RECENTLY VIEWED: SUMMER STOCK

I recently had the joy of watching the 1950 musical Summer Stock with my eight year old daughter, who is an emerging movie buff! She loves Judy Garland, and even though I have the film on DVD, we watching on a Sunday night airing on TCM. It is not the most-remembered Judy Garland or Gene Kelly movie, but the film is fun to watch. Summer Stock is a 1950 American Technicolor musical film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed by Charles Walters, stars Judy Garland and Gene Kelly, and features Eddie Bracken, Gloria DeHaven, Marjorie Main, and Phil Silvers. Nicholas Castle Sr. was the choreographer.

Garland struggled with many personal problems during filming and Summer Stock proved to be her final film for MGM, as well as her last onscreen pairing with Kelly. By mutual agreement, MGM terminated Garland's contract in September 1950, something studio head Louis B. Mayer said he later regretted doing. As we all know Louis B. Mayer was one of the worst human beings to ever work in Hollywood. 

The plot is slight. Jane Falbury (Judy Garland) is a farm owner whose actress sister, Abigail (Gloria DeHaven), arrives at the family farm with her theater troupe. They need a place to rehearse, and Jane and her housekeeper, Esme (Marjorie Main), reluctantly agree to let them use their barn. The actors and actresses, including the director, Joe Ross (Gene Kelly), repay her hospitality by doing chores around the farm. Although Joe is engaged to Abigail, he begins to fall in love with Jane after Abigail leaves him in an angry fit. Similarly, although Jane is engaged to Orville (Eddie Bracken), she falls in love with Joe. 

The big draw of the film was the music. The most famous number from the movie is Judy’s “Get Happy” number. For most of the film, Judy looked overweight, but this was the last scene filmed for the movie, and Judy had lost a lot of weight for the film. She looked better in the number than she had looked in years! An underrated song in the film is Judy’s love song “Friendly Star”, which was written by the songwriting team Harry Warren and Mack Gordon. Judy sings this song perfectly. Probably the most energetic number of the film was Gene Kelly’s “Dig For Your Dinner” number. It is an amazing feat of dancing that Kelly does as he dances on a table. The movie is worth seeing for that number alone! 

Although Garland and Kelly were the stars originally announced by MGM in 1948 to appear in the film, in February 1949 the studio announced that Garland would be replaced by June Allyson. She was suspended in May 1949, during the filming of Annie Get Your Gun, and spent three months in a hospital in Boston being treated for drug dependence. Betty Hutton replaced her on that film, but she was reinstated to the lead in this one, which was her first one following the suspension. Still, the filming was sometimes a struggle for Judy, who was facing many pressures in her personal life, aside from her heavy reliance on prescription medication. 

Kelly was not the first choice for the role: the producer, Joe Pasternak, originally wanted Mickey Rooney, but was prevailed on to go with Kelly because Rooney was no longer the box office draw he had once been. Busby Berkeley was originally slated to direct the film, but was replaced by Charles Walters before production began. He and Kelly worked on it as a favor to Garland, whose career needed a boost at the time. Later, after filming had begun, Pasternak asked Mayer if he should abandon the film because of Garland's erratic behavior – for example, she was supposed to appear in the "Heavenly Music" number to sing and dance with Kelly and Silvers, but she never showed up for the shoot . 

Dance director Nick Castle did not choreograph "You Wonderful You," "All for You", and "Portland Fancy" – these were done by Kelly – but did do "Dig For Your Dinner" and other numbers. He also did not shoot "Get Happy," which was filmed three months after the rest of the film; instead it was shot by Chuck Walters. In the interval, Garland had been treated by a hypnotist for weight loss and took off 15-20 pounds; she appears considerably thinner in the number. Garland finished filming and embarked on a long-promised vacation from the studio. 

Soon, however, she was called back to star with Fred Astaire and Peter Lawford in the film Royal Wedding, replacing June Allyson, who was pregnant. Once again, she struggled to perform in the face of exhaustion and overwork. She was fired from Royal Wedding, and her contract with MGM was terminated through mutual agreement. Overall, Summer Stock took six months to film, and was a box-office success. My daughter loved the film but she did say it was “kind of crappy for Judy to steal her sister’s boyfriend away!”, but my daughter loved the music. The film marks a sad end of Judy Garland’s time at MGM, but the movie was well made and fun! 

MY RATING: 10 out of 10