Search - Deanna Durbin :: Spring Parade

Deanna delights on landmark release of the "Spring Parade" s

Byron Kolln | the corner where Broadway meets Hollywood | 05/14/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Coming hot on the heels of the Sepia label's first Deanna Durbin compilation (Mad About Music: Rarities & Gems), this is another very special treat for Durbin fans. Remastered from extremely rare 78-rpm source materials, here for the very first time is the complete soundtrack album to Durbin's 1940 movie musical SPRING PARADE.



Despite garnering an impressive four Academy Award nominations (including 'Best Original Song', 'Best Music' and even 'Best Cinematography'), SPRING PARADE has sadly (in the context of Deanna's other films) been ignored when it comes to home video/DVD releases and TV re-runs etc. One of Durbin's most successful films of the period, this charming European-flavoured musical treat casts Deanna as Ilonka Tolnay, the proverbial "farmer's daughter" with a miraculous voice, who ventures into the big city for romance and intrigue; with Robert Cummings and S.Z. "Cuddles" Sakall in co-starring roles. Plots served only a basic purpose in most of Durbin's films from this era, and crafted in such a way as to get to the next song as quickly as possible...yet SPRING PARADE had a strong storyline in addition to a winning set of musical numbers.



Perhaps most importantly, SPRING PARADE boasted the introduction of Deanna's charming "It's Foolish But It's Fun", not to mention "When April Sings", "Blue Danube Dream" and the Oscar-nominated "Waltzing in the Clouds". Gus Kahn and Robert Stoltz captured a lush, Viennese flavour in SPRING PARADE, and longtime admirers of this score will revel in finally having the extended orchestral sequences and incidental music, all crisply preserved in 24-bit technology on this CD release (taken from extremely rare promotional albums that were handed out to only 25 members of the film's production crew).



Thrown in for good measure are some additional DD rarities, including "exploitation" discs for Durbin's "Three Smart Girls", "That Certain Age" and of course SPRING PARADE. These promotional recordings, containing copious extracts of Deanna's musical numbers, were specifically created for use on radio and in movie theaters; and again, it's a miracle that they have survived. Thankyou, Hisato Masuyama and Sepia. More please!"