Can't Help Singing Details

An apt title indeed for this Deanna Durbin vehicle, and her devotees will doubtless embrace this Technicolor western, vaguely influenced by the then-recent Broadway success of Oklahoma!. (The film even includes a rip-off number entitled Cal-i-for-ni-ay.) Non-Durbin fans, however, will struggle with the dumb plot (Deanna heads west to marry, then changes her mind), uncharismatic leading man Robert Paige and director Frank Ryan's non-existent grasp of simple film narrative. The supporting cast seems to consist entirely of racial stereotypes (Akim Tamiroff, Leonid Kinskey), though the score is, surprisingly, by the great Jerome Kern — not at his best, unfortunately.

Lively Technicolor musical bearing more than a slight resemblance to Oklahoma, with a grown-up Durbin as the girl... read more on Time Out