#1018 - First Love (1939)

 

Honest to goodness, my heart hasn't felt this full, this fuzzy, nor has it bubbled over with this much happiness for such a long time 🥰! This film was an absolute DELIGHT and proved to be exactly what the movie-doctor ordered! Don’t you just love it when that happens!?

✨👠 First Love is a reworking of Cinderella and therefore there's really no need for me to talk plot. However, whilst the fairytale's clichés are out in force and are none too subtle (6 white police motorbikes in the place of 6 white mice for example) the little tweaks, nuances and additions that are introduced in this version of the beloved folktale are definitely worthy of discussion and praise!

Goodness me....where do I start 😅💕

In this version of the story, Connie (Deanna Durbin) is lucky enough to be surrounded by a plethora of fairy godmothers and godfathers, who are just all so lovely that I felt the rippling of gratuitous goosebumps flutter down the length of my arms a bunch of times! The household staff are the perfect bunch of helpers and each and every time they went out of their way to support and comfort Connie, I was just forced to resign myself to appreciative sighs and imaginary hat tips in the direction of the screen. They were all wonderful but special mention must be made of George, the Clinton's butler, played to a T by the marvellous Charles Coleman. Is my 'Aussie bias' showing? 

Connie (Durbin) with a selection of her fairy godmothers/father...
...and her less-than helpful family members 😬

However, our 'Cinderella' also had some less than helpful characters to contend with. 

Instead of battling against a wicked stepmother and a couple of evil stepsisters, Connie is invited and yet barely tolerated under the roof of her Aunt Grace, a zodiac devotee. Her cousin Walter, a droll zombie-like creature who appears to find it a great effort just to breathe at times. And her true antagonist in the form of her cousin, Barbara (played superbly by Helen Parrish) who manages to exemplify the characteristics of a spoiled brat AND take them to staggering new heights 😂

Connie (Deanna Durbin) standing defiantly against her calculating cousin's repeated attempts at subterfuge.
Go Connie!!

Aside from these stellar performances, I must also single-out Eugene Pallette's performance as the long-suffering husband and father, James, to the Clinton clan. The way he channeled his character's mounting familial frustrations by the constant twitching of his eye and via the pronounced bustling yet stilted shuffle of his gait, really highlighted his knack for comedic and physical comedy 👌 with just the right amount of heart on show too.  

Watch out for the 😉 in this scene. It's a heart-melter.

And good grief, when his simmering anger eventually explodes in the faces of those who have been responsible for its causation 💥 Wowee! Look out is all I can say 😅!

Of course mention must also be made of our leading lady's performance and that of her 'Prince' the 20 year old, baby-faced Robert Stack in this, his debut film!

For goodness sake - look at these cuties 😍!

I must admit to not really paying attention to Stack's performance in this one, as I just couldn't get over how YOUNG he looked 😅 It's so strange when your brain is trying to get used to a fresher faced version of an actor you're more familiar with seeing in their later roles. He bore such a striking resemblance to Paul Walker circa. 1998’s Pleasantville in this for me that I just couldn't 'unsee' it no matter how hard I tried 😄

I was certainly much happier with the pair's chemistry in this film than I was with the complete lack of it in the only other film they starred in together, 1941's Nice Girl? From memory Stack's character was more in love with his car than with Deanna's character 😖

Deanna's performance was just fantastic 😊💕 

Can't have a fairytale retelling without a mirror mirror on the wall.

As usual, Deanna comes across as so likeable and natural onscreen. A total sweetheart 💝. 

She manages to embrace and share Connie’s vulnerability and fragility with us, whilst also providing us with glimpses of her own trademark plucky independence and confident spirit. I love that side of Deanna and the fact that she always seems to find a way to radiate her own gorgeous personality through the screen, be it via her acting and/or singing.

Speaking of which, we are treated to a number of performances by Deanna throughout this film and oh my word... each and every one of them shone a spotlight on her uncanny ability to draw out every ounce of emotion that both she as the singer and YOU as the viewer have within you. I swear each and every time she sung in this film, I ended up smiling my face off or bawling like a baby, such is the power of her voice and her conviction. All of the emotions that she conveys and all of the emotions that she manages to well up inside you come crashing out when she inevitably hits and holds those long, high notes and ugh 🫠💕 what a gift she had.

I wish every Connie had a Miss Williams 😊

However the award for melting my heart and for making me sob tears of joy at the end of this film  goes to the one and only, Kathleen Howard aka. Miss Wiggins.

😇 What an absolute angel. A character who embodies wisdom, selflessness and is a true guiding light to our Connie. A woman who is so salt-of-the-earth that it made me start to question if she really was of this world. She is such an ironclad tribute to goodness and hope, that I thought any minute now she’s going to sprout wings🪽 or polish off her halo before placing it upon her own head.

I absolutely ADORED her 🥹💗!

And if all of my gushing above isn't enough to get you to check this one out, this movie literally made me gasp during what instantly became one of the most romantic moments on screen I have witnessed to date.

There is nothing quite like seeing a feeling. Like seeing your innermost emotions come to life via the movement and magic of the movies. Watching, with your mouth agape as the images dancing before your eyes convey a long-lost feeling that you have never been able to put into words before. This feeling, the one that is currently playing out in the GIF above,  is indeed how I felt when I discovered my first love.  And to see that feeling expressed as it is when Deanna and Robert are dancing… by ways of a 🪄 BEAUTIFUL bit of editing magic…. 🫠 I swear, if for no other reason, you must watch this film for the dancing sequence alone. In my opinion, it so perfectly encapsulates the blossoming of first love between two people. Like you're the only two people in the room, on the planet, within the entire expanse of the universe 💞 Ugh. 

Pardon me, but does this belong to you 💖?

A great one to watch if you feel that the world has gone to rack and ruin. A great one to watch if your faith in love has ebbed away. A great one to watch if you need someone lovely and deserving to root for!

☁️✨😌 Sweet, charming and oh so uplifting!

🍿😘 An instant new fave for me, for sure!

💌🎞 Have you seen First Love (1939)? I would love to hear your thoughts! Xx