bkoganbing After film roles got somewhat scarce for Rosalind Russell as they were for so many of her contemporaries when television became popular she went to Broadway and collected herself a Tony for Wonderful Town which was the musical adaption of one of her films My Sister Eileen. Why she didn't star in the film version of that is our loss, but her husband Frederick Brisson was a producer of note. He produced this film for his wife which got a Paramount release. He and Roz also obtained a pair of male co-stars who also did musicals on Broadway, Fernando Lamas in Happy Hunting Ground and Eddie Albert in Miss Liberty.Nothing terribly memorable about The Girl Rush. Roz is a gambler's daughter stuck in New England with her maiden aunt Marion Lorne when she learns she's inherited a Las Vegas hotel and casino. The only problem is that her dad's partner James Gleason blew the ownership at Fernando Lamas's crap table next door. She's got only days to get it back by hook or crook. Maybe millionaire Eddie Albert can help if he can take his eyes off the casino attraction Gloria DeHaven. But Fernando is a gambler in the tradition of dear old dad. I think you can see where this is going.Both Roz and Gloria get to strut their musical stuff and Lamas and Albert both prove to have some nice singing notes. Nothing memorable in the Hugh Martin-Ralph Blane score, but it's serviceable enough.Too bad The Girl Rush came just as Hollywood was closing out doing musicals for the most part. If only MGM knew about Russell when she was a young contract player with them.

marcslope This long-out-of-circulation musical is finally viewable, via Amazon Prime, and it has a warmed-over feel. Rosalind Russell, fresh from her Broadway triumph in "Wonderful Town," plays an Eastern busybody who inherits a run-down Las Vegas casino and mistakenly thinks she has a piece of the Flamingo, owned here by a rather unhappy-looking Fernando Lamas. Paramount seems determined to prove that Roz is a MUSICAL star, and she does sound better than she did in "Wonderful Town" (or the "Gypsy" film, for that matter), and executes Robert Alton's unchallenging choreography neatly enough. But of all the women Fernando Lamas might be attracted to, she seems like she'd be the last. The love story has no conviction, and Robert Pirosh's screenplay keeps falling back on tired gags, like a befuddled Marion Lorne dithering about, or James Gleason, always welcome, as an inveterate gambler. The Martin-Blane score is quite nice, the mid-'50s Vegas location photography sumptuous, and the costumes amusingly over the top. Gloria De Haven's lovely and gets one of the best songs, "An Occasional Man," but it's discouraging to see her playing such a dummy, and Eddie Albert seems too old to play such a papa's boy. In short, there are plenty of incidental pleasures, but the darn thing doesn't add up.

mark.waltz Rosalind Russell plays the heiress to a Las Vegas casino, and thinking it is one of the big ones, she invades it like gangbusters, ordering the cast of the on-stage revue around (during the show!) and really making a total fool out of herself. So starts this weak but colorful musical where Roz missed out on reading the script and ended up in a film where the songs are less than mediocre even though her cast is incredibly gifted and the surrounding sets and costumes are lavish to the point of garishness. In short, perfect for 50's Vegas, yet less than perfect for the future "Auntie Mame".The big novelty in this silly near disaster is seeing "Bewitched's" Marion Lorne as Roz's "Aunt Clara". No, she doesn't steal doorknobs or get stuck in chimney's, but the whole dithering personality that she became beloved for a decade later is there like gangbusters. Roz has two leading men: Latin lothario Fernando Lamas who must explain to her that he owns the casino she's trying to claim as hers, and Eddie Albert, the sap who doesn't realize until it is too late that he is loosing her. Lamas takes her to the one she was bequested: a run-down dump where the stage looks like something out of "The Harvey Girls". Of Miss Russell's musical numbers, only "If You'll Only Take a Chance" is worthy of her post-"Wonderful Town" talents, and the "Hillbilly" number is just so corny that the flakes fall right off the screen into the serial box.On the other hand, Gloria De Haven gets a nice "Vegas" salute to "Champagne", but it is interrupted by Roz's insistence that she smile more. She gets most of the good lines too. James Gleason is as funny as ever as a buffer between Roz and Fernando, ending up in a cutesy romance with the daffy Lorne. If it wasn't for this cast, I would surely have to rate this a "3", its "5" from me coming at great reluctance, mainly because Roz gives it the old college try. There are tons of familiar faces in the chorus and in the background, some of whom went onto bigger and better things, and one of whom went on to win an Oscar.

drewmi2 Not-quite pleasing comedy/musical from Robert Pirosh, who co-wrote the screenplay with Jerome Davis from the story by Phoebe and Henry Ephron. Perhaps fans of Rosalind Russell, Eddie Albert, or lovable character actress Marion Lorne may enjoy more than others. Fernando Lamas is sensual in the romantic lead, and Gloria DeHaven is charming as his love interest and nightclub act. Eddie Albert is particularly engrossing as the affluent "daddy's-boy", and Marion Lorne simply shines as Russell's mumbling Aunt Clara. The film can certainly boast awe-inspiring costumes by ultimate designer Edith Head. Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane wrote the songs, with a musical score by M.S.I. Spencer-Hagen. Among the better song/dance numbers are "Take A Chance" and "Hillbilly Heart." Robert Alton served as choreographer, as well as associate producer. Also, actor George Chakiris is featured as a chorus boy. The overall best performer is the solid, consistently dependable Rosalind Russell, who simply dazzles with charm, energy, and wit as the happy-go-lucky Kim Halliday. With anyone else in the leading role and the film would have been disastrous!