For the Love of Mary

When 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.

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.

Deanna 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.

Mary 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.

It 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.