with Gene KellySummer Stock (1950) was Judy's last film for MGM. Personal problems had compounded her troubles with the studio bosses, and after more than 14 years on the lot, Judy was let go.  (But four years later, at Warner Bros., she made A Star is Born...talk about dynamite comebacks!)

Summer Stock is somewhat of a throwback to the "barnyard musicals" of the 30's and 40's, yet the undeniable chemistry between Judy and Gene Kelly makes it special.

Judy plays Jane Falbury, whose sister Abigail (Gloria de Haven) descends on their farm with a huge troup of actors, blithely assuming they can use Jane's barn for rehearsals.  This unruly group creates a lot of chaos for poor Jane, but she reluctantly finds herself being drawn into a whole new world - and fighting an attraction to the show's director, Joe Ross (Kelly).

Gene Kelly was fresh from the innovative On the Town and about to embark on the masterpiece An American In Paris. He agreed to do Summer Stock as a favor, to help Judy as she had once helped him in his first film eight years earlier. The tenderness with which he treats Judy in this film is perhaps a result of this, and certainly adds a tangible depth to this otherwise very light-weight movie.