Babes in Arms / Girl Crazy

BABES IN ARMS, 1939, Warner Bros., 93 min. Dir. Busby Berkeley. Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland stage a fund-raising show with the help of ex-vaudevillians’ children in order to save their parents from bankruptcy. This buoyant musical features typically sublime Busby Berkeley camerawork and choreography.

GIRL CRAZY, 1943, Warner Bros., 99 min. Dirs. Norman Taurog and Busby Berkeley. Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland’s final film together is possibly the best of their “Let’s put on a show” musicals. Rich kid Rooney falls for Garland, the daughter of the dean at his college, and the two express their love via classic Gershwin tunes and expert Busby Berkeley dance numbers. Rooney is at his most energetic in this classic musical from the Arthur Freed unit.