Cover Girl (1944)

The film was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Cinematography and Best Original Song for one of Jerome Kern's biggest ever sellers, 'Long Ago (and Far Away)', winning one Oscar for Best Musical Score.

'Cover Girl' was intended as a vehicle to showcase the talents and beauty of Rita Hayworth. She plays Rusty, a chorus girl who is given an opportunity by Vanity Magazine's John Coudair, played by Otto Kruger, to hit the big time as a cover girl, but she's also in love with Danny McGuire, played by Gene Kelly, the owner of the dancing club where she works. The film is based round her dilemma. Should she leave the man she loves to fulfill her dream? The film uses flashback to illustrate Coudair's old flame who happens to be the grandmother of Rusty. Rita Hayworth plays the grandmother as well as Rusty and does a number in the costume and style of a Victorian music hall performer.

Gene Kelly was on loan to Columbia by MGM and he was given almost total control in the making of the movie. He choreographed his own dances including the brilliant "Alter-Ego Dance", in which he partners himself, or rather his superimposed shopfront image. 'Cover Girl' was Rita Hayworth's third musical after 'You'll Never Get Rich in 1941 and 'You Were Never Lovelier' in 1942, both with Fred Astaire, and she is at her breathtaking best. Her dancing is just brilliant although her singing voice was dubbed. Phil Silvers plays Genius, Gene Kelly's best friend and it comes as a shock to see him dance but he does very well considering he is partnering two of cinema's greatest dancers, Kelly and Hayworth. There is also excellent support from Otto Kruger, Edward Brophy and, particularly Eve Arden as Cornelia "Stonewall" Jackson who almost steals the show with her cutting one liners.

In short, 'Cover Girl' is an engaging gem of a movie, and classic Hollywood musical entertainment.