TinsHeadline Touches You

ScoobyMint Disappointment for a huge fan!

Burkettonhe This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.

Tobias Burrows It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

mark.waltz With only three film appearances together, Gene Kelly and Judy Garland became a team with enough dynamite to blow memories of Judy and Mickey out of the barn. Fresh from Broadway, Gene never looked back as he took Hollywood by storm, and within a few years, was rivaling another dancer named Astaire who came back from a brief retirement to give Mr. Kelly, if I may, a run for his money. Here, Gene and Judy get a war story, timely for the time, even if the war they were fighting was the first World War, not the then current second one. They are members of separate vaudeville acts who come together as one, he replacing her old partner George Murphy (not a bad hoofer himself), and as fast as you can scramble to find a big yellow tulip, they are in love. But when their chance to hit the big time through the Palace in New York comes along, Gene is drafted, and his old selfish nature erupts which makes him not only unpatriotic but his own worst enemy.Like "This is the Army!", this takes the audience out to view the entertainers on the front, sometimes in dangerous areas of combat, and after realizing the mistake he made, Kelly is desperate not only to fight but to make his girl proud and win her back. But will he find her on the French trenches? Can Judy belt? Can Gene tap? Will Leo roar? Along the way, there's Judy and Gene "Ballin' the Jack", turnin' out the title song and briefly singing the rousing "When You Wore a Tulip" which had a hit recording where the two addressed each other by their real names. "I wore a big red rose!", to which Judy replies "A big fat rose", a memorable duet truncated for the movie much to this Judy fan's disappointment. Judy also gives a fantastic rendition of "After You've Gone", one of the best torch numbers of her career, showing all the emotion she would later empower with "A Star is Born". Gene's selfish character may have made certain audience members "boo" during the war, and it does seem as if he'll never turn over a new leaf or wake up and smell the chock full o' nuts. But MGM had "patriotism" on its mind in 1942, and there is no way it could let a leading man (especially a new one they intended to make a big star) remain "yeller". That old task masker Busby Berkley is once again at the helm of a Judy picture, and if he was taxing her as dramatized in her many biographies, it never shows. The chemistry between Judy and Gene is top dog and any indication of her teenage "Nobody's Baby" glamourless girl is totally gone. She's a star all the way from here, and Gene would rejoin her for two more musical ventures of varying themes where the memory of their first venture proved to be much more than a fluke.

weezeralfalfa Perfect training material for prospective manic-depressives, as a series of emotional roller coaster rides punctuate this story. Short on comedy and relatively short on dancing and elaborate stage numbers, it features no new song, but plenty of standards of the early 20th century and WWI era, mostly sung by Judy, sometimes accompanied by others. The most memorable musical number is the one not performed on a stage:the title song, which became 'their song' for Judy and Gene. Their duet, followed by a dance, was a show stopper. Ironically, only a few minutes before this scene, Judy(as Jo) still has Kelly (as Harry) pegged as a fast-talking small-time bore of a stage comedian, with an over-sized ego and ambition. Especially in the first half of the film, Kelly's character clearly is largely taken from the lead character, Joey Evans, which Kelly had just played, in the Broadway production of "Pal Joey". Although Harry's first stage performance was as a costumed clown, who does a bit of dancing and gymnastics, there was little effective comedy in this production. Ben Blue, who showed up periodically,was supposed to be the main comic relief, but I found his limited physical comedy quite flat.We see part of Kelly's clown act repeated in "The Pirate", and I'm sure I heard a few bars of "Be a Clown" at the end of his act, but supposedly that wasn't composed until 6 years later! Kelly would provide much of the comedy in many of his subsequent films. He would also have much more effective comedic talents to partner with, including: Phil Silvers, Don O'Connor, Jules Mushin, Betty Garrett, Van Johnson, Dan Daily, and even Jerry, the Mouse!Vaudevillian George Murphy, who originally was slated to take Kelly's male lead role,got bumped to mostly a male shoulder to cry on, when Judy or Kelly was being blue or in trouble. Actually, he had two stage performance roles near the beginning. He is the male lead in the "Oh, You Beautiful Doll" stage production,within which Judy's "Don't Leave Me Daddy" is sandwiched. Again, he partnered with Judy in "By the Beautiful Sea", which was interwoven into Ben Blue's supposed comedic "The Ocean Roll" dance routine.I don't know what possessed them to cast Martha Eggerth, as Eve Minard, Jo's competition for Harry, at one point. Her operatic singing style seemed so out of place, like Judy had to compete against Dianna Durbin, all over again. Perhaps the point was that Harry was willing to do whatever it took to achieve his ambition of getting into acts at the Broadway Palace. In any case, the cordial exchange between Judy and Martha in Martha's apartment and the subsequent tense exchange between Judy and Kelly in Judy's room,is one of the melodramatic highlights of the film.Will Harry prove what Eve said about his character? Another melodramatic crisis occurs when Harry intentionally injures his hand to avoid being immediately drafted into the army, followed by a telegram saying that Jo's beloved brother has been killed in action. Harry now wants to get into the armed serves to avenge the death of Jo's brother, but nobody will take him with his crippled hand, and he can't perform his vaudeville act well with his hand, either. Jo joins the YMCA overseas entertainers unit, and is soon entertaining in France. Later, Harry joins this unit, along with Ben Blue. While near the front, Harry takes advantage of a situation to upstage Sergeant York, in cleaning out a German machine gun nest, and warning an Allied convey about a German patrol ready to ambush them. This was a very risky, illegal, action on his part, but this action has negated his anti-hero image. At a victory performance at the Broadway Palace, Jo is singing various songs, when she spots Harry in the audience. The band then plays "For Me and My Gal", and we know the film is about to end.I noticed that Kelly did a lot smirking at times, near the beginning. Maybe he told to cut this out. Also, in a few places, Judy's acting seemed awkward. Kelly was nearly 30, having spent years in various roles relating to stage productions and in dancing instruction. Before this introduction to film making, he seemed content with stage productions. Beginning with "Cover Girl", he would discover that creating and performing in film dances was the best use of his entertainment talent.Judy and Kelly wouldn't do another film together for another 5-6 years. By that time, Judy was in a bad mental state from her chronic insomnia and drug taking. Nonetheless , she finished the controversial "The Pirate", directed by her then husband. Unfortunately, she was still in this state of mind when she costarred with Kelly in her last MGM film, "Summer Stock". Thus, despite the limitations of the present film, many people find it the most endearing of the 3 films in which she costarred with Kelly.

Spikeopath Harry Palmer is incredibly ambitious, and will do whatever it takes to get to the top of the vaudeville stage. Upon meeting the talented Jo Hayden, he succeeds in getting her to form a double act, but as Jo starts to get attached to Harry, he shows just how much he wants to get to the top, regardless of anyone else's feelings.Tidy and delightful enough tale harking to the pre-WWI days of vaudevillian splendour. Starring Gene Kelly {Harry} in his first motion picture and Judy Garland {Jo} on effervescent form, it's a shame that this Busby Berkeley directed piece isn't the classic that it's stars and production numbers warrants. For Me And My Gal looks and feels like an excuse for MGM to show off, and as great as it is to see Garland and Kelly together {and it's rather joyous actually}, some numbers, particularly Garland's solo's fall a little flat. Yes the title number and the likes of Ballin The Jack are first rate efforts {Bobby Connolly dance directing and not Berkeley}, but counter that with the listless Till we Meet Again and it becomes an up and down picture relying on safe standards material to win us over.The support cast are also straight out of averageville. It was no surprise to me to find out that Garland had George Murphy demoted to the support role of Jimmy Metcalf, thus giving his intended role as Harry to the ebullient Kelly. Because Murphy and Marta Eggerth {Eve Minard} are poor and frankly lack enthusiasm, something that may be applicable to the director also? However the film is saved by it's warmth {the ending is sure to soften the hardest of viewers} and the turn from Kelly. Oozing star quality and hinting at the ego that would drive his career on, Kelly lifts the film out of the threatening passivity. Nice solo on Tramp Dance and a fine duet with Ben Blue {Sid Simms} for Frenchie Frenchie {Oh Frenchy}, Kelly however does still have much to thank Garland for on their shared numbers. They have great chemistry, and as it turns out in the end, Garland was right to insist that Kelly be bumped up to lead man status. Mixed but certainly no time waster, hell the two leads alone demand a venture into it. 6.5/10

Jem Odewahn Very enjoyable MGM musical, with Gene Kelly debuting opposite the wonderful Judy Garland. Kelly never found a regular dancing partner like Astaire, but Judy perhaps came the closest. They have a magical bond whenever they are on-screen together. This is a war-time musical (the end credits tell us to "Buy War Bonds"), and it has plenty of sentiment, but it also has a darker side, with Kelly's attempt at "Draft-dodging". Kelly's screen persona was influenced by his "Pal Joey" stage success, and you can see this influence very clearly in the film. It's directed by Busby Berkely, and there a few musical numbers that are memorable, but it's really just standard stuff. However, the film is enjoyable regardless of the weak songbook because of the charisma of Kelly and Garland, a plot that actually engages us, and works. Garland was never more gorgeous and lovable than she is here.