For the Love of Mary [Blu-ray]

Director: Frederick de Cordova Frederick de Cordova

Overview

Deanna Durbin's career was clearly on the downswing when she starred in For the Love of Mary. Durbin plays a switchboard operator at the White House, whose hiccuping spells throw several incoming special-interest callers into a tizzy. The President himself cures Durbin of her hiccups, thereby becoming entangled with the girl's various romances. She, in turn, finds herself neck-deep in numerous political intrigues. A forgettable comedy with disposable songs, For the Love of Mary turned out to be Deanna Durbin's last picture. The onetime mortgage-lifter of Universal Pictures was tired of the Hollywood grind and of fighting a losing battle with her fluctuating weight; thus she retired to France with her director-husband Charles David.

Product Details

Release Date:	09/07/2021
UPC:	0810072545381
Original Release:	1948
Rating:	NR
Source:	Universal
Language:	English
Time:	1:30:00
Sales rank:	33,395

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Deanna Durbin	Mary Peppertree
Edmond O'Brien	Lt. Tom Farmington
Don Taylor	David Paxton
Jeffrey Lynn	Phillip Manning
Ray Collins	Harvey Elwood
Hugo Haas	Gustav Heindel
Harry Davenport	Justice Peabody
Griff Barnett	Timothy Peppertree
Katherine Alexander	Miss Harkness
James Todd	Justice Van Sloan
Morris Ankrum	Adm. Walton
Frank Conroy	Samuel Litchfield
Leon Belasco	Igor
Louise Beavers	Bertha
Raymond Greenleaf	Justice Williams
Charles Meredith	Justice Hastings
Adele Rowland	Mrs. Peabody
Mary Adams	Marge
Adrienne Marden	Hilda
Beatrice Roberts	Dorothy
Harry Cheshire	Col. Hedley
Donald Randolph	Assistant Attorney General,Assistant Attorney General
William Gould	Sen. Benning
Harry V. Cheshire	Col. Hedley

Technical Credits

Oscar Brodney

Robert Arthur	Producer
Frederick de Cordova	Director
Oscar Brodney	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

For the Love of Mary gets by as a moderately entertaining mini-musical simply because of the charming presence of Deanna Durbin in what was to be her final film foray. Clearly, the creators were trying to create a romantic screwball comedy of the classic type, but they unfortunately did not seem to realize that, while screwball plots were usually complicated and fairly silly, they were constructed with a keen eye on detail, organization, character and wit. Mary's screenplay lacks all of these, although it does have a number of individual sequences that work and individual lines that provide laughs. But there's no cohesion, and the main "gimmick" -- that the President of the United States would get personally involved in straightening out the love life of a switchboard operator -- is obnoxiously cute and simply too unbelievable. Frederick de Cordova's direction of this material is fine, but it doesn't have enough genuine inspiration to make up for the flaws. Which means that it's up to the cast, and here Mary is quite fortunate. The trio of suitors does very well with parts that are not especially well written, and Harry Davenport is especially good as a Supreme Court justice. But it's Durbin who has to carry the movie, and she does a wonderful job, skipping through the messes of the plot without a care for how silly the whole thing is. And, of course, she sounds wonderful when she sings as well. Pretty much by herself, she makes Mary something really pretty merry.

All Movie Guide - Craig Butler