First Love

First Love (1939)

Deanna's in Love!

In this reworking of Cinderella, orphaned Connie Harding is sent to live with her rich aunt and uncle after graduating from boarding school. She's hardly received with open arms, especially by her snobby cousin Barbara. When the entire family is invited to a major social ball, Barbara sees to it that Connie is forced to stay home. With the aid of her uncle, who acts as her fairy godfather, Connie makes it to the ball and meets her Prince Charming in Ted Drake, her cousin's boyfriend.

Date of release
1939-11-10
TMDB
7.6 / 10 (17)
Runtime
1h 24m
Genres
Comedy, Romance, Music
Director
Henry Koster

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Awards: 0 · Nominations: 3

First Love is a 1939 American musical film directed by Henry Koster and starring Deanna Durbin. An adaptation of the fairy tale Cinderella, the film is about orphan Constance "Connie" Harding who is sent to live with her wealthy aunt Grace and uncle James after graduating from boarding school. Her life is made difficult by her snobby cousin Barbara who arranges that she stay home while the rest of the family attends a major social ball. With the help of James, Connie makes it to the ball, where she meets and falls in love with Barbara's boyfriend Ted Drake. The film received Academy Award nominations for Best Art Direction and Best Music at the 12th Academy Awards.

Production

In April 1938, Universal announced Deanna Durbin would star in Cinderella directed by Henry Koster and producer by Joe Pasternak from a script by Bruce Manning and Felix Jackson, in color. In May, the studio said Durbin would make the film following Three Smart Girls Grow Up. However, in late May it was reported the film was abandoned due to protests by exhibitors and also the objections of Walt Disney who said he owned the title.

In June 1938, Peter Milne and Irma von Cube were reported writing the script, now called First Love. In January 1939, Charles Boyer signed to co-star. The film was pushed back to Durbin could make After School Days. Eventually Boyer dropped out of the film. Lewis Howard and Robert Stack were signed to make their debuts. Filming started June 1939. The movie was shot in black and white.

Joe Pasternak later wrote in his memoirs there had been pressure at Universal to put Durbin in older roles:

I insisted that Deanna was one of those personalities which the world not only takes to its bosom but insists as regarding as its personal property. We dressed her, as I said, with great consideration for her position. The occasion of her first kiss was as significant to us, and, as it happened, to her audience, as must be the first kiss of any girl sixteen years old. We instituted a veritable Gone With the Wind-style search for the right boy.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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