Nice Girl?

Nice Girl
Directed by	William A. Seiter
Produced by	Joe Pasternak
Written by	Richard Connell (screen play) Gladys Lehman (screen play) Phyllis Duganne (play)
Starring	Deanna Durbin Franchot Tone Walter Brennan Robert Stack
Music by	Stephen Foster Aldo Franchetti Andres de Segurola Jacques Press Eddie Cherkose Walter Jurmann Bernie Grossman
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	February 21, 1941 (1941-02-21)
Running time	91 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Nice Girl? is a 1941 musical film about a girl and her two sisters. She is the nice girl of the family, but when Richard Calvert Franchot Tone comes into town to give her father a scholarship for his dietary studies, she finds her opportunity to get some scandal in her life. It stars Deanna Durbin, Franchot Tone, Robert Stack and Walter Brennan.

Cast

• Deanna Durbin as Jane Dana
• Franchot Tone as Richard Calvert
• Walter Brennan as Hector Titus
• Robert Stack as Don Webb
• Robert Benchley as Prof. Oliver Dana
• Helen Broderick as Cora Foster
• Ann Gillis as Nancy Dana
• Anne Gwynne as Sylvia Dana
• Elisabeth Risdon as Martha Peasley
• Nana Bryant as Mary Peasley
• Georgie Billings as Pinky Greene
• Tommy Kelly as Ken Atkins
• Marcia Mae Jones as Girl

Plot

The musical starts with the busybody postman who reads everybody’s mail, Hector (Walter Brennan), delivering mail to the Dana household and particularly to Cora (Helen Broderick), the maid who he is in love with. Professor Oliver Dana (Robert Benchley) is the head of the household. The oldest sister is Sylvia (Anne Gwynne), an actress, and the youngest is Nancy (Ann Gillis), who is a bit of a flirt and has all the boys fighting over her. The middle sister Jane (Deanna Durbin), the “nice girl”, makes her entry singing the song “Perhaps” to the rabbits she takes care of. Her father is trying to write a book about diet and is testing it on rabbits. Don Webb (Robert Stack) is her boyfriend, an avid car buff.

One day, Richard Calvert (Franchot Tone) visits the Danas to study what Professor Dana is practicing with the rabbits. The three daughters are instantly enamored with him and do all they can to impress him. The family gets together with Jane playing the piano and singing “Beneath the Lights of Home”, accompanied by Oliver, Nancy, and Sylvia.

There is a Fourth of July celebration in which Oliver Dana gives a speech. After a bit of dancing, Jane sings “Old Folks at Home”. Don lends Jane the car to take Richard to the train station, but she decides to stop being a “nice girl” and drives him to New York. When they get there she changes into some clothes that belong to Richard’s sister and then plays a song on the piano, “Love at Last” while she sings and Richard comes down and sees her at the piano. Richard quickly sees that she is trying to not be a “nice girl”, but both of them realize that she is just playing a game and not really being who she is. So she leaves his house and drives back home, still wearing Richard’s sister’s pajamas. She gets into town but the car runs out of gas and she manages to wake up the entire neighborhood. They all see that she is no longer a “nice girl,” and rumors start to fly instantly. Jane locks herself in her room until her father gives her a telegram from Richard.

Jane decides to face the music and go to the benefit for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, but doesn’t realize that everyone thinks that she and Richard are engaged. She sings “Beneath the Lights of Home” at the benefit. Everyone congratulates her afterwards about her engagement, but she thinks they are just fooling her. She goes to Don for comfort, and he agrees that it’s all nonsense and of course Richard wouldn’t go for her. Jane gets angry at that and decides to show Don. She tells him that she is engaged to Richard and Don storms off. Right at that time Oliver and Richard come to the benefit. They congratulate Prof. Oliver (for the engagement of his daughter to Richard Calvert), but he is confused and thinks that they are congratulating him for getting his fellowship. Jane intercepts them and tells Richard that everyone thinks they are engaged. They fake a big quarrel so that they can break their engagement.

Menwhile, Don has enlisted in the army, and Jane goes to see him to explain what happened. When she goes, Don tells her that he loves her. They kiss (off-screen) and then she goes and sings for the enlisted men and Don the song “Thank You America.” The end of the movie concludes with Jane singing “There’ll Always be an England”.

References

• Nice Girl? at the Internet Movie Database
• Nice Girl? at AllRovi