Deanna Durbin was a HUGE star in the 1930s-40s--and for a while she was the highest paid actress in Hollywood. However, today most folks probably haven't heard of her. This is because Miss Durbin walked away from her film career when she was in her 20s and going strong-- apparently because she got bored with films and the very formulaic films they put her in over the years. This sort of problem is pretty obvious in "Something in the Wind"--a film where Durbin did quite well but the writing of the film was clearly well below her. Little did Universal Studios realize that in giving her crap scripts like this, they were also pushing their big money-maker out the studio door!
The film begins with Mary Collins (Durbin) leaving work at the radio station when an obnoxious and ill-informed lawyer accosts her and tries to get her to sign some release. She has no idea WHAT he's talking about and finds his comments insulting. However, when she gets home, she learns from the aunt that the lawyer mistook Mary for the aunt--who is also named Mary! It seems that long ago, Aunt Mary was involved with some rich guy but he dumped her and married another woman to please his snobby family. Apparently out of feelings of guilt, the old man had been sending Aunt Mary checks...and the man's family ASSUMED that the money was hush money!
Here is where it starts to get a tad dumb. Because Mary wouldn't talk with the lawyer, the family has her kidnapped and they once again ask young Mary to take some sort of settlement to shut up and go away forever in order to 'preserve the family name'. Out of anger, she lies- -telling them that she had the old man's baby!! Now, she insists they give her a million bucks! She has no intention to take the money--she just wants to make the jerks sweat.
Contrived? Yup! But it gets much worse--as the handsome son inexplicably and very, very, very quickly falls in love with Mary (Durbin--not the old lady!). In addition, there is tons of music and dancing--so much so that it really looks like padding since the plot is so thin. So why does it still manage to get a 5? Well, Durbin, when not singing, is very funny and proves she was simply too good for this tripe.
