It's a Date | |
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Theatrical release poster
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Directed by | William A. Seiter |
Produced by | Joe Pasternak |
Screenplay by | Norman Krasna |
Story by |
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Starring | |
Music by | Charles Previn (director) |
Cinematography | Joseph A. Valentine |
Edited by | Bernard W. Burton |
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Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release date
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Running time
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103 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
It's a Date is a 1940 American musical film directed by William A. Seiter and starring Deanna Durbin, Kay Francis, and Walter Pidgeon. Based on a story by Jane Hall, Frederick Kohner, and Ralph Block, the film is about an aspiring actress who is offered the lead in a major new play, but discovers that her mother, a more experienced actress, was hoping to get the same part. Their lives are complicated further when they both get involved with the same man. Distributed by Universal Pictures, It's a Date was remade in 1950 as Nancy Goes to Rio.
The movie begins with Georgia Drake (Kay Francis) performing on the stage, singing "Gypsy Lullaby" while her daughter, Pamela (Deanna Durbin), watches with her boyfriend Freddie Miller (Lewis Howard). Georgia is an older Broadway actress who was once very famous. Her daughter, Pam, also has great acting skills and hopes to be a successful actress as well. At an after-party celebrating the closing of a play that Georgia was in, Pamela convinces director Sidney Simpson (Samuel S. Hinds) and writer Carl Ober (S.Z. Sakall) to attend one of the plays she is in. After the party ends, Pamela sings "Love is All" with the maid, Sara (Cecilia Loftus), playing piano and her mother listening.
Sidney and Carl go to Connecticut and decide to try out the second act of their new play, St. Anne. They put Pamela in the role of St. Anne. In the performance of the second act, Pamela sings, "Loch Lomond." (This is a particularly acclaimed version of that folk song.) The directors are impressed with Pamela's performance and offer her the role of St. Anne in their upcoming play. Pamela is very excited, but does not know she is taking over a role which they had originally offered to her mother. Georgia is unaware of what has happened, as she is in Honolulu to prepare herself.