starring Rita Hayworth, Gene Kelly
directed by Charles Vidor
107 minutes
Rusty Parker (Rita Hayworth), a nightclub performer from Brooklyn, wins a contest to be the model who appears on the cover of Vanity's 50th anniversary issue. She reminds publisher John Coudair of Maribelle Hicks, a woman he once knew and wanted to marry years before. Danny McGuire (Gene Kelly), Rusty's boyfriend and the owner of the club where Rusty works, is supportive at first.
Appearing on the cover of Vanity makes Rusty a big hit. Noel Wheaton, a friend of Vanity's publisher and the owner of a much bigger theater, tries to lure Rusty away from Danny. Rusty is torn but when Danny pushes her away because he thinks that she has already made up her mind she takes up the offer made by Wheaton and goes to work in his theater.
Phil Silvers plays the part of Danny's best friend. I know him best from The Phil Silvers Show but I have also seen him in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966).
The best dance scenes in Cover Girl are the ones involving Gene Kelly. The other ones are good but those are hands down the best. There are three in particular that come to mind, maybe they are the only three involving Gene Kelly. One is in the first act, one in the second, and one in the third. The first involves Hayworth, Kelly, and Silvers dancing together. He dances just with Hayworth in the second. He dances by himself in the third.
I found Kelly to be a much more appropriate romantic lead for Hayworth than Astaire was in You Were Never Lovelier (1942). Kelly was was six years older than Hayworth as compared to Astaire who was almost 20 years older than she. The romance between the Rusty and Danny was much more believable than the one with Astaire's character in the earlier movie.
I really enjoyed this movie. I knew there was only way it could end but I still found myself moved by the split between Rusty and Danny.
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