{"id":19756,"date":"2011-09-21T12:24:36","date_gmt":"2011-09-21T19:24:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=19756"},"modified":"2021-02-01T15:26:09","modified_gmt":"2021-02-01T22:26:09","slug":"for-me-and-my-gal-1942","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=19756","title":{"rendered":"For Me and My Gal (1942)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;You think anything&#8217;s going to stand in the way of us playing the Palace this time? Oh no, not even a war.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/For-Me-and-My-Gal-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/For-Me-and-My-Gal-Poster-198x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"198\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-19757\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/For-Me-and-My-Gal-Poster-198x300.jpg 198w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/For-Me-and-My-Gal-Poster-84x128.jpg 84w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/For-Me-and-My-Gal-Poster.jpg 580w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 198px) 100vw, 198px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nAn ambitious vaudevillian (Gene Kelly) falls in love with a young singer (Judy Garland) and promises to marry her once they&#8217;ve hit the big time; but when World War One arrives and Kelly attempts to temporarily dodge the draft, he loses not only the respect of everyone around him, but the love of his life as well.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Aspiring Stars<\/li>\n<li>Busby Berkeley Films<\/li>\n<li>Character Arc<\/li>\n<li>Gene Kelly Films<\/li>\n<li>Historical Drama<\/li>\n<li>Judy Garland Films<\/li>\n<li>Musicals<\/li>\n<li>Vaudeville and Burlesque<\/li>\n<li>World War I<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary\u2019s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\n<em>For Me and My Gal<\/em> &#8212; directed &#8220;with surprising restraint by Busby Berkeley&#8221; &#8212; is primarily notable as the film in which &#8220;Judy Garland got her first solo star billing and Gene Kelly made his screen debut&#8221; (after impressing audiences in Broadway&#8217;s &#8220;Pal Joey&#8221;). As Peary notes, the film&#8217;s storyline is &#8220;obvious, sentimental, [and] patriotic&#8221;, but &#8220;is bolstered by [the] charisma of the two energetic stars and some fine musical numbers&#8221; &#8212; most notably &#8220;the cheerful title song&#8221;. Much has been made about the fact that Kelly&#8217;s character is too much of a self-centered heel to be worth rooting for as Garland&#8217;s love interest &#8212; but at least his character stays consistently opportunistic throughout, and comes across as refreshingly human (until the laughably unrealistic finale, which simply adds an irritating twist of delusional escapism to the entire affair). More frustrating to me than Kelly&#8217;s character is the lack of development afforded to George Murphy, playing Garland&#8217;s former partner and would-be love interest; Murphy is highly sympathetic in his tiny supporting role, but ultimately never poses enough of a threat to Kelly. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Note:<\/strong> Don&#8217;t bother trying to avoid spoilers about what exactly Kelly does that&#8217;s just so awful, as it&#8217;s broadcast everywhere, even in Peary&#8217; review &#8212; though I&#8217;ll refrain from mentioning it here.  <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Judy Garland as Jo<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/For-Me-and-My-Gal-Garland.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/For-Me-and-My-Gal-Garland.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"704\" height=\"472\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-19760\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/For-Me-and-My-Gal-Garland.png 704w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/For-Me-and-My-Gal-Garland-128x85.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/For-Me-and-My-Gal-Garland-300x201.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 704px) 100vw, 704px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>George Murphy as Jimmy<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/For-Me-and-My-Gal-Murphy.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/For-Me-and-My-Gal-Murphy.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"704\" height=\"472\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-19761\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/For-Me-and-My-Gal-Murphy.png 704w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/For-Me-and-My-Gal-Murphy-128x85.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/For-Me-and-My-Gal-Murphy-300x201.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 704px) 100vw, 704px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Garland and Kelly singing &#8220;For Me and My Gal&#8221;<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/For-Me-and-My-Gal-Song.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/For-Me-and-My-Gal-Song.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"704\" height=\"472\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-19762\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/For-Me-and-My-Gal-Song.png 704w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/For-Me-and-My-Gal-Song-128x85.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/For-Me-and-My-Gal-Song-300x201.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 704px) 100vw, 704px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo &#8212; though naturally fans of Garland and\/or Kelly will want to check it out. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0034746\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1942\/10\/22\/archives\/for-me-and-my-gal-a-musical-moving-picture-concerned-with.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.digitallyobsessed.com\/displaylegacy.php?ID=5863\">Digitally Obsessed Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/660\/for-me-and-my-gal#articles-reviews?articleId=27613\">TCM Article<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeout.com\/movies\/for-me-and-my-gal\">Time Out Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;You think anything&#8217;s going to stand in the way of us playing the Palace this time? Oh no, not even a war.&#8221; Synopsis: An ambitious vaudevillian (Gene Kelly) falls in love with a young singer (Judy Garland) and promises to marry her once they&#8217;ve hit the big time; but when World War One arrives and Kelly attempts to temporarily dodge the draft, he loses not only the respect of everyone around him, but the love of his life as well&#8230;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=19756\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19756"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19756\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67752,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19756\/revisions\/67752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}