Summer Stock
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| Summer Stock | |
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| Directed by | Charles Walters |
| Starring | Judy Garland Gene Kelly Gloria DeHaven Marjorie Main Phil Silvers Eddie Bracken |
| Distributed by | MGM |
| Release date(s) | August 31, 1950 |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Summer Stock (Known as If You Feel Like Singing in the UK) is an MGM musical made in 1950. The film was directed by Charles Walters and stars Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Eddie Bracken, Gloria DeHaven, Marjorie Main, and Phil Silvers.
Judy Garland struggled with many personal problems during filming, and Summer Stock proved to be her last MGM movie and also her last pairing with Gene Kelly onscreen. MGM terminated Garland's contract in September 1950.
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[edit] Plot
Judy Garland stars as Jane Falbury, a farmer who allows her actress sister Abigail, played by Gloria DeHaven, to use the barn as a practice stage for her theater troupe. The actors and actresses, including the director Joe Ross (Gene Kelly), repay her hospitality by doing chores around the farm. Although Joe is engaged to Abigail, he begins to fall in love with Jane. The movie ends in a spectacular final show in the barn itself.
[edit] Behind The Scenes
The filming of this movie was a very hard struggle for Garland. She was facing many negative feelings in her personal life. Addicted to sleeping pills at the time, Garland was lucky that she made it through the progress of the film. She sometimes could barely stand on her two feet because she was in such bad shape. As noticed in the last number Get Happy she appears in better shape and form. This is because before the particular scene performed before Get Happy, she had taken two weeks off and lost a great deal of weight. Garland managed to finish filming the movie. Soon after she was hired to star with Fred Astaire in the upcoming film Royal Wedding. But once again, Garland was struggling to succeed. So she was soon fired from the film, and her contract with MGM was terminated.
[edit] Highlights
The film's most famous scene is the final song-and-dance number "Get Happy" performed by Judy Garland in a suit jacket, hat, and black nylons. This sequence was filmed four months after the rest of the movie, as can be seen by the twenty pounds Garland lost in that time period.
In another notable sequence, Kelly performs a solo dance in a darkened barn, using a newspaper and a creaky board as partners and props; the musical accompaniment reprises "You Wonderful You".
In the film 'Summer Stock', Garland and Kelly share what may be Garland's best dance duet on screen, the swinging "Portland Fancy" where a square dance turns into a heated challenge dance for the two stars.
