Girl Crazy

Lively musical, but what else can you expect from those two sparkplugs, Garland and Rooney. Actually, Rooney is more restrained than usual which helps. Garland is in fine form, especially with the Embraceable You number, which is also very well staged and choreographed. I like the western setting, unusual for an A-musical, but it works. However, the curtain-closing I Got Rhythm appears over-done, especially the six-gun fusillade. Then too, those marching phalanxes of cowboys and girls are unmistakably Busby Berkeley at work. The plot's a typical Let's Put on a Show, only this time it's to rescue a college's floundering enrollment. The show's also a good excuse to parade around a lot of statuesque beauties, but who's complaining. Too bad, this was the dynamic duo's last pairing— together they certainly light up the screen.

Mickey Rooney has been disgracing papa Henry O'Neill by hanging out in night clubs instead of the Yale Quad, so he ships him out west where he encounters Judy Garland. There are some subplots, but it's mostly about Miss Garland singing Gershwin songs and Rooney mugging.

It's a transitional musical from the Freed unit. MGM had been doing musical extravaganzas in the 1930s, and operettas starring Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. The Arthur Freed unit was evolving the musical into the new Broadway style, in which the songs advanced or expounded on the plot, instead of stopping the horse race while Jolson did bird imitations. This one has some big musical numbers involving the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, and it has some numbers that comment on the characters' states of mind like "Could You Use Me?", and the lovely "But Not For Me". It also has numbers more suited for a revue like "Biding My Time." So musically it's a mixed bag, except for the fact that it's all Gershwin tunes.

You can't fault any music by George Gershwin, but you can raise your eyebrows at some of the self-indulgent lyrics by Ira Gershwin, full of all-too-clever feminine rhymes instead of honest sentiment -- and some unfortunate arrangements, like an orchestral swing version of "Fascinating Rhythm" that reduces the rhythm to nothing under the Dorsey syrup.

Even so, the enormous energy and talent of Rooney and Garland carry this movie easily over the finish line, and if the production number of "I Got Rhythm" is directed by Busby Berkeley is over the top, the starring pair triumph over its rigorous and meaningless spectacle.

Talent like that, when not together in the same film, make any of their work worth seeing. When together in the same film, the results are unmissable. While Mickey Rooney is a take/leave performer dependent on the material to me, Judy Garland and the Gershwin Brothers are lifelong favourites and Busby Berkeley has done some of the most jaw-dropping routines in musicals.

If one is a fan of at least one of these people, 'Girl Crazy' is a must watch. As far as Rooney and Garland pairings go, it's one of their better efforts and as a musical it's incredible. People may find faults with it as an overall film, but it succeeds mostly brilliantly for what it is and what it aimed to do.

'Girl Crazy' is not quite flawless, but the cons are far outweighed by the pros and the pros are enormous. The story is thin and silly with parts being wrapped up too easily and a few of Rooney's antics are somewhat overdone and hammy.

However, even when not in Technicolor (imagine how even better "I Got Rhythm" would have been), 'Girl Crazy' still looks lovely in crisp black and white and with elegant production design. It particularly shines in Garland's "But Not For Me" which sees her at perhaps her most luminous. George and Ira Gershwin's songs are simply magnificent, especially "I Got Rhythm" (one of their most famous, iconic even, songs for a reason), "Bidin' My Time" and "Embraceable You". A big honourable mention is "But Not For Me", of which there has never been a more touching rendition of.

The songs are further benefited from being staged in a great mix of liveliness and tenderness. The big finale for "I Got Rhythm" is a little overblown but extraordinary in energy, charm and spectacle, though also loved the sophistication for "Could You Use Me?". In general too, they are phenomenally performed, the prime examples being "But Not For Me" and the dynamite contribution from Tommy Dorsey.

Scripting is suitably witty and there is tremendous energy and charm throughout. Rooney is more restrained than usual yet still has his boundless energy, even better is luminous and affecting Garland in magisterial voice. Their chemistry is wonderful and gels very well indeed and more. Rags Ragland and Nancy Walker are standouts in support.

Overall, hugely entertaining and while not quite a masterpiece 'Girl Crazy's' a must watch. 8/10 Bethany Cox

I ignored this movie for years thinking it was just another over-exuberant essay in the over-abundant MGM collection of sappy adolescent musicals. I'm glad that listening to an English revival of the original musical finally motivated me to watch it, because some of the best musical numbers ever put on film are here. Busby Berkeley started as the director but was replaced for supposedly tyrannical behavior. His production numbers appear at the end and are quite amazing, choreographing "I've Got Rhythm" with guns and bullwhips. All the numbers on this movie are quite exceptional, in particular "Biding My Time" one of the Gershwin brothers' finest and most surprising tunes, but also "Treat Me Rough" and "Could You Use Me". And the arrangements are some of the best I've ever heard, anticipating the harmonies of the Hi-Los and the Four Freshmen by a decade and a half. Judy has never looked prettier nor sung as purely and Mickey pulls out all the stops without (well, almost) going over the top. He even plays a terrific piano solo, with Tommy Dorsey! I never get tired of watching this movie. It's an explosion of pure pleasure.

This Gershwin musical, first staged in 1930 (and filmed, not altogether successfully from a musical point of view, by RKO in 1932) gets another movie version, this time tailored for the talents of MGM's two top young stars, Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney.

The original story gets ditched and in place we get the usual 'kids putting on a show' stuff that Judy and Mickey did in all their collaborations during the 1930s/40s. The songs are done very well - Judy sings 'But Not For Me' and it is absolutely stunning, the way she is photographed during this sequence really complementing the beautiful melody of the song. 'Embraceable You', an unforgivable omission from the '32 version (it was filmed but then scrapped on the wisdom of David Selznick) is back. So Judy is great, while Mickey does the same bubbly act as always but he certainly had talent.

Perhaps one day we'll see a version which does justice to both the original plot as staged *and* the score. Neither the '32 or '43 versions quite got there - but both are worth your time, if only for quite different reasons.