Despite a few good Garland songs and Kelly dance routines this is a dispiriting musical. Maybe it's because, as with all Garland films, there's an overall air of gloom about it when watched today, knowing what we know of its star's travails at the time it was being shot. Even the celebrated finale, "Get Happy", is anything but as Judy appears on stage suddenly twenty pounds lighter than she was in her last scene and images fill the head of her real life hospital stay that brought about the shed weight. Also dragging the film down is an uninspired screenplay that doesn't do much with its supporting players. Rarely, if ever, have Eddie Bracken and Marjorie Main been this unfunny. And Phil Silvers, who is often less than amusing, scales new heights of hammy annoyance. C plus.
Review of Summer Stock
