Want to know the best Deanna Durbin movies? How about the worst Deanna Durbin movies? Curious about Deanna Durbin box office grosses or which Deanna Durbin movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Deanna Durbin movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.
Deanna Durbin (1921-2013) was a Canadian actress and singer, who appeared in Universal Pictures musical films in the 1930s and 1940s. The early box office success of her movies were widely credited with keeping Universal out of bankruptcy. Deanna Durbin’s IMDb page shows 23 acting credits from 1936-1948. This page will rank 21 Deanna Durbin movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Two of her short films were not included in the rankings.
Drivel part of the page: This Deanna Durbin page was requested by Robert Roy. I have to admit before starting this website in 2011….I was completely unaware of Deanna Durbin. However in my movie research over the last five plus years I have run into name numerous times. It is only after putting together this page that I realize that her career…was very very impressive. That being said…Deanna Durbin joins Mary Pickford as the only UMR subject that I have not seen a single movie that they appeared in.
Deanna Durbin Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.
Deanna Durbin Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table
The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies any way you want.
- Sort Deanna Durbin movies by her co-stars
- Sort Deanna Durbin movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Deanna Durbin movies by yearly domestic box office rank
- Sort Deanna Durbin movies by how they were received by critics and audiences. 60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
- Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each Deanna Durbin movie received.
- Sort Deanna Durbin movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score. UMR puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
Stats and Possibly Interesting Things from the Above Deanna Durbin Table
- Eleven Deanna Durbin movies crossed the magical $100 million domestic gross mark. That is a percentage of 52.38% of her movies listed. One Hundred Men and a Girl (1937) was her biggest box office hit.
- An average Deanna Durbin movie grosses $128.30 million in adjusted box office gross.
- Using RottenTomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter. 18 of Deanna Durbin’s movies are rated as good movies…or 85.71% of her movies. It Started With Eve (1941) is her highest rated movie while I’ll Be Yours (1947) is her lowest rated movie.
- Twelve Deanna Durbin movies received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…. or 57.14% of her movies.
- One Deanna Durbin movie won at least one Oscar® in any category….or 4.76% of her movies.
- An average Ultimate Movie Ranking (UMR) Score is 60.00. 19 Deanna Durbin movie scored higher than average…. or 90.47% of her movies. One Hundred Men and a Girl (1937) got the the highest UMR Score while Up In Central Park (1948) got the lowest UMR Score.
Possibly Interesting Facts About Deanna Durbin
1. Edna Mae Durbin was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada in 1921. Universal changed her professional name to Deanna when she signed a contract with them. She however remained Edna Mae in her personal life.
2. Deanna Durbin was in the running to play the voice of Snow White in 1937’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs but Walt Disney himself rejected her, claiming she sounded “too mature.” She was 14 at the time.
3. In 1936 Deanna Durbin appeared in the short film, Every Sunday. Also in that cast was a very young Judy Garland.
4. In 1939 Deanna Durbin and Mickey Rooney shared a Juvenile Oscar®: For their significant contribution in bringing to the screen the spirit and personification of youth, and as juvenile players setting a high standard of ability and achievement.
5. Deanna Durbin’s first 6 movies all received an Oscar® nomination (all categories). That is probably a record…. the closest that I can think of would-be John Cazele whose first and only 5 movies got an Oscar® nomination.
6. Deanna Durbin was the number one female star in England from 1939 to 1942.
7. Deanna Durbin was Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Anne Frank’s favorite movie star. Churchill reportedly insisted that he be permitted to screen her films privately before they were released to the public in Britain and would often screen her film 1937’s One Hundred Men and a Girl to celebrate British victories during World War II.
8. Deanna Durbin has been married three times. She had two children.
9. In 1948, Deanna Durbin, retired from movies at the age of 27. Despite numerous offers she never appeared in another movie over the last 65 years of her life.
10. Reports that Deanna Durbin had died a horrible death (variously reported as during childbirth, tuberculosis, a car accident, etc.) were among the most widely circulated pieces of propaganda by the Axis Powers during World War II as a means of demoralizing Allied troops and Prisoners of War. There’s a TIME magazine article from 1944/45 in which its’ stated that one of the first questions asked by liberated POWs was whether Deanna was still alive. – Thanks to Mark for this.
Check out Deanna Durbin’s career compared to current and classic actors. Most 100 million Dollar Movies of All-Time.
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I think John Cazale’s 5 films were all nominated for best picture. I have seen all of Deanna’s films (I’m old). Sad to say I have seen over 21,000 films in my life not counting TV films, shorts or serials.
Why be sad about it? I’ve seen 99% of Gregory Peck’s films and I’m 40.
Yes! This means a good total. What country are you from Dan? I will take silver and be happy.
USA, New York City.
Good. \Bruce will be happy.
So: Dan from NY, USA wins Gold for United States in the Deanna Durbin viewing Olympics.
I come in second with 5 movies for Canada. (British Columbia) with Silver.
No bronze medal given out.
🙂
Hey Flora….Dan might be some serious competition in our tally count….maybe the United States can get some gold medals in the classic category….lol.
Hey Dan…yep all five of Cazale’s 5 movies were Best Picture Oscar nominated….with 3 of them winning the Best Picture Oscar…The Godfather, The Godfather Part 2 and The Deer Hunter….only the Conversation and Dog Day Afternoon failed to win the big prize.
21,000 movies is impressive…..I am not sure of my lifetime total but I know the exact number I have watched since 3,426 since the start of 2013….including 1,418 in 2013 alone. https://www.ultimatemovierankings.com/how-and-why-i-watched-1418-movies-in-2013/
Impressive that you have seen all 21 Durbin movies….you win our tally contest…..most of us were in the 0 range. The only actor/actress that I have seen all of their movies is Bruce Willis…I am 62 for 62 of his theaterical movies.
Hi
She was really popular in Britain, especially during the war. I think her appeal was her charm and beauty. She came across really lovely on the screen. There used to be seasons of her movies on TV, but to me one was no different than the other. I do remember the one with Charles Laughton where he was an actor and she was the leading lady. But I think today she would be an acquired taste.
Hey Chris….she owned England for 4 straight years…1939, 1940, 1941 and 1942. I am sure her movies and music helped makes some of those tough days during the war just a little bit better. I think both of her Laughton movies….1941’s It Started With Eve and 1946’s Because of Him are two of her better movies. It Started With Eve actually got the best reviews of her career. Based on some Facebook pages….I would say she has a decent following….that have “acquired” that taste. Thanks for the Durbin comment.
According to BBC reports, Deanna also “owned” England (actually “Britain”) in the 1980s and 1990s. According to the late film historian David Shipman, the BBC several times stated that it received overwhelmingly more requests for Deanna’s films and recordings than it did for those of any other star of Hollywood’s Golden Age. Also, when Deanna’s films were released on VHS in the U.S. in the mid-late 1990s, they quickly became the most successful series of “classic” films released by MCA/UNIVERSAL. Among other achievements, this would mean that they outsold VHS sets devoted to stars like Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, John Wayne, Claudette Colbert, and Deanna’s old “stablemates” Abbott and Costello and the “Universal Horror” series. A most impressive achievement considering that, unlike these other stars, Deanna’s films have not been available for regular TV/public broadcast (at least in the U.S.) for over 50 years. I agree that many people continue to “acquire the taste” for Durbin and her films.
Hey Mark….thanks for all the updates on Durbin in the 1980s and 1990s. That is impressive that she was outperforming all of those other “screen legends”. I imagine that many people were like Churchill and very impressed with her singing and acting abilities and they shared their love for her with the next generation. That is what my dad with David Lean films. Glad to see the MCA/Universal VHS sold so well. Thanks for the great comment and for stopping by.
Hi Chris:
Glad you enjoyed my comments on Deanna’s current popularity. I think the affection that audiences felt for her went beyond what they felt for most stars. Joe Pasternak, who was credited with discovering her and produced her first 10 films, stated that Deanna is: “One of those personalities the world will insist on regarding as its’ personal property,” and there’s a good deal of evidence to show that he was right.
In addition to the speed with which she attained superstardom and all the hoopla surrounding her much publicized first onscreen kiss (in 1939’s FIRST LOVE), in America there was a good deal of upset about Universal advertisements for her other 1939 film THREE SMART GIRLS GROW UP as “Deanna’s first Glamorous Role!’ The NEW YORK TIMES and other publications even wrote a special column rebuking Universal for doing so. (Check out Frank S. Nugent’s TIMES review for the paper’s feelings toward Deanna at the time.) It’s true that Deanna was the top female star at the British box office from 1939-1942, but as another indication of the public’s tremendous affection for her, in 1942, a major theatre chain (the Odeon) ran a week long “Deanna Durbin Film Festival” during which it showed her films exclusively in its’ theatres throughout Britain. This is an acknowledgement that has never been repeated for any other star and it was advertised as: “The Deanna Durbin Film Festival: Designed to Give the Public Seven Happy Days with Deanna! From the Child of Hearts to the Woman We Love!” and it played to packed houses.
Deanna was also the top box office star in Japan in the years immediately before, during and after World War II. One poignant indication of the public’s affection were the widespread reports that special sections of “family albums” seized from Japanese prisoners of war were dedicated to Deanna. I don’t think any other stars were accorded the same treatment.;
Not surprisingly, Deanna’s 1943 film HIS BUTLER’S SISTER was specially selected by General Douglas MacArthur, then head of the American Occupational Forces, as the first American film to be shown in Japan following the country’s surrender in 1945. Retitled PRELUDE TO SPRING, it played to packed houses despite ticket prices that were 3 times those for other contemporary films. Reportedly, Japanese patrons used Deanna’s kissing scenes as a primer for how to “kiss (discretely) in public,” which, prior to the War had been a social taboo in Japan.
In Italy, Deanna was so popular that Italian Dictator Benito Mussolini wrote an open letter to her in his personal newspaper IL POPOLO, in essence asking her to act as a role model for American Youth in rejecting President’s Roosevelt’s efforts to bring the U.S. into the “European Conflict’ aka. World War II.
Reports that Deanna Durbin had died a horrible death (variously reported as during childbirth, tuberculosis, a car accident, etc.) were among the most widely circulated pieces of propaganda by the Axis Powers during World War II as a means of demoralizing Allied troops and Prisoners of War. You can check out Margaret Samms’ book FORBIDDEN FAMILY in which she recounts her time as a prisoner in a Philippines prison camp for a touching recollection of how the prisoners reacted to the news that Deanna was dead. (They held a special memorial service for her.) Also, among many other sources, there’s a TIME magazine article from 1944/45 in which its’ stated that one of the first questions asked by liberated POWs was whether Deanna was still alive.
Assuming that reports that Deanna was reluctant to “deglamorize herself” completely for her sordid role in CHIRSTMAS HOLIDAY, I suspect it was her awareness of the deep affection the public had for her established wholesome “Girl Next Door” image that made her reluctant to do so. Her films were considered great morale boosters for the public around the world. (One reason the Japanese reportedly liked them was because they had so little, if any, mention of the War in them.) Since Deanna, and the image Universal had crafted for her were considered iconic to millions of people, it’s understandable that she would not only be concerned at what CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY’s grim plot and presentation could do to her career, but to the morale of many of her fans.
Given the intense public scrutiny that Deanna was under practically from the time she sang her first note on Eddie Cantor’s radio show in September 1936, I’m not surprised she decided to retire from public life when she finally got the chance to do so. Undoubtedly, as Deanna herself said, she was also unhappy about the state of her career at the time and the disintegration of her second marriage (which left her a single mother), but I can readily believe the poor girl just wanted some peace and quiet after spending all of her adolescence and young adulthood up to that point embodying an image to which she became increasingly more detached as time went on.
(Incidentally, I’m another person who has seen all 21 of Deanna’s movies. In fact, I own copies of all of them…though I’m not sure I could put my hands on all of them at the moment. It was no easy task seeing them and getting the films (though the release of almost all her films on VHS in the 1990s helped immeasurably) but I am proof that it can be done! lol!)
Hey Mark…..this might be the most detailed, entertaining and educational comment that we have ever received.
1. In my research I had seen that Joe Pasternak was a huge reason for her success….her first 10 movies have the best box office success….it is interesting to think how her career would have gone if they had remained together.
2. I agree her rise to stardom was very quick….her short with Judy Garland….and then her first movie broke the bank and saved a studio….can’t get better than that.
3. Interesting about the Deanna Durbin Film Festival….sounds like her movies and Mrs. Miniver were important movies that helped win the war….by giving Enland some hope during the war.
4. That is power….teaching a country (Japan) how to kiss….too bad the international numbers are not available….sounds like she was very very popular overseas.
5. Sounds like Durbin was on the minds of all the major military leaders….Mussolini, MacArthur and Churchill.
6. I really like the part of your comment about her “fake death” and how the soldiers first wanted to know if she was alive or not….I am actually going to add that to the page…under possibly interesting facts.
7. I can see her point about Christmas Holiday….thanks for letting me see the light.
8. Sounds like she got enough publicity from 1936 to 1948 to last two lifetimes…so I could see after 12 years of that ….her wanting a quiet life.
Thanks again for a wonderful comment.
Great additional facts. We owe Mark a debt.
With reference to A & C I have read that Lou had an eye for the ladies as the saying goes; and that Universal kept a close eye on Deanna when Abbott and Costello were near her on the film sets. – just as Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks felt the need to protect their female guests from the young Charlie Chaplin. This led to Charlie being forced to gatecrash their lavish parties at Pickfair’ with the consequence that bitterness between him and Mary in particular.developed. I like the anecdote about Charlie being interviewed and when the interviewer brought up Chaplin’s business partnership with Mary the interviewer referred to her by her nickname ‘America’s Sweetheart’ . Charlie apparently retorted “Bank of America’s sweetheart you mean.” .
PS Bruce has opened to my eyes as to how relatively modest were the grosses for a great number of A & C films. I never would have guessed that.
Hey Robert Roy…your requested page has been way more popular than I would have ever imagined. Seems there are serious DD fans like Mark out there. I have not updated the A & C page yet…but I do know their career total will go from $2.58 billion (current total) to $3.34 billion (after the update)….so their box office numbers per movie should be better. Great story about the silent greats…especially Chaplin’s nickname for Pickford.
This takes me to Bronze medal…No problem. As to the additional information excellent.
And for Bruce:
Yes it is indeed popular. It is second in the trending pages on this website at the moment. You should not be surprised. MGM had “more stars than in the Heavens.” Universal had a small studio. That is how Buster Keaton got lost among many fabulous names.
Hello Bruce,
I’ve never seen one of her movies, but I knew her and her popularity. In France, she had few succes, like “One Hundred Men and a Girl”, in the end of the 30’s. But today, she ‘s totally forget by french people.
Hey Laurent….in our tally contest….you, me and Steve have a grand total of 0 Durbin movies watched….while Flora sits alone at the top with 5 Durbin movies. One Hundred Men And A Girl was a huge hit all over the world. I think it is not only the French people that have forgotten her….but lots of other people. I think it is safe to say that Durbin, Temple and Garland were some of the biggest stars working back then….but somehow Durbin has lost some historical relevance. Thanks for the comment and visit.
You know it’s a bad sign when the person who sits in first place has seen 5 films only.
True….but a victory is a victory….getting used to hearing Oh Canada…..lol. My excuse is I am not much of a musical fan….Steve….however “claims” to be a musical fan….lol.
You have a very good excuse. Steve – not so much. LOL!
I have not seen many of her movies but I have heard that awesome singing voice. The Susan Boyle of music 80 before Susan took over England.
Hey Stein….interesting comparison of Durbin and Boyle….. I agree you do not expect the voice that comes out when they start singing…thanks for stopping by and commenting.
thanks for sharing – however I think you will find that we have our favorites and we really donot need to know “why” we love her!
Hey William….just figured her fans would like to the stats behind her movies. Some are very very hard to find. And now they are free to her fans….versus the money I paid to get these stats.