IN SAYING
EVERYTHING ABOUT A MOVIE?
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IN SAYING EVERYTHING ABOUT A MOVIE? |
| GIRL CRAZY (director: Norman Taurog; screenwriters: Fred F. Finklehoffe/Dorothy Kingsley/William Ludwig/Sid Silvers/from play by Guy Bolton and Jack McGowan; cinematographers: William H. Daniels/Robert H. Planck; editor: Albert Akst; music: George and Ira Gershwin; cast: Mickey Rooney (Danny Churchill Jr.), Judy Garland (Ginger Gray), Gil Stratton (Bud Livermore), Robert E. Strickland (Henry Lathrop), Rags Ragland (Rags), June Allyson (Specialty Solo), Nancy Walker (Polly Williams), Tommy Dorsey (Himself), Guy Kibbee (Dean Phineas Armour), Henry O'Neill (Mr. Churchill Sr.), Howard Freeman (Governor Tait), Frances Rafferty (Majorie Tait, governor's daughter); Runtime: 99; MPAA Rating: NR; producer: Arthur Freed; Warner Home Video; 1943) |
| "The
highlight of the film is all the bouncy Gershwin brother tunes."
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz Girl Crazy
had been filmed before by RKO in
1932, starring Bert Wheeler and Robert
Woolsey. It was remade in 1965 as When The Boys Meet The Girls with
Connie Francis. Girl Crazy has the less intense Norman Taurog
("Bundles
of
Joy"/"Pardners"/"Blue Hawaii") take over the directing chores from
Busby Berkeley, after the excellent choreographer staged only one
number (which was the finale
built around "I Got Rhythm").
This made Garland and the producers happy, as Berkeley's authoritarian
ways were not pleasing the studio honchos or some of the performers.
The highlight of the film is all the bouncy Gershwin brother tunes,
such as "Embraceable You," "Fascinatin' Rhythm," "Lady Be Good," "But
Not For Me," "Bidin' My Time," "Could You Use Me?" and "I Got Rhythm."
The film's downfall is that the
predictable story from the play by
Guy Bolton and Jack
McGowan, that's written by
Fred F. Finklehoffe, Dorothy
Kingsley, William Ludwig and Sid Silvers, couldn't be more lame. This is the ninth of ten movies in which
both Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland
appear together, as the two have a good chemistry together. New
York spoiled rich playboy Danny Churchill,
Jr.'s (Mickey Rooney) latest Broadway nightclub out escapade makes
scandalous headlines, so his
ashamed famous publisher father, Danny, Sr. (Henry O'Neill
), ships junior out West to a small
mining male college called Cody. Danny
soon meets the cute Ginger Gray (Judy Garland), the local postmistress
and granddaughter of Dean Armour (Guy Kibbee), who snubs the womanizer
after he puts some moves on her. After a bumpy horse ride to a singing
jamboree and rejection by his cowboy classmates, Danny tells the dean
he's quitting. But he stays that night for the popular
Ginger's birthday party, and becomes
smitten with her. Learning the state college will be closed because of
not enough students, Danny turns altruistic and stays at Cody to
organize a rodeo and beauty contest to be annually sponsored by the
college in the hope the publicity will draw enough applicants so the
governor will keep the school open after the thirty day reprieve he
gave it. Of course, things work out just peachy. Nancy Walker and Rags Ragland offer comic relief, while Tommy Dorsey has his big band play at the
rodeo. REVIEWED ON 6/12/2010 GRADE: B- Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews" © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DENNIS SCHWARTZ |