Spring Parade (1940)

Deanna Durbin signs her heart out here as the Hungarian peasant "Ilonka". She's been told by a fortune teller that happiness is looming - and she reckons that might just have come true when she encounters "Harry" (Robert Cummings) - a drummer in the Imperial army. Meantime, though, he is fond of writing music, a skill prohibited in the military so she determines to somehow get his works in front of the Emperor (Henry Stephenson). Creatively, she takes to hiding them in the salt sticks that her boss the baker (S.Z. Sakall) makes daily for the court. That's quite a risky tactic as those who surround the throne worry that this could be a plot to poison their ruler and so the baker finds himself incarcerated, and "Ilonka" has to make a tough - and brave - decision. It's quite a charming mix of musical and romance this, with a bit of chemistry between Durbin and Cummings and with the scene-stealing Sakall and Stephenson also on good form guiding this gently evolving storyline towards it's inevitable and pleasing conclusion. "Waltzing on the Clouds" has the germ of an ear-worm to it - you might find yourself humming it long after the film has ended!