Girl Crazy (1932) User Reviews

It's Not For Me

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 1 October 2008]

This version of Girl Crazy was the first of three films made from the famous Gershwin Brothers musical. MGM bought the rights from RKO who did this version to do their more famous and much better adaption that starred Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland.

In the tradition of Hollywood RKO junked nearly the entire memorable Gershwin score with only a few numbers left. The main characters of the Broadway story were relegated to the background and a whole new plot was written for RKO's comedy stars Wheeler&Woolsey. It's the reverse of what MGM did when they bought Rio Rita which RKO did film faithful to the Broadway show and turn it into an Abbott&Costello film.

Now if you're a fan of Wheeler&Woolsey that's not the worst thing, if you're a Gershwin purist, skip this one absolutely. All that's left from the Broadway show is Bidin' My Time, But Not For Me, and I've Got Rhythm the last done as a saloon ballad by Kitty Kelly.

Eddie Quillan as the playboy from Chicago gets sent west to grow up a little, but instead he brings the nightlife of Chicago out west when he opens a dude ranch. One of the people he sends for his sharpie Robert Woolsey who gets taxi driver Bert Wheeler to drive him from Chicago to Arizona. Wheeler's not a total dummy however, he does have his own reasons for fleeing the Windy City.

The two of them get to tangle with tough guy Stanley Fields out west and of course they come out on top.

Somehow RKO persuaded the Gershwin Brothers to write one original song for this film and it was done by Bert Wheeler and Dorothy Lee and it's entitled You've Got What Gets Me. It's worse than any of the discarded stuff from Broadway which includes Could You Use Me, Embraceable You, and Sam and Delilah. I think George and Ira pulled this one from the trunk.

This film is the worst of the three versions of Girl Crazy and far from the best Wheeler&Woolsey.

Selznick & The Gershwins

[ilprofessore-1 · 5/10 · 1 October 2008]

As this is one of the projects that young David Selznick did as a producer for Radio pictures before moving on to MGM and his own production company, it's shocking to think that this man (somehow universally celebrated for his taste) could have taken the great 1930 Broadway musical featuring Ethel Merman and Ginger Rogers and reduced it to a Wheeler & Woolsey slapstick comedy; in the process, Selznick eliminated most of its great Gershwin songs among them "Bidin' My Time" and "Embraceable You" and treated the other immortal tunes like "But Not For Me" as novelty numbers. An appalling example of how old Hollywood didn't recognize genius when it stared it in the face.

Dude Ranch

[lugonian · 6/10 · 28 April 2019]

GIRL CRAZY (RKO Radio, 1932), directed by William A. Seiter, is the first of three screen adaptations to the popular 1930 musical-comedy by John McGowan and Guy Bolton that starred Allen Kearns (Danny Churchill), Ginger Rogers (Molly) and Ethel Merman (Kate) in the cast. Most notable for the songs by George and Ira Gershwin, and the 1943 remake for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in name only starring Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, this edition is mostly centered upon the antics of the studios' own comedy team of Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey, with the central characters of Danny Churchill and Molly Gray placed mostly as background material.

The story opens at a cemetery of tombstones belonging to murdered sheriffs, all killed off by "Arizona Heavy" outlaw Lank Saunders (Stanley Fields), whose sole purpose is to take control over the sleepy western town of Custerville, Arizona. Playboy Danny Churchill (Eddie Quillan) enters the scene as a girl crazy individual whose millionaire father has sent him to the Molly O Ranch for two years to forget about the opposite sex. Easier said than done as Danny meets and falls in love with the post girl, Molly Gray (Arline Judge). Wanting to add some good entertainment to his relatively dull surroundings, Danny telegrams his friend, Slick Foster (Robert Woolsey), in Chicago, formerly a medicine man, auctioneer and hypnotist, now a compulsive gambler and husband to Kate (Kitty Kelly), to come over and convert the dude ranch into a place of jazz music, show girls and gambling. The Fosters soon acquire the taxi service of Jimmy Aloysius Deegan (Bert Wheeler), nine-year employee of the Checker Cab Company, to drive them all the way to Arizona, thus leaving his annoying kid sister, Tessie (Mitzi Green) behind. Following a long distance drive to Custerville, with the fare total of $465.30, Jimmy is accused of being the sheriff killer. After being saved from a lynch mob by Patsy (Dorothy Lee), the "girl of the golden west," she soon becomes Jimmy's love interest. Other than finding Tessie, who has stowed away by bus, awaiting for him at the ranch, Jimmy is then selected to become the town's next sheriff, with Slick acting as his campaign manager. As Jimmy unwittingly wins 800 to 1 vote (Slick demanded a recount), his biggest problem now is avoiding getting killed off by the habitual sheriff killer, Saunders. As for Danny, his biggest problem is the arrival of his New York City George Mason (Brooks Benedict) coming between he and Molly's romance. Other supporting players include Monty Collins (The Bartender); Lita Chevret (Maria); Chris-Pin Martin (Pete) and Nat Pendleton (The Motorcycle Cop).

Songs presented in this production include: "Bidin' My Time" (sung by cowboys); "I Got Rhythm" (sung by Kitty Kelly/cast); "You Got What Gets Me" (sung by Bert Wheeler and Dorothy Lee, danced by Wheeler, Lee and Mitzi Green); "But Not For Me" (sung by Eddie Quillan and Arline Judge/reprized by Mitzi Green); and "I Got Rhythm" (sung by chorus during closing credits). The "I Got Rhythm,"the film's signature number, might have benefited better from the singing style of Ethel Merman from the stage version, yet Kitty Kelly holds her own in her deep throaty rendition, with camera cutaways to a rhythm dancing owl and cactus trees. Aside from Mitzi Green singing "But Not for Me," she does this in her own imitating style of current celebrities of the day as Bing Crosby, the stuttering Roscoe Ates, George Arliss and Edna May Oliver. Of the four personalities, her best imitation goes to good ole Edna May.

For anyone who's seen the better known GIRL CRAZY (1943) will notice how much the original has no bearing with the remake except for the character names and a few good songs carried over from the Broadway show. With this being the ninth screen teaming of Wheeler and Woolsey, unlike their previous comedies starting with RIO RITA (1929), they don't start off as friends or partners. The first half finds Wheeler and Woolsey more as individual characters than an item, with Woolsey (the cigar smoker with horn-rim glasses) dealing mostly with his on-screen wife (Kelly) and Wheeler coping with his younger sister's (Green) annoyance. The second half reverts to traditional Wheeler and Woolsey material following their campaigning Wheeler's character for sheriff. As with many of their comedies for RKO, their gags and verbal exchanges are either hit or miss. Fine amusements include confuse dialogue mix between Mitzi Green and Bert Wheeler to Dorothy Lee (in similar fashion of Amos and Andy in CHECK AND DOUBLE CHECK (1930)); Wheeler and Woolsey disguised as Indians, Sitting Bull and Sitting Pretty, among others. With Wheeler and Woolsey carrying on much of the comedy, the romantic girl crazy subplot between Eddie Quillan and Arline Judge offers little significance to the story.

Due to the latter MGM remakes, including the updated edition retitled WHEN THE BOYS MEET THE GIRLS (MGM, 1965) with Connie Francis and Harve Presnell, this GIRL CRAZY has been out of circulation for decades. It wasn't until July 14, 1995, when cable television's Turner Classic Movies brought this long unseen 76 minute movie back in circulation again. Available on DVD with another Wheeler and Woolsey comedy, PEACH O'RENO (1931) on the flip side, regardless of its current availability, it's the 1943 edition of GIRL CRAZY that remains the best of the three screen editions thus far. (**1/2)

hit and miss Gershwin

[didi-5 · 22 March 2004]

This movie isn't really that good a version of the 1930 Broadway Gershwin musical, as it leaves the songs aside and is reworked as more of a comedy vehicle for Wheeler and Woolsey. Eddie Quillan and Arline Judge are the flotsam hero and heroine – not really needed, except to murder ‘But Not For Me'. Dorothy Lee is pretty much wasted with little to do (just a couple of scenes and one song with Bert Wheeler – the classic Ella Fitzgerald later made famous, ‘You've Got What Gets Me').

The best bits really are the ones that are purely silly: the hypnotism scenes between the boys and the bad guy; the cacti dancing to ‘I Got Rhythm' (oddly sung here as ‘I've Got Rhythm' by sparky Kitty Kelly); Mitzi Green and her imitations (particularly of George Arliss!); little Wheeler elected as sheriff and then chased by the village heavy; and the long-distance taxi ride early in the film with the cardboard cop.

So the good news is it is a funny film with lots to enjoy on that front; however this movie doesn't do justice to the stage show; and the photography does most of the cast no favours.

Almost everyone involved hated this film – Quillan and Lee didn't see the finished article until several decades later and the songs are dealt with inappropriately. What a pity that the best movie versions of the Gershwin shows (Porgy and Bess; An American in Paris; and of course the remake of Girl Crazy, in 1943) came after George Gershwin died.

Fair to average.

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 28 September 2013]

If you would like a laugh, read through the reviews for this film. A couple of them describe the film like it's a masterpiece--calling it 'a hoot' and another guy gives it a 10. And, conversely, one described it as 'total ineptitude' and another 'dreadfully unfunny'!! Did they make two DIFFERENT versions of Wheeler and Woolsey's "Girl Crazy"?! All I know is that I felt the film was at neither extreme--neither a particularly distinguished film nor a bad one. And, that can be said about most Wheeler and Woolsey efforts.

Wheeler and Woolsey leave the big city in search of adventure in modern day Arizona. Little do they know that the casino they are going to work in is also located in a lawless town where sheriffs rarely last a day on the job! Can these two boobs manage to survive?

This film is a hybrid--originally a musical and now infused with comedy. That isn't a great thing, as much of the music was dropped and the play's original huge hit, "I Got Music", is a very poor rendition--with poor sound quality and a sub-par tune from Kitty Kelly (though I DID like seeing the cacti dancing as she sang). As for the comedy, it's decent but not hilarious. In other words, it has its moments but isn't great in the comedy department either. But, by far, the absolutely worst part of the film was young Mitzi Green's impressions. Painfully bad is the best way to describe them. Overall, a very mixed bag.

There may be rhythm on the range, but the Broadway transfer is limited.

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 16 October 2014]

When the screenwriter got ahold of the book of the smash hit 1930 Broadway musical, they didn't just take scissors to it. They demolished it with a weed whacker. Gone other than the basic story of a city slicker deemed as "girl crazy" who is sent out to find manhood in the wild, wild west is the bulk of George and Ira Gershwin's unforgettable score. What remains is a mixed bag of typical old vaudeville gags as evidenced by the casting of Wheeler and Woolsey in the top-billed roles.

Wheeler is a rather dim-witted Chicago cab driver hired by Woolsey to drive him to Arizona (!) so he can work the crap tables and his wife (Kitty Kelly) can sing at the dude ranch club opened by their city slicker pal (Eddie Quillan). Wheeler is convinced to run for sheriff, but grizzled Stanley Fields threatens to shoot anybody who gets into the sheriff's office other than him. Romance follows for Quillan who takes up with a postal delivery girl (Arline Judge), and Wheeler finds romance with pretty Dorothy Lee. But with Fields out to shoot Wheeler and Judge being romance by a lecherous New Yorker (Brooks Benedict), their chances of getting together seem unlikely.

Kelly, no relation to the infamous author of some tell-all autobiographies of Sinatra, Taylor, the Reagans and the Bushes, gets to sing Ethel Merman's star-making song, "I Got Rhythm", and does a decent job with it. The musical number is highlighted by some comical effects, including dancing cactus, a moosehead on the wall which sways, and a bartender (silent comic Monte Collins) whose hair skids back and forth to the rhythm. "Bidin' My Time" sets up the story of all the previously slain sheriffs by showing the local graveyard and a new tombstone being put in. "Never made it to office", the stone says, making you wonder which sap will be next. "But Not For Me" is embarrassingly performed by Mitzi Green (as Wheeler's pesky sister who won't stop demanding that somebody listen to her imitations), Quillan and Judge, and reprised by Green doing mimics of Crosby, stutterer Roscoe Ates, monocled George Arliss, and most hysterically, nose twitching Edna May Oliver. A little bit of that goes a very long way.

This seems almost like an after thought, rushed together to capitalize on the show's success and to give Wheeler and Woolsey a vehicle exploiting their talents. It seems lame when compared with the Mickey/Judy MGM version filmed a decade later. That is why Leo the Lion roars at the beginning before the Radio tower begins to beep. On its own, it is acceptable entertainment, with a very funny chase scene between Wheeler and cop Nat Pendleton who is mistaken for a dummy earlier accidentally attached to the back of the cab. The scenes with Wheeler and Woolsey hiding out from Fields are retreads of what they already did in "Rio Rita" and "The Cuckoos", although Woolsey's attempts at hypnotizing Fields are amusing. One of the Mexican senoritas who flirts with the boys is future ingénue Rochelle Hudson. Even though the film is ultimately a mixed bag, it ends on a very funny pre-code note that is the icing on the cake. It's just too bad that the cake is mostly stale.

Fun With Wheeler & Woolsey And The Gershwin Brothers

[Ron Oliver · 10/10 · 8 August 2000]

A rich, GIRL CRAZY young playboy decides to transform an old family ranch in Arizona into a fancy entertainment hot spot. He turns to a gambler buddy to come West & operate the games of chance. Together, they trick a witless cabby into running for sheriff in nearby Custerville, a town notorious for the low life expectancy of its lawmen...

Wheeler & Woolsey (Bert Wheeler is the little fellow with the curly hair; Robert Woolsey has the glasses & cigar) have fun in this transmogrified Gershwin musical. With their one-liners & physical comedy, they were always able to transcend their material, even in an excessively silly story such as this. It is a shame that the Boys are all but forgotten today...

Eddie Quillan, as the playboy, provides his usual peppy puppy support; Dorothy Lee, Wheeler's perpetual flame, appears but is given little to do, probably as she must share plot time with 3 other young ladies: Kitty Kelly, Mitzi Green & Arline Judge. Stanley Fields makes a fine buffonish bad guy. That's Nat Pendleton, unbilled, as the motorcycle cop.

With songs by the Gershwin Brothers, the Boys are in very fine musical company. Kelly sings a rousing `I Got Rhythm' - while Quillan & Judge deliver `But Not For Me'. Wheeler & Lee get to warble `You've Got What Gets Me'. Movie mavens will want to pay attention to the very end of this song; the female who gets throttled by Wheeler is none other than the monumental Margaret Dumont, apparently escaped from the Marx Bros., appearing here in an uncredited cameo.

A Genuine Hoot

[Kalaman · 1 December 2003]

I saw this early RKO musical-comedy only for the music. The tagline, "Sensational Gershwin Songs", intrigued me so I wanted to see it. Though it has two Gershwin songs, including the memorable "I Got Rhythm", "Girl Crazy" is less a full-fledged musical than an endearingly riotous comedy, one of the funniest I have seen. IT is so funny, it hurts! The last time I laughed so hard in a movie was a Laurel & Hardy Two-Reeler called "Two Tars"(1928).

It has one hilarious gag after another. I wouldn't spoil the fun, but the "hypnotism" scene involving Woolsey & Wheeler and the buffoonish cowboy is priceless.

If you like Marx Bros, you will definitely like "Girl Crazy".

This first filmed version of Girl Crazy is very funny with the bulk of the laughs belonging to Wheeler & Woolsey

[tavm · 8/10 · 6 July 2015]

This is one of two filmed versions of George & Ira Gershwin's musical-Girl Crazy-I'm reviewing on this site. This one stars Bert Wheeler & Robert Woolsey as they end up in the West. Child performer Mitzi Green does some imitations during the "But Not for Me" number. Bert has another number with frequent female co-star Dorothy Lee. Kitty Kelly does the "I Got Rhythm" song which was partly choreographed by Busby Berkeley who later did that number in the Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland version of GC. Oh, and among the players is Stanley Fields who makes a very funny nemesis for the comedy team. I mainly remember him as the sheriff in my favorite Laurel & Hardy movie, Way Out West. In summary, this version of Girl Crazy may not have a lot of the Gershwins' songs but it does have plenty of hilarity so there's that! P.S. Norman Taurog did retakes for this movie. He'd eventually direct the Mickey/Judy version of GC.

Mitzi, for once a child actress who isn't a scene stealer!

[ancient-andean · 21 April 2001]

Mr. Oliver summed up "Girl Crazy" very well. I found a collecter's copy of this, mostly to catch Mitzi Green's performance. Mitzi, born in 1920, worked in fifteen films before she was thirteen. Mitzi, at least in this film, was completely different than anything before or after her. Not the sweet, loving little girl... not Mitzi. Here she's a 12 year old flapper, with just the right amount of brattyness to be sweet, smarter than anyone else, and with a talent for "imitations" of the popular singers of the epoch. She had only one short tap dance number that didn't really show her talent. And I'll bet her colleagues loved working with her... for once a child actress who isn't a scene stealer!

Much to my surprise, I found this practically forgotten film has a score and lyrics by the Gershwin brothers, and one of the funniest casts ever, none of whom I'd ever heard of. I generally avoid comedies like the plague, mostly because the modern ones don't seem to be very funny, but this comedy is fast, non-stop, and really funny, right down to the uncredited walk-ons. The scenes & jokes are clever, instead of stupid.... multi-faceted jokes and intelligent slapstick that never lags. The speed and cleverness of it reminds me of the first few minutes of "Romancing the Stone".

Only a few of Mitzi's films are available on video in the classics collectors' market. Her screen time is limited to about 15-20 minutes but, as always, she's worth watching and remembering. The combination of Wheeler & Woolsey, the Gershwin bros. and Mitzi Green make this a film well worth seeing.

Wartime Production with Rooney and Garland at Their Exuberant Best

[LeonardKniffel · 9/10 · 10 April 2020]

Mickey Rooney is at his exuberant best in this entertaining black-and-white romp with Judy Garland, featuring their renditions of some of the greats from the American songbook, including "Fascinatin' Rhythm," "Embraceable You," "But Not for Me," "Bidin' My Time," and "Could You Use Me?" George and Ira Gershwin wrote the music, Busby Berkeley choreographed, Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra provided the accompaniment, and it doesn't get any better than that. Listen for the songs that will live beyond the movie. June Allyson and Nancy Walker are hilarious .Rooney's "Treat Me Rough" is daffy to this day. This is a very funny, joyful movie about values, as only a movie could be in the throes of World War II. ---from Musicals on the Silver Screen, American Library Association, 2013

Impressions

[tedg · 3 May 2005]

Unless you are a Wheeler & Woolsey enthusiast, you'll find this a complete waste of popcorn. Ostensibly a Gershwin musical (and would legitimately be remade as such), it has the numbers grafted onto a proto-screwball comedy. Nearly everything is turned toward setting up the standard jokes of the pair.

The one exception is Mitzi Green, the thirteen year old "sister." Her moments are golden. I'd never seen her before. She's not a performer in the mold of Shirley and Judy who charm you with their portrayals. You get the impression that this really is how she is, basically.

She does some impressions that lack power today because the targets are mostly forgotten. But she does a dance with two others and continuously gets bumped off. If you've ever done any serious dancing you'll know that what she does is much harder than it seems. This girl shines; wonder whatever happened?

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

How Can You Screw Up a Gershwin Musical?

[GManfred · 22 January 2012]

Easy. First you remove most of the songs, and then you give one of the most popular comedy teams of the day nothing to work with. All downhill from there. I really don't understand why the producers removed songs and inserted a couple of tuneless ones in their place. The new ones sounded like Gershwin rejects they had stashed in a trunk somewhere. "I Got Rhythm" could have been a show-stopper but it took place in a night club, in one of the most bizarre, surreal musical numbers ever committed to film. I think jaw-dropping is an apt term.

In the early 30's, Wheeler and Woolsey were one of the best comedy teams extant. They had made "Hook,Line and Sinker", and "Half Shot At Sunrise", both in 1930. Now, those were funny pictures with good, funny material. "Girl Crazy" was reissued with "Peach-O-Reno" by Warner Archives collection, and there is hardly an unforced laugh in either one. Dreadfully unfunny movies.

I could go on and on but why bother. My rating is more a reflection of disappointment than anything else. But The Gershwins and Wheeler and Woolsey deserved better.

Total ineptitude

[jaykay-10 · 13 October 2004]

It is not easy to turn GIRL CRAZY into a disaster, given the Gershwin score and a somewhat serviceable plot - but the creators of this version have succeeded in doing just that. There were six writers given screen credit for this scenario: perhaps that was the problem, or maybe the screenplay was even worse until that number was reached.

The gags (can I call them that if they are not funny?) are so forced, so weak, so juvenile as to make an audience squirm. Wheeler and Woolsey were never worse; at their best (it says here) they were second-raters, with a very limited assortment of poses, gestures, and facial expressions. No one in this cast offers demonstrable talent. An amateur cast (and director) could have done more with the material (I've seen it happen). And let us not overlook totally mindless rendering of "I Got Rhythm" in the film's big production number.

Why did you tell me to watch this?