’100 Men and a Girl’ - Deanna Durbin and Leopold Stokowski

In this 1937 comedy with music, Deanna Durbin persuades world-famous conductor Leopold Stokowki to conduct an orchestra of 100 unemployed musicians that includes her trombonist father, played by Adolphe Menjou. We see the opening credits, during which Stokowski conducts a much abridged Tchaikovsky 5th Symphony finale, and the closing scene where the unemployed musicians and Deanna bring the movie to a close with a delightfully spontaneous and unrehearsed Verdi number. (With acknowledgements to the DVD release in ’The Deanna Durbin Collection.’)