THE HARVEY GIRLS (1946) *1/2 Life's so short, it's unfortunate that Judy Garland spent any time making this movie. It's nothing short of incredible that such an extended soundtrack lacks evidence of even a single idea. Not good idea mind you, any idea at all. It's like it was all written by Phil Collins in a past life, or maybe at the age of five. That's it, it sounds like a not particularly gifted little kid humming "tra-la-la" for ten hours. Or perhaps they just dropped a bunch of ping-pong balls down the steps and called it a melody. Naturally it won an Oscar for best song, and a nomination for best scoring of a musical. Still and all, there are a few minutes of dialogue and not only is Judy wonderful as always but Ray Bolger is a reasonable match. Angela Lansbury isn't particularly convincing as the head whore, but when all the hookers gang up on Judy and try to beat her up it's the best scene of the lot. The Harvey girls all come running across the street brandishing rolling pins and kitchen utensils to protect her. There's also a bunch of cowboys standing around all the time wearing pastel bandanas around their necks. At the end everyone turns good.