Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9780790750323
Format: Black & White
ISBN: 0790750325
Label: Warner Home Video
Languages: Array
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Warner Home Video
Release Date: 2000-09-19
Running Time: 99
Studio: Warner Home Video
Theatrical Release Date: 1943-11-26

The promise of "One Hundred Beautiful Girls on Horseback" and a personal appearance by the Tommy Dorsey orchestra are among the enticements of this 1943 MGM musical, a typical installment in the Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland let's-put-on-a-show genre. Not typical is the quality of the songbook, which trots out some sublime George and Ira Gershwin tunes: "Embraceable You," "Fascinating Rhythm," and a meltingly plaintive Garland solo on "But Not for Me." The plot has rich kid Rooney, energized as usual, sent away to a boys' school in the Wild West as a way of containing his mania (see title). The only gal in town is Judy, the granddaughter of the school's dean. The stars are affectionately matched, and musical fans will enjoy the young June Allyson belting out a spunky "Treat Me Rough." Rooney's comedy routine, imitating various radio personalities (including boxing champ Joe Louis), is one of those topical bits that will almost certainly puzzle viewers today. The director is Norman Taurog, an MGM workhorse who would later helm many of Elvis Presley's desultory vehicles. Busby Berkeley staged the rave-up finale to "I Got Rhythm," but the most beguiling production number is "Bidin' My Time," sung by Garland and some cowpokes--a droll performance with surrealistic flourishes. Girl Crazy seems no better or worse than the average musical of the era, but it was a huge hit, and Rooney would never reach this pinnacle of box-office success again. --Robert Horton

Customer Rating:
Summary: Original sound track of Girl Crazy on CD
Comment: tHE BEST SONGS FROM THE FILM ARE ALL HERE. VERY REPRESENTATIVE OF THE TIME PERIOD AND CARRIES TO VOICES OF JUDY GARLAND AND HER FAMOUS CO-STAR M ROONEY. THE MOOD AND FLAVOR OF THE TIME IS WELL REPRESENTED.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: DVD NOW !!
Comment: These studios need to release these old musicals on DVD now! We want to enjoy them in all their glory and only remastered DVD will allow that! With a sound track like this its a shame that its not on Dolby Re-Mastered Digital !!!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Loads of Fun, Great Cast
Comment: Girl Crazy is the story of a playboy Danny (Mickey Rooney) from New York whose father has had enough of his behavior. He is sent to an all boy's school out in the west where the boys get up promptly at 5:45, rarely shower, and find solace in riding horses all day. Danny certainly doesn't fit in, but he finds he can't complain too much thanks to the presence of Ginger (Judy Garland), the Dean's grand daughter and one of the prettiest girls he's ever seen. When the school is threatened to close, the two join up to find a way to save it.

Rooney is a barrell of fun in this film; his energy is contageous. He's hamming it up in every scene, especially in the "I Got Rhythm" finale. Although he isn't the most handsome of men, he really pulls off being a charming ladies' man, much like he was in life at this time. Garland is breathtakingly gorgeous throughout the film. Her natural charms, heartbreaking voice, and gentle sweetness add up for an amazing character and performance. June Allyson makes her first appearance in an opener that catches the attention quite well. She seems confident, but it is interesting to know that after each song she had to sing on a film, she threw up in the bathroom.

The songs in this film were later compiled for the musical Crazy For You. The lyrics were changed slightly to fit the altered plot, so if one is familiar with that show, it is interesting to see this film too.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: For this moment , Judy Garland & Mickey Rooney were
Comment: at the pinnacle together, in their best & last musical. Judy stayed up there a little longer & Mickey started his decline. Plot? Irrelevant, except to say that Mickey Rooney's character was... girl crazy. It just took up the time between singing & dancing with Tommy Dorsey's band supplying the sound & the Gershwins the music & lyrics, some of their best remembered is in this movie. Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Tommy Dorsey, Ira & George Gershwin.
But there's more!
The finale!
Busby Berkley's send up of "I've Got Rhythm". Truly who could ask for anything more? Judy Garland never looked so good again.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: The best recording of the best Gershwin show
Comment: Put aside any preconceptions about "Mickey and Judy" movies. In fact, just put aside the film entirely. Buy this CD for the music and you'll be glad you did.

Hugh Martin and Ralph Blaine, soon to be famous for their score for "Meet Me in St. Louis," gave this Gershwin score (the best of all their shows), the five-star treatment with fantastic vocal arrangements - though I'm sure Roger Edens also had a hand in there.

What you get are versions that make these great songs sound even better. "Bidin' My Time," which can be a sleeper if done badly, turns into a rich counterpoint between Judy and a male quartet. "Embraceable You" is given an easy, lightly swinging full choral arrangement after Judy does the definitive solo version, and "I Got Rhythm" is taken over the top with Tommy Dorsey and the "Six Hits and A Miss" backing Judy perfectly.

But the piece de resistance is Dorsey's arrangement of "Fascinatin' Rhythm," presented first as a typical swing arrangement (and a great one at that), and then with Mickey miming Arthur Schutt's piano solo a la Gershwin's "Variations on I Got Rhythm," complete with hand-crossing and all George's piano tricks - fantastic!

Add to this Judy's painfully tender version of "But Not For Me," June Allyson's debut performance of "Treat Me Rough," and the happily restored "Bronco Busters," and you have one of the best film scores ever.

To top it all off, Rhino dicovered that all the tracks had been recorded in multichannel sound and then mixed down to mono for the film's release. Remix them to stereo and you have state-of-the-art sound, recorded on 35mm film, not on 79 rpm dics, for awesome sound quality - this does not sound like some tinny soundtrack, trust me.

If you are a Gershwin fan, this CD must be in your collection!

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