gkeith_1 Spoilers. Observations. Opinions. A beautiful film. Beautiful Rita. Rita was the star. Wooden Kelly, but second banana. Third banana is Phil Silvers, who was a clumsy dancer at best. Sgt. Bilko, anyone? You Baby Boomers know who you are. Rita came from a family of professional stage dancers. She was remade for film, and here she shines in her seemingly effortless dance filmography. Her family was I think Mexican and/or Spanish. Her widow's peak hairline was altered, her hair was colored red and her last name Cansino was changed to the veddy-English-aristocratic-sounding Hayworth. Kelly was not handsome here. Sorry, Gene. Furthermore, his garish green and yellow dance costume hurt my eyes to look at it. Rita's accompanying chiffon pale yellow and green gown, with matching light green dance pumps, was just delightful, however. I love song and dance musicals. You know that. Here, I am still observing and critiquing places that I feel could use improvements -- and I give kudos in other places. I still give this film a 10, however. John Coudair, old and young, was portrayed by two handsome and distinguished actors. Rita as her grandmother was charming, especially in the Pearlies segment in which the poor young thing is rejected by her fiancé's snotty aristocratic mother. This non-MGM musical did not have the polish and snap that I am used to. The use of Technicolor is a real plus, however. Oh, how I hate black and white musicals even though some of them were very good. I figured, what the hey? Columbia made big bucks from the earlier It Happened One Night, so go ahead and splurge on Cover Girl.One more thing. Sidekicks. Phil Silvers and Eve Arden have no romantic attachments. They are asides, like wallpaper. Eve even has Stonewall for a character nickname. I know it goes with the character's last name of Jackson, but this seems pretty masculine if you ask me. Well, you didn't ask. At least Eve has some beautiful costuming and fancy hats in this film. She can play pool (billiards?) with the big boys.More Baby Boomer nostalgia. Our Miss Brooks' Eve Arden played zany characters in many earlier films before her famous 1950s TV show. Was she later in Grease?Rita wears flat gold dance shoes, to match her beautiful golden gown in the scene in which she runs down the ramp to meet tons of men. Were the men all that short in height? I was thinking. Short men. Was she taller? Was this to make her height stand out? They all then crouched down, in worship of her and to salute her as she floated past them, back up the ramp.

SnoopyStyle Rusty Parker (Rita Hayworth) is a chorus girl dancing at Danny McGuire(Gene Kelly)'s Night Club in Brooklyn. Genius (Phil Silvers) is the m/c performer in the club. She wins the Cover Girl spot in Vanity magazine when she reminds publisher John Coudair (Otto Kruger) of his lost love Maribelle Hicks. Showgirl Maribelle had left John at the altar for her true love, the piano player. It turns out that Maribelle is Rusty's grandmother. Coudair's friend wealthy theatrical producer Noel Wheaton takes an interest in Rusty both personally and in his Broadway show.Rita is a better bombshell than a young ingénue. She doesn't really fit the innocent young thing quite as well. It's great that she's dancing up a storm in this with Kelly and Silvers. The comedy doesn't work well especially with Gene Kelly being possessive of Rita. Don't get me wrong. I get it. I wouldn't want her to go off to do the magazine and everything else after. I would want her to only be in my show too. For the romance to really work, he has to do the best for her no matter what. It's the self sacrifice that sells a true romance. The struggle in Kelly should not be as hard as it is and it takes him too long to get there. It doesn't give Rita's character enough time to change. The dancing is well done with a few good sequences. There are some really big sets for Rita to strut her stuff. Rita is dubbed but that's the standard operating procedure at that time.

utgard14 Chorus girl Rusty Parker (Rita Hayworth) wins a magazine's contest to pick a new cover girl. This is thanks to the magazine's editor (Otto Kruger), who was in love with Rusty's grandmother. Apparently Rusty is the spitting image of Grandma. Anyway, as things usually go in musicals, she must decide between success and love with nightclub owner Danny McGuire (Gene Kelly). Rita is gorgeous, of course, and that's only enhanced by the Technicolor. Her dancing is excellent as well. Kelly is fine in the acting department but the dancing is where he shines. This was the musical that put him on the map and from this point on he was allowed to choreograph his dance routines in films. The movie has comedy backup from Phil Silvers and Eve Arden. Arden is great but Silvers is like everybody's unfunny uncle. The musical numbers are mostly just OK. The highlight songwise is "Long Ago and Far Away." The best dance number is Kelly's solo "Alter Ego" dance. It's not a bad musical but it's not one of my favorites.

preppy-3 Singer/dancer "Rusty" Park (Rita Hayworth) performs at Danny McGuires and is romanced by the owner--Danny (Gene Kelly). She is spotted by a magazine agency and they hire her to become their new cover girl. She becomes an overnight sensation and is happy...but all this fame threatens her romance with Danny.The story is sappy but you don't watch this for the plot! You watch to see Hayworth, Kelly and a young Phil Silvers singing and dancing and there's a LOT of that. The numbers are in bright beautiful Technicolor, Hayworth is incredibly beautiful and the dancing is astonishing. We also have Eve Arden in a small role providing some comic relief. This also has some pleasant if forgettable songs except for the haunting "Long Ago and Far Away" (Oscar-nominated). Also there's the "Alter Ego" dance where Kelly dances with himself! However this isn't perfect. The totally predictable story drags this down a little, it's a bit too long and a little of Silvers comedy goes a long way but it's still well worth watching.Just be careful if you see it on commercial TV. I saw it originally back in the early 1970s on TV...and it was in b&w!