Cover Girl (Masters Of Cinema) (Dual Format) (Blu-ray & DVD) Blu Ray – Phil Silvers , Gene Kelly

Rita Hayworth and Gene Kelly star in this 1940s American musical directed by Charles Vidor. Rusty Parker (Hayworth) is a dancer at her boyfriend Danny (Kelly)’s Brooklyn nightclub who rockets to fame and fortune after she is taken from the chorus line and embarks on a career as a cover girl. Plucked from obscurity by wealthy magazine editor John Cudair (Otto Kruger), Rusty wanted to stay with Danny if only he’d asked. Instead, he didn’t want to be the one who stood in the way of her success and let her leave after an argument. When she becomes a Broadway star, will her new-found stardom risk alienating her from the man she truly loves forever? The cast also includes Phil Silvers, Eve Arden and Lee Bowman.

Cover Girl was one of the big hits of Rita Hayworth’s run as movie queen (and World War II pinup girl), a splashy musical geared to the talents of its redheaded star. Be warned: this is the kind of movie in which a single magazine cover turns an unknown dancer into the toast of her own Broadway show, virtually overnight. The corn runs high, but so do the spirits; plus, Eve Arden is around to toss in her trademark one-liners. Gene Kelly, as Hayworth’s sulky choreographer and part-time boyfriend, stops the movie cold with his brilliant dance alongside his own reflection. The Jerome Kern-Ira Gershwin songs are middling, except for the lovely “Long Ago and Far Away”. One number presents a parade of magazine cover girls come to life (great snapshot of an era). And check out the movie’s hats: a parade of insane creations, perched uncertainly on many beautiful women’s heads. –Robert Horton