Themes: Boarding School Life, Fish Out of Water, Opposites Attract
Main Cast: Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, June Allyson, Nancy Walker, Gil Stratton, Robert E. Strickland, Rags Ragland
Release Year: 1943
Country: US
Run Time: 99 minutes
Plot
This second film version of the George and Ira Gershwin's Broadway hit Girl Crazy stars reigning MGM musical prince and princess Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland. The 1932 version of Girl Crazy de-emphasized the main plot, building up the comic subplot involving a timorous temporary sheriff and a city slicker con man -- the better to accommodate that film's stars, Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey. The 1943 remake does without the comic relief, concentrating on Rooney, a teenaged playboy who is sent to a Western mining school by his father (Henry O'Neill), in the hopes that the Rooney will forsake his wastrel ways. Judy Garland is cast in the role originated on stage by Ginger Rogers: the feisty, lovelorn frontier postmistress Ginger Gray, who falls in love with the hero -- the difference being that Garland has been promoted from postmistress to the daughter of mining-school dean Phineas Armour (Guy Kibbee). The new plot involves a contest for rodeo queen, pitting Ginger against Marjorie Tait (Frances Rafferty), who is also her rival for Rooney's affections. The contest serves a double purpose: Rooney is hoping that the publicity engendered by the rivalry will attract students to the failing school, proof positive that for all of his bravado, he's a swell, altruistic guy underneath. These plot complications are merely prologue for a gargantuan musical finale built upon the Gershwin standard "I Got Rhythm," staged by the film's original director, Busby Berkeley. Other musical carryovers from the stage play include "Embraceable You," "Bidin' My Time," and "But Not for Me." Featured in the cast are June Allyson, Rags Ragland, and the Tommy Dorsey Band. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
While Girl Crazy falls solidly into the Mickey Rooney-Judy Garland "let's put on a show" series, it has a few touches that distinguish it. Chief among these is that, unlike in most of the others, Garland and Rooney are not playing kids. True, they're still students, but at least they're in college, and they get to act (within the constraints of a typical musical of the period) like adults. The "gee whiz" and "golly gee" atmosphere is gone, and in its place, the two get to engage in a little Astaire-Rogers styled "adversarial romantics." Crazy is also different in that the theatrical world is not at the forefront until the film is half over. And finally, Crazy uses a large chunk of the score from the original stage musical, rather than jettisoning most songs and replacing them with inferior versions. The fact that the characters are older really gives the stars something to act this go-round, and they do a wonderful job. Rooney is still occasionally a bit too energetic, but for the most part it's a restrained and winning performance. And Garland -- who never looked better than she does here -- gives one of her finest performances. The material may not give her the chance to stretch that, say, A Star Is Born, would -- but the effectiveness and variety of her performance with such light material is all the more noteworthy. Vocally, she's in fine voice, with a melancholy "But Not for Me," a deadpan "Bidin' My Time," and a grand "I Got Rhythm." Nancy Walker is enjoyable but wasted in a role that gives her little to do; by contrast, June Allyson, with just one chorus of the opening number, has rarely been better. The "Rhythm" number, by Busby Berkeley, is great fun, but all of Girl Crazy is fine entertainment. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Guy Kibbee - Dean Phineas Armour; Frances Rafferty - Marjorie Tait; Henry O'Neill - Mr. Churchill, Sr.; Howard Freeman - Gov. Tait; Irving Bacon - Reception Clerk; Barbara Bedford - Churchill's Secretary; William Bishop - Radio Man; Karin [Katharine] Booth - Girl; Harry C. Bradley - Governor's Crony; Hazel Brooks; Jess Lee Brooks - Buckets; Jimmy Butler; Georgia Carroll; Chief Many Treaties - Indian Chief; Fred Coby - Radio Man; Charles Coleman - Maitre d'Hotel; Inez Cooper; Harry Depp - Nervous Man; Sarah Edwards - Governor's Secretary; Mary Elliott - Southern Girl; Bess Flowers - Committee Woman; Carol Gallagher - Blonde; Joe "Corky" Geil; Bill Hazlett - Indian Chief; Rose Higgins - Indian Squaw; Peter Lawford - Bit Part; Peggy Leon; Alphonse Martell - Waiter; Noreen Nash; Spec O'Donnell - Fiddle Player; Victor Potel - Stationmaster; Henry Roquemore - Fat Man; Tommy Dorsey & His Band - Themselves; James Warren; Lillian West; Eve Whitney - Brunette/Showgirl; Sidney Miller - Ed; Don Taylor - Boy; Ted Offenbecker - Messenger; Ken Stewart - Student; Vangie Beilby; Sally Cairns - Checkroom Girl; Helen Dickson; Natalie Draper; Richard Kipling - Dignified Man; Sandra Morgan; Kay Williams - Blonde; William Beaudine, Jr. - Tom; Linda Deane - Showgirl; John Estes; Mary Jane French; Julia Griffith; Aileen Haley; Bob Lowell - Boy; Frances McInerney; Blanche Rose; Roger Moore - Cameraman
Production began with Busby Berkeley as director, but Berkeley was fired after continued run-ins with Garland. An elaborate production number set to "I Got Rhythm" was his only major contribution to the film. Norman Taurog, who went on to direct Elvis Presley's rock and roll musicals, took over.
Girl Crazy was released on DVD for the first time as part of Warner Bros. five-disc DVD set The Mickey Rooney & Judy Garland Collection on September 25, 2007. The set contains Girl Crazy, Babes in Arms, Babes on Broadway, and Strike Up the Band. A fifth bonus disc includes one number ("I Got Rhythm") in stereo, although stereo tracks exist for all the film's musical numbers. MGM technicians transferred the original multi-channel optical film tracks to 1/4" audiotape when ordered to destroy all the elements in the early 1950s; these surviving tracks were released on a stereo CD in 1995.
