Producer Joe Pasternak was making “Deanna Durbin pictures” long before he’d discovered Durbin – and indeed, long before he’d left Hungary. Pasternak’s 1935 musical “Peter” stars Franciska Gaal as Eva, a 17-year-old gamine who ekes out a living as a street singer. While wandering past an open courtyard, Eva confronts a young burglar, who orders her to change clothes with him so he can make a quick getaway. With nothing but her newfound male garb to her name, our heroine poses as a boy named Peter so that she can obtain a job selling newspapers. In this guise, she experiences all manner of hilarious misadventures, and even finds true love in the form of a handsome doctor (Hans Jaray). Peter was directed by Herman Kosterlitz, who as Henry Koster would later helm several of Joe Pasternak’s Hollywood musicals. (Hal Erickson, Rovi)Read More »