Probably not before the 15th.
Warner Bros.....no agreement with TT.
Cover Girl, from 1944, is a grand piece of escapist entertainment—and a key movie in the career of Gene Kelly. This is a fun film that made me laugh out lout at times, and at other times was jaw-dropping because of its over-the-top and epic numbers.
The original technicolor negative has apparently been lost on this, and so it got mediocre ratings for its PQ. RAH on this site has, as you know, his wonderful a few words reviews, and he gave the PQ on Cover Girl a low number, and I thought it would be difficult to watch. Is it problematic? Yes, it is, like other productions like Drums Along the Mohawk that had their negatives thrown out by Fox, etc. we gnash our teeth at the tragedy.
But the bottom line for me personally is that Cover Girl is quite watchable. I'd probably give the PQ a C+. It's a clean if somewhat artificial image that gets us as close as we can to this wonderful movie at this point.
Anyway, this is a key movie for Gene Kelley because Columbia lured him over from MGM with the bait that he could design and make up his own musical numbers. And boy did he! The number where he dances with a ghost of himself is a standout, and was a real technical achievement at the time. But all of the songs, with lyrics by Ira Gershwin and music by Jerome Kern, are good to great. And there is some real drama and emotion here—it's not just spectacular fluff (not that there's anything wrong with that!).
Phil Silvers and Eve Arden add a lot of humor, and Rita Hayworth is great. Otto Kruger is also good in his role. Spectacular costumes are given a twist with a little time travel plot element that for some scenes take us back to the 1890s.
Cover Girl makes my top 10 list for 1944. Includes an insightful essay by Julie Kirgo.
Oh,,too bad.
And has been reported by Warners that the full, unedited print has serious issues preventing an HD master at the current time so they are working on it but it may be awhile before it is ready.
My fingers get crossed every Halloween, hoping to see this one get released as part of the annual horror/sci-fi releases each Fall. The issues with it must be pretty major, or else I think we'd have seen it by now. Hopefully next year!
Now I don't feel so bad, impulsively buying only 1 set!
The list was updated 9/19 and BL WAS on the list ..another reason that I ordered so many at once ... these are not bottom of the barrel movies .. they will probably go quick ...
On my modest equipment there were no issues I could see with a film of this vintage ... If you're not into Musicals ... just turn off the sound and let Rita show her stuff in brilliant Technicolor
