Then and Now: Cover Girl

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What I remember:

I honestly completely forgot I saw this movie at all until I watched it recently.  Bits of it were vaguely familiar:  The "Poor John" number and the dancing in general.  The only thing that made me realize I had seen it was the bit about how they kept buying oysters they didn't like or eat to look for pearls.

What I realized:

The plot is dumb.  It's conflict isn't so much based on funny misunderstandings as serious communication issues.  It's best summarized as:  Boy loves girl, girl loves boy, girl wants fame but doesn't tell boy about her chance at fame, boy says he doesn't care if girl goes after fame, girl stands up boy, boy is offended, girl runs off to be famous and marry someone else, almost every other person in the movie conspires to get the two together, big dance and sing.  I'm sure if they do marry it will be awesome - because we all know how good communication screws up a marriage.

Dumb plot aside, the dancing is still top notch.  I could have used more Gene Kelly but I feel that way most of the time.

The costumes are so pretty.  Well the ones on the women.  Rita Hayworth's hair is amazing.  As for Gene Kelly, maybe they weren't sure how to dress him yet?  They put him in a dark brown suit with a dark tie that somehow made him look not nearly as attractive as he was.  I mean, this is a technicolor movie, why put your male lead in a dull brown suit?  He gets gray and blue suits too but everything is rather dull and doesn't really do anything for him.  The best outfit is a stage costume of green pants with a yellow stripe and a yellow and green striped vest.  Yes it's as hideous as it sounds but it's far better than those yawn inducing suits.

Hey, this movie took place during World War II.  Of course when I first saw it I probably didn't know all that much about WW II and the references are vague at times.

This must have been fussy to wear, but it's certainly amazing looking.

And, I totally love Eve Arden in here.  She's plays a no nonsense career woman who doesn't moan over her lack of beau and is just generally fabulous.  She's also hilariously funny and pretty much saves the day for the two leads.  I seriously covet her wardrobe, especially her hats.  Short of Gene Kelly she's pretty much the best thing about this movie.  How could I have totally forgotten this character?

As a final bonus, this film contains Phil Silvers.  I adore him in general but also because he was in one of my favorite musical comedies of all time: Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe.  That film is probably ripe for one of these posts as I have not seen it in at least a decade or more.