My Gal Sal

My Gal Sal is a simply splendid movie and it's a true wonder why it's not readily available to buy when some of Rita's less good movies (Lady From Shanghai, Salome) are in abundance.

Victor Mature plays Paul Dresser who's a song writer from the country who meets a gal called Sal (Rita) whom he hates, then eventually loves. She's a big time performer who laughs at his silly little show, so he gets his own back by going and laughing at hers! But they have to put their differences aside soon when her words and his music make a hit song, and he finally gets the break he needs.

Lovely that it was shot in technicolour, and the songs and dances are great fun to watch. Favourite part - where Sal looses her temper with Paul and cuts up all his clothes, leading him to do the same to her, and when he hires a quartet to sing outside her window in the middle of the night for three hours, not letting anyone in the building get any sleep, and they don't even stop singing when people drop potplants, or tip pitchers of water, onto them! 10/10

For a movie that had to pass the Production Code, My Gal Sal has some pretty racy lines that passed through the censors. Victor Mature obviously has a physical relationship with Carole Landis while working in a travelling vaudeville show, and when he starts coming onto Rita Hayworth when he moves up in the world, he's very interested in in seeing her bedroom. He keeps pushing until she finally relents, and she's next seen in a disheveled appearance running late to her next performance.

The costumes in this movie are gorgeous, so if you like the time period of the 1890s, you'll love watching all the beautiful outfits parade across the screen. The songs are source music from the protagonist's collection, but if you aren't familiar with Paul Dresser's work, there will be new schmaltzy tunes for you to listen to. The love story, honestly, isn't that great. Victor's character is written to be selfishly ambitious with a big temper. Rita is rude, snobby, and also has a huge temper. You can't even imagine the depths of their fights, and it makes the audience wish they'd end up with calmer people who might soften their rough edges. Carole was a sweet, caring girl, and John Sutton is steady, stable, and puts up with way too much from Rita.

But hey, you can't have everything. If you like Rita, you can check out this early musical. It's pure escapism that fits right in with the backstage musicals of the WWII era.

RITA HAYWORTH and VICTOR MATURE make a pleasant co-starring team, although it's hate at first sight, proof positive that true love never does run smooth...at least not in these sort of backstage musicals where the paper-thin plot depends upon the boy-loses-girl-until-final-reel contrivances.

Rita has a temper to match her red hair and when she tears up all of Mature's clothes, he does the same to her. And so it goes. They fuss and feud all over the screen until the last moment--but it's all done with such style and charm that you can't resist it.

Alice Faye was supposed to do Rita's role but she was expecting a baby so Rita signed on. As usual, someone else dubs her singing but her dancing is a sheer delight and the technicolor costumes are showcased in all of the musical numbers.

Given short shrift in the cast is CAROLE LANDIS, with almost nothing to do after a bright start, and handsome JOHN SUTTON has a thankless role as Rita's would be suitor. Too bad Fox could never find a worthy starring role for him.

Fun to watch (if you like musicals) and easy to take.

MGM musicals dominated the genre. No one could make musicals like they could, although a few studios tried with lesser success, as is the case with this one done by Fox in 1942.

Irving Cummings was a director that tried his hands at directing musicals with mixed results. "My Gal Sal" is the biography of Paul Dresser, an American composer who wrote tuneful, if somewhat bland songs. The screen play is by Theodore Dreiser, a writer on his own right, but who had nothing to add to make this film work better.

This is a musical that has a dated look from the beginning. The situation is preposterous, at best.

Rita Hayworth shines as the red headed Sally Elliott, a singing star of the musical theater of the time. She is responsible for the discovery of young and inexperienced Paul. She likes his songs and doesn't hesitate in stealing one to include in her show. Never did the technicolor loved anyone as it loved Rita Hayworth! She was a beautiful woman who lights up the screen any time we see her.

Victor Mature, as Paul, plays an unworldly Paul Dresser. He is a country boy and it shows. It is through his association with Sally that he gets the kind of sophistication he never had.

In minor roles James Gleason, as Paul's agent is excellent. This character actor graces with his presence dozens of films where he is always in the background. The great Phil Silvers appears briefly in a couple of key scenes. He was a talented actor of the stage and the screen and television that was always a welcome addition to everything he appeared in. Also, Carol Landis is seen in a small role.

See the film as a curiosity piece. The songs are tuneful, if forgettable.

Amiable musical is loaded with good music and sprightly performances. Originally planned for Betty Grable whose pregnancy prevented her appearance, then Carole Landis who stubbornly refused to change her hair color and was punished by Zanuck by being relegated to a secondary part he then borrowed Rita from Columbia. She was in the midst of her climb to the top having made strides over the previous two years in a succession of spotlight parts and this continued her ascent.

As a biography it's worthless but as a showcase for Rita's talent and beauty it can't be beat. There are one or two occasions where she is so heavily made up and dressed in an unflattering pink that she appears corpse like but otherwise looks sensational in her period costumes and her dancing and singing are marvelous. Mature is fine as the male lead but is overshadowed by Rita.

Not a classic but a bright, pleasant entertainment. A must for Hayworth fans.