Cover Girl (1944) (1944)
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94% of critics liked it
(17 reviews) -
71% of users liked it
(3,643 ratings)
Thanks to its Jerome Kern/Ira Gershwin/Yip Harburg score and the luminescence of stars Rita Hayworth and Gene Kelly, Cover Girl has taken on a legendary status in recent years. In truth, the film has a banal and predictable premise: a chorus girl (Hayworth) is given a chance for stardom by a wealthy… More Thanks to its Jerome Kern/Ira Gershwin/Yip Harburg score and the luminescence of stars Rita Hayworth and Gene Kelly, Cover Girl has taken on a legendary status in recent years. In truth, the film has a banal and predictable premise: a chorus girl (Hayworth) is given a chance for stardom by a wealthy magazine editor (Otto Kruger), who years earlier had been in love with the girl's mother. Offered an opportunity to be a highly-paid cover girl, our heroine would faithfully remain with her tacky nightclub act if only the club manager (Kelly), whom she pines for, would ask her. He loves her too, but doesn't want to stand in her way, so he fakes an argument to send her packing. You don't need a crystal ball to known that the girl and her guy will be reunited for the finale. Phil Silvers, everybody's best friend, and Eve Arden, Kruger's acid-tongued assistant, provide comic relief. The story sags badly at times, but the fans went home happy thanks to the powerhouse musical numbers, including Long Ago and Far Away and Kelly's famous "alter-ego" dance. The film skyrocketed both Hayworth and Kelly to superstardom, and didn't do Silvers any harm, either. Cover Girl is an extraordinarily lavish Technicolor production from the usually parsimonious Columbia Pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Directed By
- Charles Vidor
- Written By
- Virginia Van Upp, Marion Parsonnet, Paul Gangelin
- Genres
- Romance, Musical & Performing Arts, Classics, Comedy
Unrated,
- In Theaters
- Mar 30, 1944 Wide
- Studio
- Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Critic Reviews
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Variety Staff, Variety
Dance sequences spotlighting the terping abilities of Hayworth and Kelly are expertly staged.
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, Time Out
The whole thing, especially the comic stuff from Silvers and Arden, is executed with considerable brio. And Rudolph Maté's Technicolor photography is faultless.
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Bosley Crowther, New York Times
It has Gene Kelly and Rita Hayworth to sing and dance. And virtually every nook and corner is draped with beautiful girls.
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Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader
A lush 1944 musical vehicle built for Rita Hayworth at the height of her popularity.
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Kim Newman, Empire Magazine
A creaking plot is made bearable by gorgeous colour, the even more gorgeous Hayworth, some oddly unsentimental and unsettling flashbacks with her playing her character's turn-of-the-century grandmother.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
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Cast
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Rita Hayworth
as Rusty Parker/Maribelle Hicks
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Gene Kelly
as Danny McGuire
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Lee Bowman
as Noel Wheaton
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Phil Silvers
as Genius
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Otto Kruger
as John Coudair
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Jinx Falkenburg
as Herself
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Eve Arden
as Cornelia (Stonewall) Jackson
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Leslie Brooks
as Maurine Martin
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Jess Barker
as John Coudair as a young man
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Anita Colby
as Anita
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Curt Bois
as Chef
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Edward S. Brophy
as Joe
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Thurston Hall
as Tony Pastor
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Dusty Anderson
as Cover Girl: Farm Journal
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Sam Ash
as Assistant Cook
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Warren Ashe
as Rusty's Interviewer
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William Benedict
as Florist Boy
- Jack Boyle
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John Dilson
as Rusty's Photographer
- George Dobbs
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Eddie Dunn
as Mac the Cop
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Fern Emmett
as Women Columnist
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Sam Flint
as Coudair's Butler
- Miriam Franklin
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Karen X. Gaylord
as Cover Girl: Liberty
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Betty Jane Graham
as Cover Girl: McCall
- Grace Hayle
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Robert E. Homans
as Pop the Doorman
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William Kline
as Chauffeur
- Miriam Lavelle
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George Lessey
as Minister
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Johnny Mitchell
as Pianist--Maribelle's Love
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Vin Moore
as Waiter
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Frances Morris
as Coudair's Secretary
- Muriel Morris
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Jack Norton
as Harry the Drunk
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Kathleen O'Malley
as Cigarette Girl
- Barbara Pepper
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Ralph Peters
as Truckman
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Jack Rice
as Reporter
- Patti Sacks
- Ralph Sanford
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Susan Shaw
as Cover Girl: Vogue
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John Tyrrell
as Electrician
- Virginia Wilson
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Shelley Winters
as Girl
- Rudy Wissler
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Jackie Brown
as Boy
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Frank O'Connor
as Cook
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Betty Brewer
as Autograph Hound
- Grace Gillern
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Robert E. Hill
as Headwaiter
- Sally Cairns
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Grace Lenard
as Chorus Girl
- Larry Rio
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Victor Travers
as Bartender
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Ed Allen
as Best Man
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Eugene Anderson Jr.
as Bus Boy
- Wesley Brent
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Betty Brodel
as Dancer
- Eddie Cutler
- Eloise Hart
- Al Norman
- Gwen Seager
