One Hundred Men and a Girl

The daughter of an out-of-work musician gets her father and his equally unemployed friends to form an orchestra. The one thing missing is a big name willing to conduct an ensemble nobody takes seriously. So she goes straight after Leopold Stokowski, and clears her path with persistence, charm and a few misunderstandings. Directed by Henry Koster, the film sets Depression-era unemployment inside a musical fable. Stokowski plays himself and the orchestra scenes are genuinely played; having a real conductor on screen gives the picture a weight the other musicals of the period do not have. It was Deanna Durbin's second leading role. The production took five Academy Award nominations that year, including best picture, and won the award for music.