Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Although I've never worshiped at the Judy Garland throne, I've always thought she was quite good. But, excepting "The Wizard Of Oz", I've never seen her be quite as good as she was here. Good...hell, great! And all the more interesting since this was her first "adult" role. Her performance here of "After You've Gone" is just fantastic.But, while I give Garland full credit for her wonderful performance here, I do have some criticisms of the film. The chief being the same criticism that preview audiences originally had -- that Gene Kelly's character here was not redeemable, and that Garland's character should have married the more trustworthy character played by George Raft. The patriotic frenzy through which Kelly's character supposedly redeems himself seemed corny, in a movie about vaudeville which was not corny.I'm not saying that Gene Kelly didn't perform well here. He did. It was his role that was problematic. Although, as good as Kelly was, here he proves once again that he was not Fred Astaire.From what I read, George Murphy's role was watered down due to audience criticisms of Kelly winning Garland at the end of the film. Murphy was a very sympathetic character here, and it is clear why the audience preferred his character over Kelly's.Ben Blue was genuinely disappointing here. Was he really this lousy, or was he playing a character who was a third banana? I'm not sure, but I was not impressed.Interesting to see Keenan Wynn here in an uncredited role as a theatrical agent.While the film is, in my view, flawed, do watch it to revel in Judy Garland's performance.

Terrific plot underscores this great 1942 musical starring Gene Kelly, Judy Garland and George Murphy. While Murphy is relegated to a totally supporting role in this film, it was more than worth it as he holds his own.The musical numbers including the title song are marvelously staged. The tempo picks up as classic World War 1 songs are sung by Miss Garland and Mr. Kelly.You would never think that a Garland-Kelly musical with the two falling in love and fighting off temptation to abandon each other so as to advance in their careers would fall upon such tragedy here. Who would ever expect that the plot would finally revolve about Kelly's way to avoid selective service so that he could play at his beloved Palace Theater, only to incur the wrath of Garland whose brother is killed in the war.This was definitely the best of the 3 films that Garland and Kelly made together. The others were "The Pirate" (1948) and Garland's last film for MGM-"Summerstock," in 1951Note that this film came only after 3 years of Judy's "The Wizard of Oz," and yet she shows a phenomenal maturity here thus breaking out of her teenage role tradition. It was all uphill for Judy after this one.Who sang for Martha Eggert in the film? Whoever it was did a fantastic job.This heartwarming piece is a piece of Americana at its best.

Okay, I'm not one for musicals, but the cover of the DVD case was shiny and colorful so I decided to pick it up. I'll begin with the happy ending. Being a manly-man, the whole happy ending thing isn't really necessary but this one certainly made me all tingly inside. I swear to God I didn't cry. Settle down. I actually enjoyed Gene Kelly's performance. The song-writing was actually well done, in my opinion. I enjoyed the "Me and My Gal" song most of all. The directing was well done. The was a relatively low feeling of verisimilitude, however. It's not a big deal, really. The film was supposed to feel more like fantasy than anything else. I'm not going to openly admit that I saw this movie so I probably won't recommend it to anybody...unless it's a chick I'm trying to impress.

The only aspect of FOR ME AND MY GAL that displeased me was the fact that GEORGE MURPHY (who was originally set to star opposite Judy in the Gene Kelly role) didn't have enough to do--and certainly his dancing talent is not seen to advantage here. MGM could have built up his role a little more.But other than that, everything else about the film is right on track. JUDY GARLAND and GENE KELLY (in his first film) make a wonderful team, each complementing the other in a way that never makes it appear either one is trying to upstage the other performer. But let's face it--any time Garland is involved in a song or dance it's just plain hard to watch anyone else.Released during the start of World War II, it's a look back at the nostalgic songs of World War I, and the most delightful scene occurs pretty early in the film--the coffee shop number to "For Me and My Gal", simple in execution (without a trace of Busby Berkeley's usual fancy stuff), but all the more charming for its simplicity.It's the story of vaudeville entertainers. Kelly plays a brash young man (very much in the same vein as the man he played on Broadway in PAL JOEY), who's so intent on making it big in show biz that he deliberately avoids the draft by hurting his hand so that he's unable to be drafted. Animosity between him and his sweetheart grows when she learns the truth about his "accident". Of course, as in all such musicals of the '40s, all is resolved for a happy ending and the end of World War I.It's handsomely produced in the MGM manner, in glorious B&W cinematography, a songfest for nostalgic tunes of the period, and guaranteed to please the fans of Judy and Gene.