The Harvey Girls (1946)

Color / 101 mins

Ever noticed how after a novel story is a smash hit, a watered-down, similar imitation often follows?

Well, "The Harvey Girls" is one of these, but with a twist: it's actually good.

After the wild success of Rogers and Hammerstein's Broadway play "Oklahoma", which started in 1944 and broke all box office records, the moguls at MGM decided that they needed to produce a similar story. So in 1946, "The Harvey Girls" hit motion picture theatres everywhere.

In the opening scene, a train full of prim-looking young girls are heading out to a Western town called Sandrock to staff a Harvey House. These restaurants, which really existed, were an attempt by businessman Fred Harvey to bring civilization to the far-flung areas of the U.S. As supervisor Sonora Cassidy (Marjorie Main) says, "Wherever a Harvey House appears, civilization is soon to follow."

While these ladies are happily daydreaming of the romantic life of the West, Susan Bradley (Judy Garland) nervously and expectantly tries to imagine her future, perilously standing on the back of the train. She sings a pretty but rather forgettable melody, "In the Valley". Susan is an Ohio girl who has a much different reason for coming to the West: she is a mail-order bride, engaged to the hopelessly romantic letter writer Mr. H. H. Hartsey. When Susan makes her way back to the train and tells the girls of her lover's poetic words, they all swoon with jealousy.

The train gloriously makes its way into Sandrock to "On the Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe", which won an Academy Award for "Best Song." This musical spectacle is not rivaled by any other Judy number except for "The Trolley Song", in my opinion, and is much better than anything in "Oklahoma." The ensemble charmingly sings and dances in several minutes of film, but Judy commands attention as the star from the second she steps off the train. Looking fresh and beautiful in her lavender dress and stately hat, she conveys the excitement of a bride-to-be with incredible poise and a much brighter tone to her voice than usual. "The Harvey Girls" is worth watching for this number alone.

Once the train lands in Sandrock, however, Susan's beau turns out to be a creepy old man who doesn't have the heart to go through with the cruelly mismatched marriage. In fact, the girls find out that his eloquent letters were actually penned by shifty Ned Trent (John Hodiak), who works at the Harvey House's nemesis, the saloon.

Immediately, two musical numbers, "The Train Must Be Fed" and "Oh, You Kid!" are performed comedically, both very entertaining and with expert camera work. "The Train Must Be Fed" stars Marjorie Main as she barks out orders to the Harvey Girls, while "Oh, You Kid!" is our first real glimpse of the other star: Angela Lansbury as Em, who is performing in one of her first films as the main saloon harlot. She sings and does a teasing dance much in the style of a looser Rosemary Clooney.

It turns out that the saloon crowd is a particularly rough one, and they don't relish having the pristine Harvey Girls in town. For a long time, the crowd harrasses the girls, shooting theit windows and once stealing all their steaks (which includes a hilarious scene with Judy Garland holding the saloon owners at gunpoint). Several of them leave, but not young, determined Susan. She befriends Alma (Virginia O'Brien) and Deborah, a young Cyd Charisse, and the three of them decide that they will not let the ill tempers of a few ruin their time in the West. The three girls enjoy a melodious trio on the porch, "It's a Great Big World", a rather long number with perfect, subtle choreography in lieu of a big dance. The scenery is so lush that you can almost feel the crisp but warm air of the early summer night.

As Ned and Em bother the girls, life moves on for those who stay. Alma develops a friendship with dandy blacksmith Chris Maule (Ray Bolger), who comedically acts rather cowardly during "The Wild, Wild West." He can dance, but O'Brien can't sing very well, and this number is rather grating on the nerves. The interesting thing is that Bolger was Judy's co-star in the "Wizard of Oz"; he played the scarecrow, and he's even better in this picture.

Immediately after, Susan confronts Ned about all his misdeeds in "his" valley, where she surprisingly learns (gasp!) that he's not a totally evil person after all. A great deal of well-scripted teasing goes on, both of the actors in their element, before he kisses her and she nearly faints. However, the budding romance is cut short when, upon their return, a snake has been placed in the girls' closet and Susan turns on Ned again.

Two momentous scenes follow. Worried about their competition, the whores of the saloon take on the Harvey girls in a gigantic brawl. Words can't even describe this. You have to see it to believe it. Afterwards, the groups decide to end their hostility with a party, in which a dance scene similiar to the "Meet Me in St. Louis" number "Skip to My Lou", which even borrows its music and one of its dances. However, Ray Bolger definitely steals this scene with his amazingly limp tap dancing that could definitely give Fred Astaire a run for his money.

The rest of the movie is definitely entertaining as the rest of the plot unfolds, but no more information will be given away here!

All in all, "The Harvey Girls" is a great movie. It's an underrated classic that should rival films like "Oklahoma" and "For Me and My Gal" in popularity. MGM had a limited number of Technicolor productions, so they obviously utilized those they were granted with amazingly beautiful costumes and sets, perfect to the last detail.

This movie in particular doesn't seem that dated, except in the main points of the plot. The dialogue is clever, the pace is fast, and for about the first time, the cinematography is much better than most movies of its time; in fact, better than many musicals from the 1960's! "The Harvey Girls" also launched the careers of Angela Lansbury and Cyd Charisse, both hugely popular American actresses.

For Judy, "The Harvey Girls" was a good performance. In her first musical since the 1944 sensation "Meet Me in St. Louis", her comeback was solid, though she was beginning to look pale, sickly, and old by this point. Director George Sidney obviously tried to capitalize some of the success of "Meet Me in St. Louis". In the opening song, Judy is immediately seen teetering on the back of the yellow train with the world rolling by, very reminiscent of "The Trolley Song". After Judy's Esther Smith-like dialogue and innocence, and not to mention the borrowed music during the party, Judy runs to Ned's valley in a scarf and with her hair fixed in very much the style of the Christmas party. In some ways, however, "The Harvey Girls" is somewhat of a downer, because there is no way that Judy can rise, even with a brilliant performance, to the height of her previous musical.

The special effects are also interesting, especially as the men literally leap through fire.

"The Harvey Girls", simply stated, is great. If nothing else, see it for the good musical numbers, the stunning dancing talent of Bolger, and the great vocal talent of Garland.

You'd like it if: you want to see a musical of a similar time and style of "Meet Me in St. Louis". Also, anybody would probably like its fast pace and lush color.

It may not be for you if: you're extremely sensitive to Native American plights. The movie portrays Indians almost mockingly. They just "hang around" and are present in nearly every scene sulking. In one scene, they are even seen moping in a fenced-in area.

Rating: ****
Judy score: ***