Fascino

Two of these things are to be expected, the third is a complete surprise (that would be Phil Silvers dancing).

This is a delightful, if longer than it needs to be musical. A sub-plot with flashbacks and probably the worst Jerome Kern number ever written (Poor John), do not contribute enough to make them worthwhile. It's as if they wrote the movie, realized they didn't have enough material to produce a full-length picture, and added these other scenes to "fill it out". They don't work.

It's funny to see a 1940's musical with Gene Kelly (on loan from M-G-M)clearly taking a backseat to his leading lady. His second act number where he dances with himself is one highlight of the film. Other strong points are "Make Way For Tomorrow" and the lovely, "Long Ago And Far Away" (although I thought it odd that the latter number did not have a dance sequence attached to it). "Put Me To The Test", a number where Rita and Gene get to dance together, is a very good number, but the title song does nothing for me, although it is staged wonderfully.

Rita Hayworth is absolutely breath-taking. Her dancing is excellent, and this is clearly a role that suits her. Some of her hair pieces, however are awful. In a few scenes, the color of them do not match the color of her natural hair. Very distracting.

Phil Silvers is wonderful as Genius, Gene and Rita's friend and co-worker. Seeing him dance, especially as well as he did, was a wonderful surprise.

The major problem I had with this movie was that I never believed the relationship between the three leads. I didn't believe that Kelly and Hayworth were in love, or that Kelly and Silvers were real friends. Can't quite put my finger on it, but I didn't buy it.

Excellent supporting work by Eve Arden, Otto Kruger, Edward Brophy and Leslie Brooks.

6 out of 10

Cover Girl (1944)

The war is on, and this musical covered two fronts--escapist entertainment, and good old leggy girls for the guys in uniform (those who got to see it). Betty Grable may have been the unofficial pin up actress in wartime, but Rita Hayworth was one of the real hotties of the 1940s, and another G.I. staple, and she is the visible star of this very colorful musical.

The other star, secondary except in name, is Gene Kelly, who is actually a relief in his scenes, adding some stability to a sometimes frivolous and girly musical. Hayworth is great as a presence, too, for sure, and she does do her own dancing, but her singing voice is dubbed by another vocalist. Third in importance is Eve Arden (for me) playing her usual world-weary wit, in this case in the center of the cover girl search.

An interesting if minor trick to the plot early on is the way they create two plots in two time periods, the present (1944) and forty years earlier. So the musical numbers (and lavish costumes) vary from one period to the other, with Hayworth providing the link. Most of the time, thought, it's the early 1940s with the usual competing romances, and a striving for glory takes off. This was Hayworth's biggest success to date, and she was married to Orson Welles at the time. The movie was a hit, both with audiences and with critics. It even won an Oscar (for the music).

How does it compare to other musicals? Well, for one thing it has totally vivid color, I mean vivid, true three-strip Technicolor (the ultimate), and it helps. The dance numbers are on obvious sets, carefully and beautifully designed. Kelly was instrumental in making the dance numbers work, even dominating the director (Charles Vidor) on this score. You might even see hints of his later more famous musicals (a street scene has echoes of "Singing in the Rain" in set design, without the rain--a cop even ends the scene in both cases). The dancing is something of an evolution from the 1930s Astaire-Rogers dancing which was heavily tap and ballroom kinds of couple numbers. Here we see more choreographed integration with the plot and the scenes.

The story, as the title suggests, has a great theme. Rita's character, Rusty Parker (she has reddish hair, which is common in these Technicolor affairs) is trying to be a cover girl for a magazine contest. Of course, so is everyone else in the country. And they bring it to an amazing climax by presenting "covers" designed for all the major magazines, the real thing from Cosmopolitan to Look. The actual magazines around the country got on board with the movie while it was being made and had their own contests for their covers. One dance number features each of the winning covers, seen through a giant camera lens, and each of the winning girls--so the cover models got a small dose of Hollywood stardom, too. It's fun, and clever, and it sold the film big time.

There is an odd mistake in the movie--when the original Variety cover with Rusty Parker on it is pinned up by her dance friends and rivals, it shows a picture of her looking at the camera. When the camera pulls back for a wider view, it shows a different cover! Parker is looking to one side. Pretty ridiculous boo-boo.

I can't over emphasize how much the production values of the film support it. The color, the photography, the set design, and the editing are all really fabulous. There are two photographers listed, and one is Rudolph Mate who has a number of great Hollywood films to his name (as well as a true legend, the German/Danish "Vampyr" from 1932). Technicolor consultant Natalie Kalmus is in top form (she insisted on certain colors and color pairings that worked best with the film stock).

Kelly was loaned from MGM (to Columbia) for the movie, and he was given liberties in production, making his career jump two notches. The choreography is his, and MGM began to pay attention to him at this point. The great number where he plays against his ghost on the streets is inventive and fun. The production is high here, with true Technicolor, but it lacks the high standards of MGM (see "Singin' in the Rain" for some better echoes). There are lots Broadway based visuals, with sets and contrivances. It only goes so far, and it's so infected by the "cover girl" mentality it drives any normal person not to boredom but to disappointment. I know if I say it's sexist many people think I'm just not getting it, or I'm applying a 21st Century filter to a normal situation back then. But it's an objectifying movie with all the worst stereotyping clichés you can write into a script. And the fact remains that neither Kelly nor Hayworth are what you would call great actors. Likable (and pretty) but limited in their range. It's a musical, yes, and it gets around to real music eventually, and it's no less than Kern and Gershwin. The great song is a quiet number between them, Long Ago and Far Away. Some of the other songs are formula stuff, and you have to hang in there. In fact, you start to realize you are being patient a lot, waiting for the movie to rise up.

Cover Girl's importance lies not in its originality as a book (it's a standard backstage Cinderella story), as much as it does in what happened to each of its stars. Gene Kelly was "loaned out" to do it when MGM boss L.B. Mayer didn't have much use for him at his own studio. His performance in this film, coupled with the ground-breaking 'Alter Ego' dance solo (duo?) was so successful that it made MGM take him seriously at last (he was never loaned out again) and allowed him to flourish with the soon-to-come hits of "Anchors Aweigh," "On The Town," and "An American In Paris." Likewise for Rita Hayworth; Columbia had been grooming her for years, but she had done mostly B-level films. CG showed her off as a lead in glorious Technicolor, and paved the way for GILDA, her signature (and much more adult) role. Here she and Kelly make a sweet couple, and dance well in "Put Me To The Test" and the fresh, energetic "Make Way For Tomorrow." They are at their most poignant in "Long Ago And Far Away," but the number (played on piano by Phil Silvers and sung as they both stack up nightclub chairs) seems to beg for a dance number, then doesn't have one. Another good number is the title tune, which pays tribute to the famous American magazines/cover girl models of the day. Hayworth appears as the last model, running down a curved runway in a gold dress with her flaming mane flying behind her. A dream in Technicolor!!

A good story about Rusty Parker (Rita Hayworth) who dreams of being on broadway which means she would have to leave the small dinner theater where she works with Danny (Gene Kelly) and Genius (Phil Silvers). Rusty is in love with Danny. All three are good friends and every Friday night they go to a local bar where they get oysters so they can look for a pearl (they never eat them). The story line provides numerous opportunities for songs and dancing. The movie has two questions that Rusty must answer: Is fame all that it is cracked up to be? and Is less really more if you are happy? Answering those questions makes the movie. The movie also does a good job of showcasing the talents that all three principals had. Never a dull moment!

Good things about "Cover Girl" - Gene Kelly dancing with his own reflection; the luminous Rita Hayworth; the street dance; "Long Ago and Far Away", the cover girls sequence. Bad things - "Poor John", an unbelievable by-plot about Hayworth's grandmother, and perhaps too much Phil Silvers. But when it is good, it certainly is good. I'd say it passes the time but nothing too mind-boggling in musical terms (although for Columbia it was probably one of the studio's peaks in the genre).