Girl Crazy

This is one of two filmed versions of George & Ira Gershwin's musical-Girl Crazy-I'm reviewing on this site. This one stars Bert Wheeler & Robert Woolsey as they end up in the West. Child performer Mitzi Green does some imitations during the "But Not for Me" number. Bert has another number with frequent female co-star Dorothy Lee. Kitty Kelly does the "I Got Rhythm" song which was partly choreographed by Busby Berkeley who later did that number in the Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland version of GC. Oh, and among the players is Stanley Fields who makes a very funny nemesis for the comedy team. I mainly remember him as the sheriff in my favorite Laurel & Hardy movie, Way Out West. In summary, this version of Girl Crazy may not have a lot of the Gershwins' songs but it does have plenty of hilarity so there's that! P.S. Norman Taurog did retakes for this movie. He'd eventually direct the Mickey/Judy version of GC.

As this is one of the projects that young David Selznick did as a producer for Radio pictures before moving on to MGM and his own production company, it's shocking to think that this man (somehow universally celebrated for his taste) could have taken the great 1930 Broadway musical featuring Ethel Merman and Ginger Rogers and reduced it to a Wheeler & Woolsey slapstick comedy; in the process, Selznick eliminated most of its great Gershwin songs among them "Bidin' My Time" and "Embraceable You" and treated the other immortal tunes like "But Not For Me" as novelty numbers. An appalling example of how old Hollywood didn't recognize genius when it stared it in the face.

Unless you are a Wheeler & Woolsey enthusiast, you'll find this a complete waste of popcorn. Ostensibly a Gershwin musical (and would legitimately be remade as such), it has the numbers grafted onto a proto-screwball comedy. Nearly everything is turned toward setting up the standard jokes of the pair.

The one exception is Mitzi Green, the thirteen year old "sister." Her moments are golden. I'd never seen her before. She's not a performer in the mold of Shirley and Judy who charm you with their portrayals. You get the impression that this really is how she is, basically.

She does some impressions that lack power today because the targets are mostly forgotten. But she does a dance with two others and continuously gets bumped off. If you've ever done any serious dancing you'll know that what she does is much harder than it seems. This girl shines; wonder whatever happened?

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

Easy. First you remove most of the songs, and then you give one of the most popular comedy teams of the day nothing to work with. All downhill from there. I really don't understand why the producers removed songs and inserted a couple of tuneless ones in their place. The new ones sounded like Gershwin rejects they had stashed in a trunk somewhere. "I Got Rhythm" could have been a show-stopper but it took place in a night club, in one of the most bizarre, surreal musical numbers ever committed to film. I think jaw-dropping is an apt term.

In the early 30's, Wheeler and Woolsey were one of the best comedy teams extant. They had made "Hook,Line and Sinker", and "Half Shot At Sunrise", both in 1930. Now, those were funny pictures with good, funny material. "Girl Crazy" was reissued with "Peach-O-Reno" by Warner Archives collection, and there is hardly an unforced laugh in either one. Dreadfully unfunny movies.

I could go on and on but why bother. My rating is more a reflection of disappointment than anything else. But The Gershwins and Wheeler and Woolsey deserved better.

It is not easy to turn GIRL CRAZY into a disaster, given the Gershwin score and a somewhat serviceable plot - but the creators of this version have succeeded in doing just that. There were six writers given screen credit for this scenario: perhaps that was the problem, or maybe the screenplay was even worse until that number was reached.

The gags (can I call them that if they are not funny?) are so forced, so weak, so juvenile as to make an audience squirm. Wheeler and Woolsey were never worse; at their best (it says here) they were second-raters, with a very limited assortment of poses, gestures, and facial expressions. No one in this cast offers demonstrable talent. An amateur cast (and director) could have done more with the material (I've seen it happen). And let us not overlook totally mindless rendering of "I Got Rhythm" in the film's big production number.

Why did you tell me to watch this?