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IMDbPro

The Harvey Girls

  • 1946
  • Not Rated
  • 1h 42m
IMDb RATING
7.0/10
4.6K
YOUR RATING
Judy Garland in The Harvey Girls (1946)
Watch Official Trailer
Play trailer2:50
1 Video
38 Photos
ComedyDramaHistory

On a train trip West to become a mail-order bride, Susan Bradley (Judy Garland) meets a cheery crew of young women travelling out to open a "Harvey House" restaurant at a remote whistle-stop... Read allOn a train trip West to become a mail-order bride, Susan Bradley (Judy Garland) meets a cheery crew of young women travelling out to open a "Harvey House" restaurant at a remote whistle-stop.On a train trip West to become a mail-order bride, Susan Bradley (Judy Garland) meets a cheery crew of young women travelling out to open a "Harvey House" restaurant at a remote whistle-stop.

  • Director
    • George Sidney
  • Writers
    • Edmund Beloin
    • Nathaniel Curtis
    • Harry Crane
  • Stars
    • Judy Garland
    • Ray Bolger
    • John Hodiak
  • See production, box office & company info
  • IMDb RATING
    7.0/10
    4.6K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • George Sidney
    • Writers
      • Edmund Beloin
      • Nathaniel Curtis
      • Harry Crane
    • Stars
      • Judy Garland
      • Ray Bolger
      • John Hodiak
    • 71User reviews
    • 23Critic reviews
    • 65Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Won 1 Oscar
      • 1 win & 1 nomination total

    Videos1

    Official Trailer
    Trailer 2:50
    Watch Official Trailer

    Photos38

    Judy Garland and John Hodiak at an event for The Harvey Girls (1946)
    Judy Garland and John Hodiak in The Harvey Girls (1946)
    Judy Garland, Angela Lansbury, Hazel Brooks, Georgia Davis, Dona Dax, Gwen Donovan, and John Hodiak in The Harvey Girls (1946)
    Judy Garland, Angela Lansbury, Hazel Brooks, Georgia Davis, Dona Dax, Gwen Donovan, and John Hodiak in The Harvey Girls (1946)
    Judy Garland, Cyd Charisse, Jane Allen, Jean Ashton, Eleanor Bayley, Ruth Brady, Joan Carey, Lucille Casey, Virginia Davis, Dona Dax, Gwen Donovan, Mary Jo Ellis, Virginia Engels, Bess Flowers, Mary Jane French, Dorothy Raye, Virginia Gumm, Gloria Hope, Thelma Joel, Janet Lavis, Vera Lee, Mary Moder, Daphne Moore, Loulie Jean Norman, Virginia O'Brien, Erin Selwyn, Shirley Patterson, Melba Snowden, Joan Thorsen, Dorothy Tuttle, Dorothy Van Nuys, Tyra Vaughn, Bunny Waters, Jacqueline White, Herberta Williams, Katherine Yorke, Ruth Clark, Dorothy Wilkerson, Edith Motridge, Nevada Smith, Dallas Worth, Vivian Edwards, Emily Smith, and Meredyth Durrell in The Harvey Girls (1946)
    Judy Garland and John Hodiak in The Harvey Girls (1946)
    Judy Garland and John Hodiak in The Harvey Girls (1946)
    Judy Garland, Angela Lansbury, Jane Allen, Jean Ashton, Eleanor Bayley, Joan Carey, Lucille Casey, Virginia Davis, Gloria Hope, Daphne Moore, and Ruth Clark in The Harvey Girls (1946)
    Judy Garland and John Hodiak in The Harvey Girls (1946)
    Judy Garland in The Harvey Girls (1946)
    The Harvey Girls (1946)
    Angela Lansbury in The Harvey Girls (1946)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Judy Garland
    Judy Garland
    • Susan Bradley
    Ray Bolger
    Ray Bolger
    • Chris Maule
    John Hodiak
    John Hodiak
    • Ned Trent
    Angela Lansbury
    Angela Lansbury
    • Em
    Preston Foster
    Preston Foster
    • Judge Sam Purvis
    Virginia O'Brien
    Virginia O'Brien
    • Alma from Ohio
    Kenny Baker
    Kenny Baker
    • Terry O'Halloran
    Marjorie Main
    Marjorie Main
    • Sonora Cassidy
    Chill Wills
    Chill Wills
    • H.H. Hartsey
    Selena Royle
    Selena Royle
    • Miss Bliss
    Cyd Charisse
    Cyd Charisse
    • Deborah Andrews
    Ruth Brady
    Ruth Brady
    • Ethel
    Jack Lambert
    Jack Lambert
    • Marty Peters
    Edward Earle
    Edward Earle
    • Jed Adams
    Morris Ankrum
    Morris Ankrum
    • Rev. Claggett
    William 'Bill' Phillips
    William 'Bill' Phillips
    • 1st Cowboy
    • (as Wm. 'Bill' Phillips)
    Ben Carter
    Ben Carter
    • John Henry
    Norman Leavitt
    Norman Leavitt
    • 2nd Cowboy
    • Director
      • George Sidney
    • Writers
      • Edmund Beloin
      • Nathaniel Curtis
      • Harry Crane
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      In the big production number "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe," from Judy Garland's entrance until the conductor's "All aboard!" was done in one take. Legend has it that they shot it twice and Garland was dead-on move for move both times.
    • Goofs
      In the "Wild, Wild West" song, Alma is pounding a red hot horseshoe. She then picks it up, caresses it, and throws it in the water barrel where is gives off steam. The horseshoe would have burned her hand if it were really hot. This is a sight gag in the film.
    • Quotes

      Alma: [talking to Susan Bradley] I sent my picture into one of those Lonely Hearts Clubs and they sent it back, saying "We're not *that* lonely!"

    • Connections
      Featured in MGM Parade: Episode #1.25 (1955)
    • Soundtracks
      In the Valley (Where the Evenin' Sun Goes Down)
      (uncredited)

      Music by Harry Warren

      Lyrics by Johnny Mercer

      Performed by Judy Garland

    User reviews71

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    8/10
    Splendid example of the well-crafted musicals dished out of MGM's golden bowl
    "The Harvey Girls" is a splendid example of a well-crafted Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical from a time when well-crafted musicals were being dished out in abundance from Metro's golden bowl.

    Inspired by the revolutionary success of "Oklahoma" on Broadway and tailored to fit the protean talents of it's young leading lady, Judy Garland, the film tells the story, in words and music, of a group of waitresses brought west in the late 1800's to open another link in the Fred Harvey chain of restaurants. In the process, they encounter all kinds of romantic and dramatic conflicts.

    The cast is headed by Judy Garland, fresh from her triumph in the blockbuster musical "Meet Me In St. Louis" and her quietly moving dramatic performance in "The Clock". During the filming of "The Harvey Girls", Garland was one of the top box-office draws in the nation, and Hollywood's most versatile actress. She performs the role of Susan Bradley, an adventurous mail order bride who befriends the Harvey girls en route to New Mexico, with a vibrant comic touch. Her ability to combine tongue in cheek humor with her signature vulnerability is very satisfying in this film, and is an early highlight in her already legendary career.

    The rest of the cast is first-rate: Angela Lansbury gives a wickedly fine performance as Em, the jaded dance-hall queen with hooded eyes and no-flies-on-me attitude. John Hodiak is the local tough guy and dance-hall owner, and also the object of Garland and Lansbury's affections. Broadway legend (and Garland's "Wizard of Oz" co-star) Ray Bolger does an amusing turn as the town's rubber legged blacksmith, and Preston Foster is the murderous Judge Purvis. The ranks of the Harvey girls are filled by some of Hollywood's most marvelous character actresses, including Marjorie Main and Virginia O'Brien, and the dancer Cyd Charisse in one of her first roles.

    The film boasts what New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther appreciatively called "an abundance of chromatic spectacle and an uncommonly good score", the centerpiece of which is the Academy Award-winning song of the year (1946), "On The Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe". This production number fills the screen with the colorful bustle of singers, dancers, and horses, and in the best Broadway tradition, advances the plot by introducing almost every cast member and giving them the opportunity to tell their story, in song, and their motivation for coming west in the first place. A spectacular bit of Golden Age musical magic, topped off by Garland's star turn entrance and full-throated belting of the Johnny Mercer/Harry Warren song.

    The creative team behind this fable is as impressive as the talent in front of the camera. In addition to the score by Mercer and Warren, the film was directed by George Sidney ("Show Boat", "Annie Get Your Gun"), produced by Arthur Freed ("Singin In The Rain", "Gigi"), art directed by Cedric Gibbons ("The Great Zeigfeld", "The Wizard of Oz"), with musical direction by Lennie Hayton, orchestrations by Conrad Salinger, and musical arrangements by "Eloise" children's book author and singer Kay Thompson (a decade before she sizzled onscreen as the fashion magazine editor in the Audrey Hepburn classic "Funny Face").

    This film will include restored Technicolor and stereo sound on DVD, and also a few musical numbers which were cut when the film was released due to length, and have been locked away in the MGM vaults. Now they have been restored, and the viewer can enjoy more of what film critic Howard Barnes called "a great big animated picture postcard."
    helpful•14
    1
    • classicfilmarchives
    • Apr 17, 2002

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    FAQ1

    • Training Montage (The Train Must Be Fed) lyrics

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • April 29, 1946 (United Kingdom)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • İlk Vals
    • Filming locations
      • Iverson Ranch - 1 Iverson Lane, Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California, USA
    • Production company
      • Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $2,524,315 (estimated)
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 42 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

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