Mad About Music

One of Jane Powell's earliest films was "Delightfully Dangerous" and I was not exactly bowled over by it. Apparently, it was a remake of "Mad About Music" but instead of starring Powell, it starred Universal's big young singing star, Deanna Durbin.

The film finds young Gloria at an exclusive girls school in Switzerland. It seems her mother is a Hollywood star who has dumped her there where she is very lonely. This is made worse by the school bully who inexplicably hates this sweet young lady. So, to combat boredom and being so alone, Gloria creates a fictional father...complete with all sorts of exploits. She tells the girls that he's a big game hunter in Africa...and the bully demands Gloria show that he's real, as the bully suspects Gloria's made him up...which she has. So, she could either come clean about him or continue with the lie...and so she doubles down and tells everyone he's coming for a visit! So, she then heads to the train station and convinces a total stranger (Herbert Marshall) to accompany her. He has no idea about the lie and her classmates, at least temporarily, are appeased. But this certainly can't go on forever...so what's next?

This is an enjoyable film, though if you watch it there are two nagging problems that are bound to enter your mind. First, the man she convinces to be her father. He agrees to help her but there is no logical reason for this. Second, if you think about it, the idea of an adult man hanging out with a 14 year-old he doesn't even know AND tells everyone he's her father...well, that's mega-creepy! If you can manage to look past this, the film is enjoyable and fun...and weird.