Thanks for so many interesting reviews. Alas, wasting the talents of its stars meant I feel compelled to give it such low score despite Judy Garland's delightful number, "But Not for Me".This has badly dated both in terms of its excessive slapstick (Rooney doing a Lou Costello ride on a wild horse), silly slang gags ("snerdy") and a plethora of lame wisecracks from Rooney ("I'm free, white and ready ...") taking up almost half the dialogue.And it's little wonder that Garland agitated for Busby to be replaced as its Director, given how unimaginatively his big finale scene is staged.Remember, this was made at least a year after the Pearl Harbour attack, yet it conveys nothing of the massive changes sweeping through American society during that era.

Fricke in his DVD comment says this is the best of the four produced by Arthur Freed of the Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland films. Which to my way of thinking--this was the least annoying of the four films. Granted the Gershwin words and music is a draw; Tommy Dorsey's orchestra playing the tunes is a draw; Judy Garland's rendition of the tunes is a draw, and about as good a reason as any to see the movie. The weakest link in the film was Mickey Rooney. Not to take away from his talent in dancing, in miming--he has got to be the most annoying actor in Hollywood. How he was ever rated as a top draw player is anyone's guess--apparently, he outdrew the likes of Clark Gable. But for my taste, he detracts from the films. And these films are so flimsy, so shallow, such an embarrassment--they need all the help they can get--and Mickey Rooney is of no help.And yet, having written that, I can't imagine another actor working with Judy Garland. He is so annoying, and by contrast, she is excellent.Even by the standards of films made in the 1930s--I can think of dozens that are better than this; Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers never descended into the bathos the Rooney Garland films seem to delight. The Rooney Garland films are not films that demand replaying--they tire with one viewing. While one never tires of anything Rogers & Hammerstein, never tires of "My Fair Lady", "The Music Man", "Gigi", Astaire & Rogers, "Three Penny Opera", even the Busby Berkeley films are never tiresome in the way these four Rooney Garland vehicles are tiresome. And fortunately, Judy Garland was to go on and produce excellence as she grew older. The Gershwin tunes are the best they had produced; Judy Garland's rendition of the tunes was excellent; Tommy Dorsey was excellent. But all that excellence cannot make a flimsy and silly story into a great film, not even a mediocre film--just a tolerable film. And when one of the major actors is so annoying, nothing can overcome that level of annoyance.

Maybe it's just so dated, but I was expecting to really enjoy this film...but I didn't. I found it "passable". Maybe it was that it takes place at an all-boy's college out in the desert. Maybe its that for most of the film there are only two females -- Judy Garland and Nancy Walker (with an early brief appearance by June Allyson...worth watching because her musical number seemed so "not-June"). It was well into the film before I found a musical number I really enjoyed -- Judy Garland singing "Embraceable You". The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra's arrangement of "Fascinating Rhythm" is extended and "socko"! And there is a rousing finale that really demonstrates the talent of Rooney and Garland. But beyond these few highlights, the plot's pretty thin, same old same old for Garland and Rooney...talented though they are.

Girl Crazy (1943) *** (out of 4) Playboy Danny Churchill (Mickey Rooney) has one good time too many so his father sends him out West to attend a school that "hasn't seen a girl since the Civil War." Once out there he's tortured by the fact that there's nothing to do but there is one girl (Judy Garland) and he plans on stealing her heart. Believe it or not but this MGM film is actually a remake of a 1932 Wheeler and Woolsey film, which I haven't seen but it's doubtful to be anything like this here. Many consider this to be one of the greatest teamings of Rooney and Garland and I probably wouldn't disagree. This movie pretty much has a little bit of everything from comedy to drama to of course the music, which is the real reason to check the film out. Garland gets to do several classic numbers including But Not For Me, Embraceable You, Biding My Time and Could You Use Me, which is a duet with Rooney. The big number is I've Got Phythm, which comes at the very end of the film and certainly has you leaving the film with a tremendous bang. Apparently original director Berkeley was fired because this sequence went over-budget, which one can look at the scene and see why. The story here is a pretty good one, although I'm sure many will have a hard time seeing Rooney as a playboy. I thought he was just fine in the role and his comic timing really helped things, especially early on including a sequence where he's trying to walk to the college but each new sign keeps repeating that he only has eight more miles to go. There's another very good sequence early on when he meets Garland who is working on her car that has broken down in the street. The scene goes on a lot longer than you'd expect but both actors do a very good job with it and make it quite memorable. Going through these Rooney and Garland movies makes one amazed at how charming they were together. No matter what they were doing it really seemed like they had genuine smiles on their faces and got a real kick out of acting together. Each time they were in a scene I couldn't help but feel that I was watching something real between them. Guy Kibbee, Gil Stratton, Rags Ragland and June Allyson are nice in their roles as is Nancy Walker is a quick comic bit. The film has pretty much everything Musical fans will want and everything is at such a high level that this thing is easy to recommend.