing matchmaker. Of the three beaus in Mary's life, Don Taylor gathers the most attention.
The thing about Deanna Durbin movies is the fact that in spite of her great popularity, her movies, no matter how popular they once were, have had its limitations on television. FOR THE LOVE OF MARY is no exception. Nearly unfamiliar even to some film scholars, at least the movie itself has found its way though availability on both video cassette and DVD formats, along with some public television broadcasts in the 1980s, and finally on Turner Classic Movies cable channel (TCM premiere: September 11, 2022). For a light comedy that could have been better scripted, it doesn't diminish those for the love of Deanna. (**1/2) -
martylee13045burlsink3427 January 2012I wont make this a mushy mash note to the luminous Miss Durbin (though I do wish there was some way to let her know how lovely and loved her performances remain to this day)...
Her last film is NOT a great classic OR the forgettable muddle it has been labeled by other reviews on this site...(spoiler alert...one of the "reviewers" misidentified who wins dear D. D. at the end...might I suggest a "reviewing").
This is a sweet, lively, silly, but very entertaining little movie that does get a bit too wrapped up in it's enjoyably complicated plot.
The chopping of the final number also hurts (one so wishes that it was on the DVD)...
Still...a great supporting cast, three polished leading men...and the divine Miss D. make it a treasure...
Goodnight Sweet Princess...
We will always love you! -
lora647 March 2001After seeing one of Deanna Durbin's movies on tv I decided to buy a video and chose this one for a start. As I love music anyways, you can't go wrong with any selection of hers, such a lovely singing voice, she does credit to any song. The story is well acted by each, and it has a quick wit with an interesting twist at the end. Also it's nice to see Harry Davenport in a film I hadn't seen before; he's been a reliable staple in many good movies of that era. It's entertaining and leaves you with a happy feeling after. We need not take life so seriously because after all it can be lighthearted and cheerful too. This film proves it.
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What a way to go! "For The Love of Mary" was Deanna Durbin's swansong. She proves what a charming, sparkling entertainer she was in her role as Mary Peppertree, a White House operator. This film (in it's acting, casting of veteran character actors, such as Harry Davenport and Louise Beavers, and it's lyrical though swift pacing) really marks the end of romantic comedy as practiced by the practitioners of screwball comedy. Romantic comedies would never again be this light, unpretentious, and wholesome, in my opinion.
Deanna Durbin shines as a comedic actress in this film as she never did as an adult performer because she never had a comedy script as bright and as fresh as this one. The chemistry between her and Edmond O'Brien is strong and sexy. This is one of the few romantic comedies to believably transport one to an idyllic world in which everyone can be lighthearted and in love with life if one were only in the right place and with the right kind of people.
"For The Love of Mary" deserves far more widespread viewing and critical praise than it currently has. It is great that it is now on video for all to appreciate. -
boblipton13 September 2022When Washington insider Deanna Durbin gets a job on the White House switchboard, her friends, which includes senator Ray Collins and four or five Supreme Court justices, try to arrange her life for her. Young men cluster around her, too, including Navy lieutenant Edmond O'Brien, lawyer Jeffrey Lynn, and marine biologist Don Taylor.
Miss Durbin sings 'largo al factotum', and 'On Moonlight Bay'. And as she so often does, shows a real emotional connection with an unlikely elderly man or two. The story itself is nonsense. This may seem like a standard complaint for Miss Durbin's vehicles, but individual plot points are rushed over so you don't notice.
This movie, as well as Miss Durbin's previous few, had not performed well at the box office. Her star persona was Little Miss Fix-it, and she was no longer age-appropriate for it. Tired of the Hollywood grind, she left Hollywood a year later. Despite pleas from producers ranging from Joe Pasternak at MGM to Lerner & Lowe for MY FAIR LADY. She turned them all down, and only gave one interview in the remaining 65 years of her life. She died in 2013 at the age of 91, just where she wanted to be: out of the public's eye. -
CatherineYronwode5 January 2024This is a charming and surprising comedy well worthy of comparison with films like "My Man Godfrey," "Theodora Goes Wild," and "Ball of Fire." Deanna Durbin is delightful as Mary Peppertree, a former switchboard operator for the U. S. Supreme Court, who quits her job due to a bump in the road of her romance with a young lawyer (Jeffrey Lynn), and moves to a job as a switchboard operator at the White House.
Complications ensue when a goofy but lovable ichthyologist (Don Taylor) keeps calling the switchboard to speak to the President, and Mary gets involved in helping him. However, complexities redouble when she accidentally cuts the President's line in on a call she is taking about her inability to attend the birthday party of her old friend Justice Peabody (Harry Davenport, at his most twinkly judicial self). The president (who is never seen or heard throughout the entire film) tries to help Mary out by assigning her a Navy Lieutenant escort (Edmond O'Brien) to the party.
In short order all three men are courting her, and the President's personal secretary (Ray Collins, best known as Lt. Tragg in "Perry Mason") is enrolled to play cupid at the unseen Chief Executive's command.
Meanwhile a subplot revolves around a jovial immigrant restaurateur from Vienna (Hugo Haas) whom the Supreme Court Justices are coaching so that he can pass his American citizenship test.
The supporting cast is chock full of the best character actors of the 1940s and 1950s, including Louise Beavers ("Imitation of Life," "Beulah") as the cook in Haas's restaurant who fixes up the chopped chicken liver and marinated herring; and Morris Ankrum (a recurrent judge on "Perry Mason") as a Navy Admiral The small-part players work beautifully together as a warm-hearted ensemble cast.
Not only is this a romantic comedy, it is also a musical, with Deanna Durbin in fine voice and, for a couple of numbers. Accompanied by the assembled justices of the Supreme Court, who sing old, sweet songs in quartet harmony while Harry Davenport accompanies them on accordion.
The best musical number of all, however is Durbin's soprano rendition of "Largo al factotum" (a.k.a. "Figaro") from Rossini's opera "The Barber of Seville" -- what a surprise! -- and just as surprising is how well it fits into the storyline, because like "The Barber of Seville," this is a comedy of missed connections and thwarted romance, in which those with access to the powerful can pull the strings to make everything come out exactly right in the end.
I loved this movie and am only sad that it took me until i was 76 years old to see it! -
Doylenf4 March 2007It must be reasons like FOR THE LOVE OF MARY that had Deanna packing her duds and leaving Hollywood for good. Seems that Universal was unable to offer her the kind of scripts she wanted which would offer her more substantial roles than this attempt at light-hearted screwball comedy that never once flies into orbit.
The trouble, aside from some pedestrian direction by Frederick de Cordova and some unimpressive sets and costumes, is that the script is a muddled mess with a plot outline that almost defies description, it's so complicated. Naturally, within the bounds of screwball comedy, all the complications are supposed to make the story hilariously funny--but fail to do so, mainly because it's banal material lacking any real wit or wisdom.
Deanna is a Washington miss who has connections well above those of the average switchboard operator, including Supreme Court judges and even the President who happens to listen in on one of her conversations and decides to meddle in her affairs in choosing the right man for a woman being chased by three men.
DEANNA DURBIN sings some four or five songs nicely in her own lovely soprano voice but it's enough to try anyone's patience if they're waiting to hear her sing when the story is so pedestrian. JEFFREY LYNN as a lawyer suitor, EDMOND O'BRIEN as the eventual swain, and DON TAYLOR as one of the unlucky ones, are simply foils for Durbin with no depth to their roles. RAY COLLINS and HARRY DAVENPORT do what they can in lively supporting roles, but nothing really helps.
Too bad for Durbin fans. She was still fetching to look at and used her voice beautifully but the material is fluff, nothing more, and certainly unworthy of her talents. No wonder she had enough. -
A wonderfully preposterous plot provides a very funny - at times, hilarious story and film. "For the Love of Mary" takes place in Washington, D. C. Deanna Durbin turns in her last superb performance in this film, before leaving Hollywood behind for all time. She is a switchboard operator. But not your ordinary, pleasant-voiced, and very polite but business-like operator. She's loaded with personality - the trademark of most of the roles Durbin had in her career.
Mary Peppertree knows her way around the nation's capitol. She had been a top switchboard operator for the Supreme Court, but left that job because of her planned wedding to fiancé Phillip Manning. But, when she called that off, she had to find another job and landed one at the White House. It just so happened that her dad, Timothy Peppertree, was a sergeant in the White House police force. And, of course she came highly recommended by several justices of the high court.
Well, she barely meets the other single ladies on the switchboard, when she handles a call from a frequent caller whom the ladies consider a crank and a pest. Then, as quickly as she handles and dismisses Mr. Paxton, she takes a call from the President. He has a cold and she suggests the surefire remedy of her grandmother. But, Mary gets the hiccups when she's nervous, as she does now in talking with the president. So, he suggests his sure remedy for her. As a messenger delivers a paper bag for her to blow into and breathe from to stop the hiccups, one justice after a another from the high court calls the switchboard to talk to Mary.
Well, that all starts viewers on a hilarious, far-out plot that is filled with mayhem and very funny situations and scenes. And, oh, did I mention that the president gets involved in contributing to a love quadrangle for Mary when he orders a White House naval attache to take Mary to a party which she hadn't planned to attend. The lieutenant is Tom Farrington, who had to break another date to take Mary out. But, he quickly falls for her and soon gets into verbal combat and maneuvering with Manning, over Mary. Then, the third male in this love quadrangle turns out to be the irritable David Paxton.
Plot twists come and go as this story plays out, with a couple more subplots. One is with a favorite restaurant owner and chef, Gustav Heindel. He is applying for U. S. citizenship. The Supreme Court justices, Justice Department attorneys and some of the White House and Pentagon brass frequent Gustav's place. And they are helping him study for his citizenship test.
The ending is a madcap affair with a twist that is very funny. I could guess part of it by that time. All of the cast give superb performances. Emond O'Brien is Lt. Farrington, Jeffrey Lynn plays Manning and Don Taylor is David Paxton. Hugo Hass plays chef Gustav Heindel, Harry Davenport is Justice Peabody, and Ray Collins is White House chief Harvey Elwood. Several others add to the fun of this film.
As someone who lived in the suburbs of D. C. and worked "on the hill" for a decade in the later years of the mid-20th century, I especially enjoyed this film. It would have been nice to have a few short scenes to show some of the Washington Mall with all of its magnificent monuments, and a couple of aerial or street scenes that show the layout of the city. Washington is quite unusual as an American city. It was designed by a French engineer, Major Pierre Charles L'Enfant, who served in the Continental Army during the American Revolution. The city layout somewhat resembles that of the central part of Paris, France. The network of roads converge and emerge from several traffic circles in the city. The film does have some background scenes behind the opening credits. These show the Capitol, Supreme Court building and White House.
This is a very good film, with a far-out plot that makes for great comedy. A plot doesn't have to be believable, or probable or possible for a comedy. This one stretches a lot, but it scores with its humor throughout. And, for modern audiences, it offers a short scene of some histoic interest. It has a very good depiction of the telephone switchboards that operated before the age of cell phones and computer banks. -
planktonrules16 September 2022Deanna Durbin is an interesting case when it comes to Hollywood stars. While she was among the most popular stars of her day, she retired when she was in her 20s. Why? Apparently she disliked the scripts she was being offered by Universal Studios and instead of making more, she decided to stay home and raise a family. Well, after seeing her final film, "For the Love of Mary", I can certainly understand why she retired...the writing was incredibly convoluted and, need I say, ridiculous. So, despite her charm in the lead, the film is at times a chore to watch.
When the story begins, Mary (Durbin) is going to her new job as a switchboard operator at the White House. It seems that she had been working at the Supreme Court and she was apparently beloved by the Justices...who keep phoning her and keep getting involved in her life. In addition to these guys meddling with her and her love life, the film gets really weird when the President himself starts meddling in her love life! What's next and which of her three suitors, if any, will she choose?
There is MUCH more to the plot than this...a lot more. So much more, in fact, that the story is incredibly complicated and nearly impossible to believe. After all, you'd THINK the President and Supreme Court justices would have a lot more to do than manage Mary's love life! Additionally, the role Durbin plays didn't give her much in the way of broadening her acting abilities and is a lot like her earlier child roles...but with added romance and the usual obligatory songs.
Overall, I didn't hate the film but I really did strongly dislike the writing. It was riddled with impossibilities, silly situations and cliches. As a result, I think Durbin was probably right to change her life radically after making this movie. And, radically she did change it...moving to France, shunning the spotlight and raising a family. -
Falkner197616 February 2022The commercial Hollywood product for the family consumption in the 1930s, after Shirley Temple, was Deanna Durbin: sappy, covered in bows, singing at every opportunity with that kind of voice that Hollywood called lyrical, with always bright eyes of emotion, she was considered "the ideal daughter"
In 1948, not the cute singing young girl anymore, but still smiling a lot and singing too much, Deanna made a couple of boring musical comedies after the war. She had tried to change for more dramatic roles, but without success.
This kind of film reminds you that not everything was gold in the golden age, and while Hollywood could still afford 8 or 9 masterpieces every year, it produced many forgettable films as this one.
Absolutely dated, with no artistic or entertaining value, the film shows a somewhat tired Durbin as everyone's spotlight in the White House.
Corniest, tackiest musical numbers ever, stupid plot, no laughs, boring dialogue, and uninterestingly directed, it's a safe option for those who love oldies without requiring quality.
Probably targeted for Durbin club fan, but finally as somebody tells Durbin in the film: it's idiotic even for young people. -
SnoopyStyle13 September 2022Mary Peppertree (Deanna Durbin) is starting her job as a White House switchboard operator. Her father was a beloved longtime guard there. She had worked over at the Supreme Court. She broke up with her boyfriend Justice department lawyer Phillip Manning. Everybody loves her. Guys want her. She has Supreme Court Justices trying to set her up. It all ends up entangling with Washington politics.
Deanna Durbin is fine. She has a general good girl quality and it's acceptable that everybody seems to be stepping over each other to help her. It's all very convoluted. The worst problem is that the guys don't come off that well. They are not taking the situation by the reins. It's kinda silly but in a bad way. I do like Durbin enough to not totally hate this.