I am a sucker for mistaken identity comedies, because it's always fun to see the awkward interactions that are created by each new scene as the person in question slowly realizes what is happening. Mad About Music has a crazy setup and for a good portion of the first act I was worried I wouldn't enjoy it. I understand the urge that kids feel to lie to their peers so that they aren't seen as different or lesser people. But the compounding fibs that Deanna Durbin's character tells in Mad About Music get to be more than any rational person's suspension of disbelief would allow. I was struggling to believe these girls thought she was being truthful in any way. However, once Herbert Marshall entered the film all was forgiven. Every far-fetched lie became worth it as he stumbled through becoming this man he was forced to portray.
Perhaps even funnier than the situation created in Mad About Music are all the little scenes with Arthur Treacher who gets caught in the middle of everything and must try to figure out what is going on with his employer. Every single scene with him made me laugh, and it's often the little throwaway lines that I found the funniest. If I could help in rewriting this film at all, though, I would shave some time off the beginning and put it onto the ending. They spend a little too long building up the conflict between Durbin and the other girls in her school, and not long enough resolving her relationship with her mother. I was watching the clock as the reunion with her mom approached and I could tell there wasn't going to be enough time to make it feel as heartfelt and warm as I wanted. Still, there's enough that entertained me in Mad About Music that I'm willing to forgive a rushed final act.
Perhaps even funnier than the situation created in Mad About Music are all the little scenes with Arthur Treacher who gets caught in the middle of everything and must try to figure out what is going on with his employer. Every single scene with him made me laugh, and it's often the little throwaway lines that I found the funniest. If I could help in rewriting this film at all, though, I would shave some time off the beginning and put it onto the ending. They spend a little too long building up the conflict between Durbin and the other girls in her school, and not long enough resolving her relationship with her mother. I was watching the clock as the reunion with her mom approached and I could tell there wasn't going to be enough time to make it feel as heartfelt and warm as I wanted. Still, there's enough that entertained me in Mad About Music that I'm willing to forgive a rushed final act.