For Me and My Gal

The ridiculously shallow careerists who are practically a byword in our own day are answered in this, which might be (and is) a Jeremiad against their folly, except that by dint of sheer inspiration and insight and depth of skill it accomplishes their redemption.

It all pivots on David’s utterance, “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.” You will not see Busby Berkeley in the grand manner you are accustomed to, but rather with a great deftness educing characterizations from his principals that are very surprising in a very subtle sort of way. The acuity of the cinematography is exactly suited to Judy Garland viewed not round but sleek and not boisterous but torchy and even jazzy. Gene Kelly is all bold front and nothing there. George Murphy reveals a Gary Cooper softness.

The signature of this great work of art is Kelly’s underplaying in the song-and-dance numbers he has with Garland especially or Ben Blue, a very delicate give-and-take. The M-G-M dance camera records the vaudeville numbers au naturel, but the characteristic musical arrangements (particularly of the title number) show once again the foundation of the style.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

This is a job for Busby Berkeley, who adopts a De Kooning stance and drives his film along a straight line from hoke to homer, with a tag to abstract the mickey.

Because of the labor involved in constructing a musical on an antithetical theme, the corruption of baseball by the entertainment industry, this has been a very influential and maybe even transitional film. Here is Berkeley cutting by camera movement (in a musical number) after The Stranger but before Royal Wedding. The clambake announces Carousel and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (and Kelly dances a tribute to Cagney that modulates into a little bit of Astaire). By the end, a whole range of films is foretold, including The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings and Diggstown (the tag tosses in White Christmas).