Kino's Deanna Durbin Collection I on Blu-ray is reviewed HERE

Deanna Durbin's first appearance on film was in MGM short with Judy Garland entitled Every Sunday, available on For Me and My Gal disc from Warner. It was filmed while Deanna was already signed with Universal. Thus all movies by Ms Durbin are owned by Universal except Spring Parade (1940) due to a rights dispute and It's a Date (1940) which was purchased by MGM to be remade as Nancy Goes to Rio in 1950. Inexplicably there was quite a lull in Deanna Durbin DVDs in the US even though she was Universal's most popular actress of her era. In the UK nineteen of her Universal films are released on DVD by DD Home Entertainment, available separately, in 3 different sets or in one mega-set with a soundtrack CD of her songs (the mega-set is now out of print). A similar set was also released in Australia (also out of print and without a CD) and many movies were released separately in Russia, Spain, Brazil.

I recently reviewed the first Universal set of Deanna Durbin films released in 2004 HERE. Now, after a 2-month delay, Deanna Durbin: The Music and Romance Collection was finally released on July 6, 2010. The set is currently available exclusively at Movies Unlimited or through their store at Turner Classic Movies. The collection of 5 discs are in a folded digipack without any slipcase to hold it together, with pretty artwork and short information about the movies in the set. Each film gets its own single-layered disc, and these are pressed discs, NOT DVD-Rs (we can not confirm if individual releases, also available through Movies Unlimited are pressed discs as well). Progressive transfers are similar for all the films, with some grain and damages evident on the prints. These are not thorough and costly restorations, but progressive transfers are very good and much better than what was available on VHS for a long time. Unfortunately, we don't have discs from other countries to compare these transfers. The mono audio is likewise very fine and Ms Durbin's songs are clear without any distortions. Unfortunately, unlike the first set, there are no English or any other language subtitles available for these films. Original trailers were also dropped, but each film gets a two-and a half minute introduction by TCM's own Robert Osborne, a few galleries and an article about the film from TCMDb. The first disc with Mad About Music also gets a 7-minute interview with producer Joe Pasternak's brother and a Deanna Durbin biography on several text screens. Overall, this is a nice package, but 10 of her films are still missing in region 1, including her most popular film, One Hundred Men and a Girl (1937), a film noir classic and perhaps most requested title Christmas Holiday (1944) and another favorite of mine His Butler's Sister (1943). Unfortunately, this set being sold an just one store won't make it an easy purchase. But between the collection of 5 titles and individual releases, we suggest to pick up the set. Also, look for $5 off coupons at Movies Unlimited page - to counter the $5 shipping expense.

  - Gregory Meshman