Comet Over Hollywood Posted by on March 9, 2023

In 2011, I announced I was trying to see every film released in 1939. This new series chronicles films released in 1939 as I watch them. As we start out this blog feature, this section may become more concrete as I search for a common thread that runs throughout each...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on August 28, 2018

The Universal dream team of Deanna Durbin, producer Joe Pasternak, and director Henry Koster are back at it again in this follow up to the wildly popular comedy that propelled Durbin to international stardom. The Craig sisters are back too and this one begins with a unique and rather hilarious openi   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on August 27, 2018

Here is a comedy born of a certain time and age when they made such trifles. It’s the kind of plot where you can read it off in a single sentence but it’s further cushioned by cutesy moments and musical asides. Where growing girls say “Mummy” and “Daddy,” always   read more

The Motion Pictures Posted by Lindsey on April 12, 2015

Joan (Nan Grey), Kay (Barbara Read), and Penny (Deanna Durbin) are children of divorced parents who have just learned that their father plans to re-marry. The girls live in Switzerland with their mother (Alice Brady), and their father lives in New York. When they learn of his engagement, they decide   read more

Flickers in Time Posted by Beatrice on August 24, 2013

Three Smart Girls Directed by Henry Koster Written by Adele Comandini 1936/USA Universal Pictures First viewing Deanna Durbin’s feature film debut is an entertaining, if predictable, light comedy.. Kay, Joan, and Penny Craig live with their divorced mother in Switzerland.  When the newspaper   read more

Comet Over Hollywood Posted by on July 22, 2013

It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals. In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 500. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals. This week’s musical: “Three Smart...   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on April 26, 2010

What a lovely little comedy!  Three sisters, Joan, Kay and Penny, live in Switzerland with their mother, who’s been divorced from their father for ten years.  When they hear that their father may be getting remarried, the girls run off to New York in an attempt to stop the marriage...   read more

Café Muscato Posted by Muscato on October 17, 2008

Some images perfectly capture the moment they were taken; this is one. Eisenstadt snapped these three at a party in Berlin in 1929, when the most famous of them was the woman in the middle: Anna May Wong. On the left, of course is Dietrich, who by that point had...   read more