This is one of my favorite of the Judy Garland movies. Being a big fan of her and her music, I've seen at least fifteen of her films, and this made it as my #2. 19 year-old Garland is our film's star, and top-billed for the first time. Besides her, this movie features Gene Kelly, fresh off from Broadway and in his first feature film. Alongside them is the always reliable George Murphy, who last starred with Garland in Little Nellie Kelly (1940). While Garland did play an adult for part of Little Nellie Kelly, this was the first film in which she had a complete adult role. We also have a guest in Marta Eggerth, an experienced opera singer who has a small part in this movie, and had a more significant part in Garland's next film, Presenting Lily Mars (1943).Garland easily shined above the rest. Being in her fifteenth picture, she was already a polished actress, and it definitely shows in some of the more dramatic moments. Her singing was just wonderful, having reached a new level of maturity. Her dancing was actually very good considering she was never actually a dancer. But she could pick up anything thrown her way. She was perfect.Kelly was a good co-star. Being as inexperienced as he was, he still acted pretty well, but that inexperience did show at some points. His dancing was brilliant of course, he was one of the best dancers at the time, second only to Fred Astaire. He was never really a singer, but he was okay. Murphy, sadly, was grossly underplayed, especially in the love triangle, but he did well as a supporting character. I wish he had gotten a little more screen time.The songs were wonderful. I find myself singing them all around my house. The sets were well put together and the plot was mostly tight. The ending was obviously tacked on, but I was able to ignore it.But my absolute favorite part of the movie was when Garland and Kelly sang "For Me and My Gal." I was actually surprised that it was played less than twenty minutes in, considering it was the title song, but I loved it all the same. I consider it to be one of the famous magical movie moments. The pacing, the dancing, the accompaniment, it was all so perfect. And of course, it was sung by the person Fred Astaire called, "The greatest entertainer of all time," Judy Garland.This movie will definitely put you in a good mood, despite its minor flaws. And for Garland fans such as myself, it will be a delight. The bells are ringing For Me and My Gal.

Very few people have as auspicious debut in film as Gene Kelly did in For Me And My Gal. After a big success on Broadway in Pal Joey, Judy Garland pushed for him to be signed to an MGM contract and he was given to her as one of her leading men in this film. Kelly proved to be such a success in film that he next went back to Broadway in 1957 as a director of Flower Drum Song. But even Judy or anyone else could not have predicted that Kelly would be the major creative dancing icon he became, the only real rival that Fred Astaire ever had in film. George Murphy who was Kelly's rival for Judy Garland in the film was a good song and dance man, but never created on the screen the way Kelly did.In fact Murphy in his memoirs says that in the original ending he was supposed to wind up with Judy Garland instead of Kelly, that it was changed midpoint during shooting. Of course he didn't like that idea, but looking at the film, it so much works out for the better.Still Judy is the star and she and the rest of the cast get to sing a whole bunch of songs from the teen years of the last century, some numbers identified with the World War I years. She plays a young aspiring Vaudevillian in an act with Murphy, Lucille Norman, and Ben Blue. Kelly is also an aspiring Vaudevillian who wants to rise in the profession, but he will do just about anything to insure that happens and even love for Judy can't quite put a curb on his ruthlessness.In 1942 there will people in the audience who remembered Vaudeville and could reference easily what playing in the Palace Theatre in New York meant. For today's audience it would be the equivalent of a spot on David Letterman or the Tonight Show.Busby Berkeley directed For Me And My Gal and while he did it with a sure hand, the really spectacular numbers he was noted for are strangely absent from this film. The musical scoring by Roger Edens and Georgie Stoll earned the film an Academy Award nomination in that category.Gene Kelly not only made a film debut, but also a debut on record. He and Judy cut a 78 with the title song and a flipside duet of When You Wore A Tulip. Judy was contracted with Decca Records at the time and both sides later came out on albums. The original 78 would be quite a collector's item today.For Me And My Gal is a nice period type musical, the kind that 20th Century Fox was more known for, but for which MGM did a fine job. The whole cast and crew took long bows for this one. In Vaudeville they would have gotten a whole lot of curtain calls.

Busby Berkeley's For Me and My Gal (1942) is a charming love story dressed up in a song and dance musical. Judy Garland and George Murphy make a great team, I really enjoyed watching. They had great chemistry and they worked really well together for the musical numbers. Murphy's character Jimmy was so charming and smooth, I was dying for Jo (Garland) to fall for him.This film went from happy-go-lucky to dramatic by the end and turned into a tearjerker. It was tragic for me when Jo heard the news of her brother dying in battle. And it was understandable for her to think that Jimmy was trying to dodge the draft by breaking his hand. Even when Jimmy was supposed to look like the bad guy I still loved him because he couldn't turn of his charm.The ending was poetic and pretty the way the two love birds accidentally reunited. This happy ending made it a feel-good movie!

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.