deanna durbin really do save universal from bankruptcy and enable it to remain a big studio . by the mid 30 most of the big director that have be at universal eg milestone and browning and wyler have go . only jam whale remain but his prestigious horror film be behind him . deanna and judy garland appear in a short every sunday and initially garland be suggest for the role of penny in three smart girl . when garland be unavailable universal switch to durbin . initially she have be definitely a support player but her potential be so vivid that the script be rewrite to make her the star . direct by henry koster the film have a european touch . the film start with a beautiful panorama of a lake in switzerland . the three smart girl of the title three sister and joan ( nan grey ) and kay ( barbara read ) and penny ( deanna durbin ) be sail with penny give her glorious voice to my heart be sing . all be not too well on the home front their father be plan to remarry a young woman ( binnie barnes ) so the three girl with the help of their trusty nurse ( lucille watson ) decide to go to new york and reunite him with their mother . lucille watson be best remembered for her role a robert taylor stern mother in waterloo bridge ( 1941 ) . donna be a gold digger who and along with her scatty mother ( alice brady ) and be determine to marry judson craig ( charles winninger ) . for someone with no film experience deanna be wonderful a penny and a typical pesky and over enthusiastic kid sister and she be as pretty a a picture . when she sing someone to care for me to her father you will just melt what a glorious voice she have . she also have one of the funny line in the film . when her father console her with i will take you to the zoo tomorrow and she reply oh i can see enough monkey around here . with the help of bill evans ( john king ) they decide to hire a count ( mischa auer ) to romance donna . they arrange to meet at a nightclub but due to a mix up lord michael stuart ( ray milland ) be mistake for the count and donna fall for him ( she think he own half of australia . ) the plan backfire a he fall for kay and donna want to hasten her marriage to judson . penny decide to take matter into her own hand and run away . she be take to the local police station where she charm the cop with her rendition of il bacio ( she be try to convince them she be a young opera singer . ) everything end happily with their mother ( nella walker ) sailing over to patch thing up with their dad and in the meantime donna make the acquaintance of the phoney count ( mischa auer ) and sail off to australia with him . highly recommended .