Spring Parade

1940 "LIVE, LAUGH and LOVE! With a Dancing, Romancing Deanna!"
6.7| 1h29m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 27 September 1940 Released
Producted By: Universal Pictures
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Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

In this light and lovely romantic musical, a Hungarian woman attends a Viennese fair and buys a card from a gypsy fortune teller. It says that she will meet someone important and is destined for a happy marriage. Afterward she gets a job as a baker's assistant. She then meets a handsome army drummer who secretly dreams of becoming a famous composer and conductor. Unfortunately the military forbids the young corporal to create his own music. But then Ilonka secretly sends one of the drummer's waltzes to the Austrian Emperor with his weekly order of pastries. Her act paves the way toward the tuneful and joyous fulfillment of the gypsy's prediction.

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Reviews

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.
Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.
Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.
Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
MartinHafer If you're looking for a deep film or a picture that will make it to the Criterion Collection, well, you won't find it here or in any of Deanna Durbin's films. Instead, her films are nice...nice family films and "Spring Parade" is certainly nice.When the story begins, Ilonka (Deanna Durbin) is at the fair and trying to sell her goat. Instead, she ends up singing and seeing a fortune telling bird...yes bird. And, although the fortune seems ridiculous, the pieces all fall together--beginning with her falling asleep in a pile of hay and the hay ending up in Vienna. This is the nice, idyllic Vienna of old...before WWI and the slaughter of millions. Illona has a bit of an adventure here and ultimately meets the man of her dreams AND the Emperor!She sings, she's sweet and she wears lovely dresses. Fortunately, she also has some nice support from the likes of Cuddles Sakall and Henry Stevenson! Well worth seeing and a bit like a fairy tale.
morrison-dylan-fan 2013:With my dad being a big fan of actress Deanna Durbin,I took a look at her IMDb page,and found 2 titles which have never come out on DVD or Video.Tracking down It's a Date,I was surprised to discover that there appeared to be no sign of the movie anywhere at all.2016:Realizing that my dads birthday was about to come up,I decided to do one last attempt at tracking this obscure Durbin flick down.Stumbling onto the page of a DVD seller,I was delighted to finally find the title-with a bonus short!,which led to me getting ready to finally join the spring parade.The plot:Traveling to a Viennese fair, Ilonka Tolnay picks up a card which claims that a number of events will soon happen to her,which will include Tolnay meeting the love of her life,who is passionate about music. Laughing off the claims,Tolnay gets a job at a bakery. Whilst working at the bakery,Tolnay meets Corporal Harry Marten,who dreams of becoming a famous composer,but is banned by the army from doing so.Believing that she has met her dream guy,Tolnay decides to try and make Marten's dream come true.View on the film:Blocked by Universal from being seen again after Ernst Neubach sued them for not crediting him for his role in the making of the 1934 original Frühjahrsparade/Spring Parade.Despite featuring a limited amount of songs,the writers give the title a sweet whimsical spin,where Tolnay's attempts to have Marten's music heard has a sweet folk tale atmosphere. Whilst the poor print quality blocks director Henry Koster's candy coloured sets from sparkling, Deanna Durbin gives a terrific,jaunty performance as Tolnay,thanks to Durbin joyfully casting a fairy tale breeze over Tolnay,as Tolnay and Marten go on the spring parade.
Neil Doyle My only complaint is that the film itself needs a good restoration to bring out the award-nominated cinematography of SPRING PARADE--and a minor complaint is that DEANNA DURBIN should have had at least two more songs to sing. Otherwise, it's a complete delight.Her catchiest number is "Waltzing On Clouds" which is reprised at the finale and used for the big ballroom scene. It's a sort of Cinderella story set in Vienna, about a naive country bumpkin who meets her Prince Charming (ROBERT CUMMINGS) who happens to be a drummer in the local band. He's also a musician and love develops when Deanna backs his musical aspirations in a most unusual way.S.Z. SAKALL stands out as the local baker who employs Deanna in his shop. As in most Durbin films, a series of mishaps and mistaken identities run through the story, only to be patched up before the windup. HENRY STEPHENSON, REGINALD DENNY, SAMUEL S. HINDS, ANNE GWYNNE, FRANKLIN PANGBORN and others help keep the story bubbling along with pleasant performances.Henry Koster gives a sparkling touch to all the musical moments and Deanna is in fine voice. Robert Cummings again displays comic finesse as he always does in light romantic comedies.One of Durbin's best films from the early '40s and it should be available on DVD.
SanDiego One of the few Deanna Durbin films, almost all shot in black-and-white, not available on commercial video as of this writing. That's a shame. Universal needs to finally release this film as well Deanna Durbin's HERS TO HOLD, the final chapter in her THREE SMART GIRLS trilogy. SPRING PARADE is a charming and delightfully dated fairy tale-like film and makes a great companion to classics such as Danny Kaye's HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSON, Shirley Temple's HEIDI as well as Sonje Henie's series of films.