A Christmas film starring the great Deanna Durbin and Gene Kelly! How wonderful, it sounds like a great romantic musical Christmas comedy with lots of singing and dancing, so what's the plot? The story is set on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. An army soldier named Charlie Mason (Dean Harens) meets a night club singer and hostess named Jackie (Deanna Durbin). However, her real name isn't Jackie and she tells Charlie about her life with her sleazy, violent, and murderous ex-husband Robert Manette (Gene Kelly). Holy Christmas, this sounds nothing like a light hearted musical and you know what, it isn't. For fans of the two musically gifted stars in this movie, you're up for something really different.
Deanna Durbin is amazing in this movie. She's charming, sweet and innocent and you just got to love her throughout the whole film. There are moments where she gets really emotional and whenever I see those scenes I get a bit teary eyed. Her acting is really fantastic and I really wish she got an Oscar nomination for her performance. Oh, and don't worry she does sing in the movie, but I'll get to that much later.
Gene Kelly is indeed playing a different character, then he usually does. Forget his happy and gay charm, you'll see a side of him that you've never seen before. He can be nasty, sleazy, and violent. I have never ever seen Gene act this way before. Don't worry, he's not completely nasty in the film, he does give his Gene Kelly charm in the scenes when he and Denna start dating and marrying each other. Believe me, when you see Gene at the end, you'll be surprised, while at the same time feel pity for him.
Our main character in the film played by Dean Harens really bored me. His character is bland, his acting while not bad, is still not that engaging. I really don't care for the character and nor do I think a lot of people care about him either. We're here to see Gene Kelly and Deanna Durbin, in their relationship, not some actor who we barely know, and is playing a character that we don't care about. His only purpose in the film is to be someone for Durbin to tell her story to, that's it. As for the rest of the characters, they're kind of forgettable and the only supporting character I remember is Gene Kelly's crazy Mother played by Gale Sondergaar, who's just as crazy as Kelly is.
The cinematography in the film is really, really good. For the Christmas scenes it brings it's Christmas feel; and for the dramatic scenes they look dark and intense. Some of my favorite shots are the scene when we go from a concert hall to a restaurant as the camera zooms up to Gene and Deanna sitting on a balcony eating lunch and then decide to go down to dance. What I really think brings that Christmas feel and look is the whole Cathedral sequence, I just can't help but feel that feeling of Christmas.
What really makes the film is the music. This has to be one of the best scores I ever heard, it does everything it's suppose to do. It can make scenes intense; make a scene, romantic; make you feel sad; and make a scene give you that Christmas Spirit. It is indeed something beautiful to hear. There are three songs sung in the movie by Deanna Durbin, but the song that's sung and played in the film's score is the song "Always". It's a sweet and lovely tune and the scene with Gene playing the piano, while Deanna sings it is a beautiful and heartwarming scene, even if it does feel like a copy to the "White Christmas" scene from "Holiday Inn".
The films not a great film and it's not much of Christmas film either and its story is beyond what you'd expect in a film starring Deanna Durbin and Gene Kelly, but it's still a decent film. Yeah the scenes and plot with Dean Harens are mostly a bore and to be honest, it's not a hardcore film noir either, but whenever you see Deanna or Gene on screen, they're the ones who save the film, as well as the cinematography and score. If you're up for something different than seeing the same musical formula, I think you'll at least find it to be a decent film that's an overall interesting change of pace.
RATING 3/5
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