Nice Girl?
| Nice Girl? | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | William A. Seiter |
| Produced by | Joe Pasternak |
| Screenplay by | |
| Based on |
Nice Girl? (play) by Phyllis Duganne |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Charles Previn (director) |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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91 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Nice Girl? is a 1941 American musical film directed by William A. Seiter and starring Deanna Durbin, Franchot Tone, Walter Brennan, Robert Stack, and Robert Benchley. Based on the play Nice Girl? by Phyllis Duganne, the film is about a young girl who finds herself attracted to one of her father's business partners who comes to town to give her father a scholarship for his dietary studies.
The musical starts with the busybody postman who reads everybody's mail, Hector (Walter Brennan), delivering mail to the Dana household and particularly to Cora (Helen Broderick), the maid who he is in love with. Professor Oliver Dana (Robert Benchley) is the head of the household. The oldest sister is Sylvia (Anne Gwynne), an actress, and the youngest is Nancy (Ann Gillis), who is a bit of a flirt and has all the boys fighting over her. The middle sister Jane (Deanna Durbin), the "nice girl", makes her entry singing the song "Perhaps" to the rabbits she takes care of. Her father is trying to write a book about diet and is testing it on rabbits. Don Webb (Robert Stack) is her boyfriend, an avid car buff.
One day, Richard Calvert (Franchot Tone) visits the Danas to study what Professor Dana is practicing with the rabbits. The three daughters are instantly enamored with him and do all they can to impress him. The family gets together with Jane playing the piano and singing "Beneath the Lights of Home", accompanied by Oliver, Nancy, and Sylvia.
There is a Fourth of July celebration in which Oliver Dana gives a speech. After a bit of dancing, Jane sings "Old Folks at Home". Don lends Jane the car to take Richard to the train station, but she decides to stop being a "nice girl" and drives him to New York. When they get there she changes into some clothes that belong to Richard’s sister and then plays a song on the piano, "Love at Last" while she sings and Richard comes down and sees her at the piano. Richard quickly sees that she is trying to not be a "nice girl", but both of them realize that she is just playing a game and not really being who she is. So she leaves his house and drives back home, still wearing Richard’s sister’s pajamas. She gets into town but the car runs out of gas and she manages to wake up the entire neighborhood. They all see that she is no longer a "nice girl" and rumors start to fly instantly. Jane locks herself in her room until her father gives her a telegram from Richard.
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