For Me And My Gal (1942)

Gene Kelly took a risk playing an unsympathetic, draft-dodging song and dance man for his screen debut but he pulls it off in For Me And My Gal, a dramatic musical vaudeville set during World War I but made during World War II. Judy Garland is heart-breaking and endearing as the distaff half of the team; on stage and off she exudes the stuff that dreams are made of. Black and white photography and an adult script make this grittier than the usual 40s musical but the many classic songs and dances with direction by Busby Berkeley are fun and involving and it all works together.

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