Cover Girl (1944)

The all-time Rita Hayworth classic. She plays Rusty Parker, a young dancer and singer at a club in Brooklyn. The club is owned by her boyfriend, Danny McGuire (Gene Kelly). One night she learns about a contest to be the new cover girl for a prominent magazine. She decides to go for it and try out for the contest. She thinks she has blown it when the publisher, John Coudair (Otto Kruger), and his assistant, Cornelia "Stonewall Jackson (Eve Arden), come to the club to see another girl. However, John is taken with Rusty because she reminds him of the fiancee, Maribelle Hicks, who left him at the alter. As it turns out Maribelle is Rusty's grandmother who was very happily married to her grandfather, the man she left John for. Once Rusty becomes the new face of the magazine she gains instant fame and the people come to the club to see her. However, Danny is not happy with the new situation. He is also unhappy with the new man, Noel Wheaton (Lee Bowman), who wants to take Rusty to Broadway. Now she must decide if she will choose a career on the Great White Way or love.

This was a wonderful movie. The chemistry between Hayworth and Kelly was wonderful. The singing and dancing was fun to watch and did not seem to overtake the movie like it can in many musicals. This movie was the predicessor to Xanadu in 1980 with Olivia Newton-John. Gene Kelly was also in that film and that was his last movie role. However, the original can not be beat and is a must see for all classic movie buffs.