Inez Cooper Movies

The Barkleys of Broadway became Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers' "reunion" picture purely by accident. Originally conceived as a follow-up to the successful Astaire-Judy Garland vehicle Easter Parade, Barkleys was to have starred Fred and Judy as a successful musical comedy team that breaks up when the female half decides to become a "serious" artist. Just before shooting started, Garland fell ill, Rogers replaced her, and the rest, as they say, is history. The script is as thin as a spider's web, a mere coat-rack upon which to hang several topnotch musical numbers. Fred and Ginger aren't quite as footloose and fancy-free as they were in their RKO heyday, but they still work together seamlessly. The film's highlights include "My One and Only Highland Fling," "You'd Be Hard to Replace," a reprise of "They Can't Take That Away From Me" (originally performed by Astaire and Rogers in Shall We Dance?), and Oscar Levant's keyboard rendition of "The Sabre Dance." The film's least memorable moment is the play-within-a-play wherein Rogers, cast as the young Sarah Bernhardt, passionately recites "The Marseillaise" as an audition piece! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Neath The Canadian Skies was one of a quartet of 45-minute "northerns", all produced by Golden Gate Productions and released by Screen Guild. Russell Hayden stars as a stalwart Mountie who poses as a criminal, the better to solve the murder of a prospector. Allegedly based on a story by James Oliver Curwood, the film ends rather abruptly; a second off-length film, North of the Border, ties up some of the loose plot ends of Neath The Canadian Skies, suggesting that these two short films were originally one long one. Confirming this suspicion is the fact that the supporting casts of both films (Inez Cooper, Douglas Fowley, I. Stanford Jolley etc.) were identical. A second pair of 45-minuters starring Russell Hayden, Where the North Begins and Trail of the Mounties, showed up in 1947. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this humorous murder mystery, a woman is wrongfully accused of poisoning her uncle when he died after she gave the ailing fellow a pill that she believed was aspirin. To prove her innocence, the woman must find the strange lady that gave her the pill. A crazy chase ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This second film version of the George and Ira Gershwin's Broadway hit Girl Crazy stars reigning MGM musical prince and princess Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland. The 1932 version of Girl Crazy de-emphasized the main plot, building up the comic subplot involving a timorous temporary sheriff and a city slicker con man -- the better to accommodate that film's stars, Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey. The 1943 remake does without the comic relief, concentrating on Rooney, a teenaged playboy who is sent to a Western mining school by his father (Henry O'Neill), in the hopes that the Rooney will forsake his wastrel ways. Judy Garland is cast in the role originated on stage by Ginger Rogers: the feisty, lovelorn frontier postmistress Ginger Gray, who falls in love with the hero -- the difference being that Garland has been promoted from postmistress to the daughter of mining-school dean Phineas Armour (Guy Kibbee). The new plot involves a contest for rodeo queen, pitting Ginger against Marjorie Tait (Frances Rafferty), who is also her rival for Rooney's affections. The contest serves a double purpose: Rooney is hoping that the publicity engendered by the rivalry will attract students to the failing school, proof positive that for all of his bravado, he's a swell, altruistic guy underneath. These plot complications are merely prologue for a gargantuan musical finale built upon the Gershwin standard "I Got Rhythm," staged by the film's original director, Busby Berkeley. Other musical carryovers from the stage play include "Embraceable You," "Bidin' My Time," and "But Not for Me." Featured in the cast are June Allyson, Rags Ragland, and the Tommy Dorsey Band. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

MGM's Rio Rita is an in-name-only remake of the 1929 RKO Radio musical blockbuster, itself based on the long-running Ziegfeld Broadway extravaganza. Bud Abbott & Lou Costello take over from the original film's Burt Wheeler & Robert Woolsey as the comedy leads, while Kathryn Grayson (in her first picture) and John Carroll replace the 1929 version's Bebe Daniels and John Boles. The original plot about an elusive bandit chieftan called the Kinkajou has been jettisoned in favor of an updated melange involving radio broadcasts and Nazi saboteurs. Abbott and Costello are cast as Doc and Wishy, two pet-store employees stranded in Texas. Hoping to return to New York, our heroes stow away in the trunk of the car owned by radio star Ricardo Montera (John Carroll), only to discover that Ricardo is on his way to his home town near the Hotel Vista del Rio, there to renew his acquaintance with childhood sweetheart Rita Winslow (Kathryn Grayson). Unbeknownst to Rita, her ranch become the headquarters for a nest of German spies, headed by hotel manager Craindall (Tom Conway), who've hidden their miniature shortwave radios in a crate of apples. Thanks to well-meaning Wishy, the message-receiving fruit is ingested by dogs and donkeys, leading to an unending stream of "talking animal" gags. Given jobs on the ranch, Wishy and Doc quickly run afoul of the Nazis, but Wishy saves the day with a bit of uncharacteristic quick thinking involving the local Texas Rangers. Only a few traces of the original Rio Rita remain, including two songs and the classic Wheeler - Woolsey "drunk" routine. The new songs by Harold Arlen and E. Y. Harburg are pleasant if unmemorable, attractively performed by Kathryn Grayson and John Carroll. When all is said and done, the film's greatest strength is Abbott & Costello, making the first of three visits to MGM. Highlights include such verbal exchanges as "Pike's Peak" and "Bet you ten dollars you're not there", and a handful of well-crafted slapstick routines involving an auto turntable, a gigantic washing machine and an elusive time bomb. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Once Upon a Thursday was the original released title of The Affairs of Martha, a 1942 Marsha Hunt vehicle from the MGM B-picutre mills. The delightful Hunt plays Martha Lindstrom, a humble maid for the Sommerfield family. Falling in love with young Jeff Sommerfield (Richard Carlson), she marries him in a secret ceremony. As a source of extra income, Martha writes a pseudonymous autobiography, throwing her community into an uproar, since every family assumes that it is their maid who has penned the best-selling tome. Deftly directed by Jules Dassin, The Affairs of Martha was given a surprisingly big buildup by MGM, including a preferred slot in the studio's annual coming-attractions trailer; the extra "push" paid off at the box-office in spades. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

"Mr. and Mrs. North" started as a series of comic articles about a Park Avenue married couple, written by Richard and Frances Lockridge. One of these articles was "The Norths Solve a Murder", which was adapted as a stage play by Owen Davis Sr. and was later spun off into a popular radio and TV comedy-mystery series. The Davis play made it to the screen in 1941 as Mr. and Mrs. North, with Gracie Allen (in a rare appearance without George Burns) as dizzy socialite Pamela North and William Post Jr. as her long-suffering husband Jerry. Upon returning home from a vacation, Pam North opens her closet door--and out pops a dead body. As it turns out, all the suspects are close friends of the Norths, a fact that encourages Pam to gently interfere in the ongoing murder investigation conducted by Lt. Weygand (Paul Kelly). A second murder serves only to send Pam off on another flight of convoluted logic, but somehow or other the case is solved and justice is served. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Married Bachelor is a cute little MGM situation comedy, designed for the bottom half of the studio's double bills. Robert Young plays an married author who has penned several books on how to stay single. Naturally, he has to pose as a bachelor for publicity purposes...but wife Ruth Hussey is expecting. The only other leading-man material in the cast is the feckless Lee Bowman, so it is he who must pose as Hussey's husband. Married Bachelor was adapted by future MGM head man Dore Schary from a story by Manuel Seff (we don't know if Seff was married or not). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide