For Me and My Gal

Allegedly Busby Berkely's favorite of all the films he directed. Inevitably a vaudeville-rooted story but also using a WWI setting so as to make a patriotic gesture towards the second war. Judy Garland was the only name above the title, but in his first screen part Gene Kelly uses all his vitality to make a star part out of the 'villain' of the piece. Apart from the title number they also share 'When You Were a Tulip' and Judy also has the memorable 'After You've Gone' and 'For Me and My Gal', which later became part of her regular act. The Berkeley routines are only intermittently spectacular but the energy of the piece is unflagging. (National Film Theatre, London)