Except for a couple of spritely dance numbers and the lovely song "Long Ago and Far Away," which became a big hit for Helen Forrest and Dick Haymes,this one is contrived and unconvincing even for a 'boy loses girl' musical. The distance between Brooklyn and Broadway may be emotional and psychological, but it's still only a long subway ride. The characters don't seem to grasp that much. I always had a problem with Kelly's voice, which was not up to the songs he was given. Astaire realized that he was "no singer," but he put the songs over -- "Night and Day," "The Way You Look Tonight," "Let's Face the Music and Dance," etc. And it's Martha Mears singing for Rita this time, not Nan Wynn. The most ludicrous scene in this one is Kelly and Silvers entertaining the troops as they ride along in a truck. Radically unconvincing. The 1948 film "Easter Parade" stole the cover girl concept and did wonderful things with it, projecting it back to a pre WWI era accompanied by Irving Berlin's wonderful "Girl on the Magazine Cover." "Cover Girl" has about 8-10 minutes of really wonderful dance and music, but the rest of the film is dull.
Review of Cover Girl
