For the Love of Mary (1948)

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General		Extras
Category	RomCom w Music	None
Rating
Year Of Production	1948
Running Time	86:46
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Frederick De Cordova
Studio Distributor	Universal-Internatnl Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Deanna Durbin Edmond O'Brien Don Taylor Jeffrey Lynn Ray Collins Hugo Haas Harry Davenport Louise Beavers Griff Barnett
Case	Custom Packaging
RPI	Box	Music	Frank Skinner Rossini

    Good news for those contemplating buying the nineteen disc set  Deanna Durbin : The Collection! Roadshow have announced an April price drop to $150 "for Mother's Day".

     Deanna Durbin's first movie, Three Smart Girls, was only intended to be a "B" picture, but on its release at the end of 1936 Universal found that they had a hit movie and an "A" star who was in a few years to be the highest paid woman in America. Twelve years later Miss Durbin's final film, under the new Universal-International banner, was For The Love of Mary another decidedly "B" movie. Happily, though, for the last public appearance of this iconic not yet twenty-seven star, this is a happy screen event, and an ultimately fitting final chapter to her movie life.

    The scene is present day, 1948, Washington - by courtesy of some location footage, using a remarkably good look-alike for the star, and some effective rear projection. Mary Peppertree (Deanna Durbin) is a new telephonist at the White House. Happily chatting on the phone, Mary entangles her romantic life with Washington politics, even involving a never-seen-on-screen President. On the romantic side there is naval officer Lt. Tom Farrington (Edmond O'Brien), legal representative Phillip Manning (Jeffrey Lynn) and fish conservationist island-owner David Paxton (Don Taylor). Senior political figures are Harvey Ellwood (Ray Collins) and Justice Peabody (Harry Davenport) , while Mary's father Timothy Peppertree (Griff Barnett) is a doorman at the White House. Also on hand at a Washington eating establishment are would-be United States citizen Gustav Heindel (Hugo Haas) and his cook - what else?- Bertha (Louise Beavers). The plot involves cooling romances, new love interests, hiccups - or hiccoughs - and their cures, a desk bound sailor who wants active service, US naval bases on a private island, an immigrant studying to be a citizen ... once you have the characters you can write the story yourself. Oscar Brodney's original screenplay takes nothing seriously - he was later to write Tammy and the Bachelor amongst others - and everything moves along at a cracking pace. It is the lightest, whispiest fluff, despite the political setting, but it is in hands that know exactly how fluff should be handled.

    In the late 1940s Universal-International had become a much leaner and younger operation. New, younger stars were on the horizon such as Tony Curtis and Rock Hudson, and behind the camera there were also younger talents. Producer Robert Arthur and director Frederick De Cordova were of that breed, young, fast and efficient with a sure eye on what the public wanted. In a few years what the public wanted was the De Cordova directed Bedtime for Bonzo and Bonzo Goes To College, but sadly in December 1948 the public didn't seem to want Deanna Durbin. For The Love of Mary was not a box office success, but seen today it is a fast, economical comedy that is smart and up to the (1948) minute. Top-billed, Miss Durbin's personality is exploited to the full. Back to her dark, long hair and looking lovely, smartly dressed and every inch the modern miss, wearing the lengthy "new look", she is completely comfortable in the romantic nonsense. The males on offer are a nicely varied trio, with Don Taylor especially good as the eager, earnest young man with ideals. Here was a young actor who knew exactly how to play a role like this, an ability he made use of in a lengthy career as a director. Jeffrey Lynn is smooth and charming, nicely balanced by the comfortable sexuality of Edmond O'Brien in his more "earthy" encounters with the delectable Deanna. Sterling support also from Harry Davenport, Miss Beavers, Ray Collins and Hugo Haas.

    There is also a welcome lightness to Deanna Durbin's musical numbers, staged simply but effectively by Nick Castle. Always physically simple in her vocal performances, Deanna Durbin looked uncomfortable when "choreographed" artificially - the hands on the hips Carmen in Hers to Hold comes to mind. Here Castle's natural staging works well, particularly in the Viennese Waltz number, where Castle has her serving the customers in the restaurant as she sings, punctuating a word with the flourish of a napkin or some other natural move. Also attractive is the "around the piano" setting of I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen and On Moonlight Bay. The operatic offering, which was to be the last on screen vocal for the star, is a comically staged Largo Al Factotum from The Barber of Seville. A humorous, excitingly sung,  happy - though wet - finale to Deanna Durbin's singing career.

    It should be noted that one sung was cut from the film. Deanna Durbin recorded and filmed John Rox's Big, Wide Wonderful World. In the following year, 1949, this same song became a huge hit for popular recording star Buddy Clark. You have to wonder whether For The Love of Mary might have found greater public acceptance had this future hit been left in. The slick for the disc included in the Durbin box set, and the enclosed booklet, both list this song as still being in the film. According to the Internet Movie Data Base, the number was included in the previous Universal VHS release of For The Love of Mary. It is a shame that the two "cut" numbers, Big Wide Wonderful World and Close As Pages In A Book from Up In Central Park, were not included as "extras" in this sadly bare bones collection.

    For The Love of Mary is a well written, well directed, well acted romantic comedy - smart, witty and, for its time, sexy. It is also where one of the truly great screen careers ended.


    
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Video

    This release of For The Love of Mary provides a very good print of the film, with a similar soundtrack.
     
    The image is presented in a 4x3 transfer with an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, the original presentation having been 1.37:1.
     

    The image is steady and sharp, even the close ups looking very good, with almost undetectable grain.
    Shadow detail is  pleasing, notably in the romantic night scenes, on the front porch and in the park.
    The transfer reproduces the original picture very nicely. Blacks are deep and solid and the whites do not flare.
    The grey scale is very good and makes for a most attractive black and white image.
     
    Film to video effects were difficult to find, with just a few cases of low level noise noted.
    Aliasing was observed briefly on a park rail (34:52), a switch board (67:08) and a slatted door (85:35).
    There were slight problems with noise reduction, mainly noticeable on small furnishings.
    

    Film artefacts are almost non existent. It was difficult to spot a white fleck and there was not one piece of debris.
    Reel cues have been removed, and there is no damage at the ends of the original reels.
    
    
    The film is consistent in its quality from reel to reel.
    It is in good, clean condition and delivers a solid, reliable and enjoyable image.
    
    
    There are no subtitles and the disc is single layered.
    
    
    

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio is very pleasing, with not one major problem.
    There is only one language, English, in a Dolby Digital 2.0 reproduction of the original mono Western Electric Noiseless Recording.
    There are no sync problems.
    Dialogue is always totally clear and easy to understand.
    There is no distortion on voices, spoken or singing.
    
    
    The sound stage is remarkably quiet for a film sixty years old.
    There is a only the very rare  crackle or "pop".
    
    Frank Skinner's orchestrations are light and unremarkable, but they are cleanly and satisfactorily reproduced.
     

    There are no dropouts.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    The box set of nineteen movies on nineteen discs contains a Sixteen Page Souvenir Booklet.
    Apart from this booklet and the Stills Galleries on five of the titles - no gallery on For The Love of Mary - there are no extras on the entire nineteen discs, not even a trailer.
    The inside of the cover slick has small reproductions of one lobby card and six stills from the film.
    The picture disc reproduces the title's cover.
    There are no subtitles.

Menu    
   

    
    All menu screens are 4x3.
    

    The main menu design is extremely basic. The screen comprises one portrait of Deanna Durbin from the film, with orchestral audio.
    The options are :
        Play Film
       Scene Index: Selecting this option gives a new screen with another portrait and a list of ten scenes. No thumbnails, no sound.

    

    Region 1 does not have a current release of For The Love of Mary.
    
    The nineteen title box set is available in Region 2 where it is more than double the Australian price. For The Love of Mary  is also available separately.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall