Girl Crazy

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.

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.

I saw this early RKO musical-comedy only for the music. The tagline, "Sensational Gershwin Songs", intrigued me so I wanted to see it. Though it has two Gershwin songs, including the memorable "I Got Rhythm", "Girl Crazy" is less a full-fledged musical than an endearingly riotous comedy, one of the funniest I have seen. IT is so funny, it hurts! The last time I laughed so hard in a movie was a Laurel & Hardy Two-Reeler called "Two Tars"(1928).

It has one hilarious gag after another. I wouldn't spoil the fun, but the "hypnotism" scene involving Woolsey & Wheeler and the buffoonish cowboy is priceless.

If you like Marx Bros, you will definitely like "Girl Crazy".

This movie isn't really that good a version of the 1930 Broadway Gershwin musical, as it leaves the songs aside and is reworked as more of a comedy vehicle for Wheeler and Woolsey. Eddie Quillan and Arline Judge are the flotsam hero and heroine – not really needed, except to murder ‘But Not For Me'. Dorothy Lee is pretty much wasted with little to do (just a couple of scenes and one song with Bert Wheeler – the classic Ella Fitzgerald later made famous, ‘You've Got What Gets Me').

The best bits really are the ones that are purely silly: the hypnotism scenes between the boys and the bad guy; the cacti dancing to ‘I Got Rhythm' (oddly sung here as ‘I've Got Rhythm' by sparky Kitty Kelly); Mitzi Green and her imitations (particularly of George Arliss!); little Wheeler elected as sheriff and then chased by the village heavy; and the long-distance taxi ride early in the film with the cardboard cop.

So the good news is it is a funny film with lots to enjoy on that front; however this movie doesn't do justice to the stage show; and the photography does most of the cast no favours.

Almost everyone involved hated this film – Quillan and Lee didn't see the finished article until several decades later and the songs are dealt with inappropriately. What a pity that the best movie versions of the Gershwin shows (Porgy and Bess; An American in Paris; and of course the remake of Girl Crazy, in 1943) came after George Gershwin died.

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.