A star is born 1954 - Judy's triumph from beginning to end

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IMDB Rating: 7,8

Director: George Cukor
Main Cast: Judy Garland, James Mason, Jack Carson, Charles Bickford, Tommy Noonan, Amanda Blake

"The 1954 musical remake of A Star is Born could have been titled A Star is Reborn, in that it represented the triumphal return to the screen of Judy Garland after a four-year absence. The remake adheres closely to the plotline of the 1937 original: An alcoholic film star, on his last professional legs, gives a career boost to a unknown aspiring actress. The two marry, whereupon her fame and fortune rises while his spirals sharply downward. Unable to accept this, the male star crawls deeper into the bottle. The wife tearfully decides to give up her own career to care for her husband. To spare her this fate, the husband chivalrously commits suicide. His wife is inconsolable at first, but is urged to go 'on with the show' in memory of her late husband.
To make room for the songs, several supporting characters from the 1937 version were eliminated. The result is a film that, despite the increased length, has less story-telling richness, though the deficiency is compensated by Garland's superb performance.
What truly sets the 1954 A Star is Born apart from other films of its ilk is its magnificent musical score by Harold Arlen and Ira Gershwin. The songs include The Man Who Got Away (brilliantly performed by Garland in one long take, sans dubbing), It's a New World, Somewhere There's a Someone, I Was Born in a Trunk, Lose That Long Face and Gotta Have Me Go With You. When originally previewed in 1954, the film ran well over three hours, thanks to the lengthy-and thoroughly disposable-Born in a Trunk number, added to the film as an afterthought without the approval or participation of director George Cukor. The Warner Bros. executives trimmed the film to 154 minutes, eliminating three top-rank musical numbers and several crucial expository sequences (including Norman's proposal to Vicki). At the instigation of the late film historian Ronald Haver, the full version was painstakingly restored in 1983, with outtakes and still photos bridging the 'lost' footage. Despite the efforts of restoration experts, there are today no complete prints of the original release version. Judy Garland benefits from the increased emphasis on her character, and the film is far more of a star vehicle for her than was the original for Janet Gaynor. Though nominated in several categories, A Star is Born was left empty-handed at Academy Award time, an oversight that caused outrage then and still rankles Judy Garland fans to this day. (Hedda Hopper later reported that her loss to Grace Kelly for The Country Girl (1954) was the result of the closest Oscar vote up till that time that didn't end in a tie, with just six votes separating the two.)" - www.allmovie.com

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Meet me in St. Louis 1944 - Sweet nostalgia for an idealized America

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IMDB rating: 7,7

Director: Vincente Minnelli
Main Cast: Judy Garland, Margaret O'Brien, Mary Astor, Lucille Bremer, Leon Ames, Tom Drake, Marjorie Main, Harry Davenport, June Lockhart

"Sally Benson's short stories about the turn-of-the-century Smith family of St. Louis were tackled by a battalion of MGM screenwriters, who hoped to find a throughline to connect the anecdotal tales. The highlight of the film is Judy Garland's singing 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas'. Meet Me in St. Louis was the first team-up for Garland and director Vincente Minnelli, whose talent for handling complex set pieces works well in this film, as does the lively Technicolor cinematography of George Folsey. At least some of the credit should go to songwriter turned producer Arthur Freed for his excellent work in bringing together the proper talent. Margaret O'Brien won a special Oscar for her remarkable performance. The songs are a heady combination of period tunes and newly minted numbers by Ralph Blane and Hugh Martin, the best of which are The Boy Next Door, The Trolley Song and the above-mentioned Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." - www.allmovie.com

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The wizard of Oz 1939 - The movie which catapulted Garland into stardom

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IMDB rating: 8,1

Director: Victor Fleming
Main Cast: Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley, Billie Burke, Margaret Hamilton

"The third and definitive film adaptation of L. Frank Baum's 1900 children's fantasy, this musical adventure is a genuine family classic that made Judy Garland a star for her heartfelt performance as Dorothy Gale, an orphaned young girl unhappy with her drab black-and-white existence on her aunt and uncle's dusty Kansas farm. Dorothy yearns to travel 'over the rainbow' to a different world, and she gets her wish when a tornado whisks her and her little dog, Toto, to the Technicolorful land of Oz.
The lavish MGM production of L. Frank Baum's children's book may have lost a million dollars on its initial release, but its songcraft, technical artistry, star-making performance from Judy Garland, and unexpected TV success turned it into a perennial classic. With future ace MGM musical producer Arthur Freed lending producer Mervyn LeRoy an uncredited hand in pre-production, Cedric Gibbons' art direction, Adrian's costumes, and Hal Rosson's sparkling cinematography maximized the creative potential of Technicolor film, as Dorothy goes 'over the rainbow' from a sepia-toned black-and-white Kansas to a fantastically rendered Oz of ruby slippers, emerald cities, and yellow brick roads. Lent ample support by vaudeville vets Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, and Bert Lahr, neophyte Garland delivered a touching performance as Dorothy, proving that she had the acting talent to match her superb singing. As with Gone With the Wind, the film went through several directors and Victor Fleming got the credit; King Vidor directed the Kansas sequences, including Garland's solo 'Over the Rainbow'. Almost cut for the sake of pacing, 'Over the Rainbow' became an Oscar winner for Best Song and a Garland standard. Garland was MGM's second choice for Dorothy after Shirley Temple dropped out of the project; and Bolger was to have played the Tin Man but talked co-star Buddy Ebsen into switching roles. When Ebsen proved allergic to the chemicals used in his silver makeup, he was replaced by Haley. Gale Sondergaard was originally to have played the Wicked Witch of the West in a glamorous fashion, until the decision was made to opt for belligerent ugliness, and the Wizard was written for W.C. Fields, who reportedly turned it down because MGM couldn't meet his price. Although the 2.7-million-dollar film wilted at the box office, The Wizard of Oz was nominated for several Oscars, including Best Picture (which it lost to Gone With the Wind), winning for Herbert Stothart's score and Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg's song. It was the first feature sold for prime-time TV telecast, and its 1956 TV debut was a ratings hit, finally turning it into the crowd-pleasing blockbuster that MGM had always meant it to be." - www.allmovie.com

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Babes in arms 1939 - Let's put on a show!

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031066/?ref_=nv_sr_1
IMDB rating: 6,6

Director: Busby Berkeley
Main Cast: Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Charles Winninger, Guy Kibbee

"Babes in Arms is a prime example of the 'let's put on a show' musical popular in the 1930s and 1940s. The nominal plot is little more than a means of connecting the elaborate production numbers; the supporting cast are little more than props for stars Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland. Busby Berkeley's direction is able and functional: like the audience, he's just eager to get to the next dance set. MGM had other priorities at the time of Babes' production - most notably Garland's classic The Wizard of Oz, on which the studio lost money, and the expensive, lucrative Gone With the Wind - so the budget for the Berkeley musical was surprisingly low. What Babes in Arms lacks in production grandeur, however, it amply compensates with the captivating star turns from Rooney and Garland." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/babes-in-arms-v3541/

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Love finds Andy Hardy 1938 - The third one of the series with the singing talents of Judy Garland

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0030386/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
IMDB rating: 6,9

Director: George B. Seitz
Main Cast: Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Lewis Stone, Fay Holden, Cecilia Parker, Lana Turner, Ann Rutherford

"Considered by many to be the best of the Andy Hardy series, Love Finds Andy Hardy certainly boasts a solid guest-star cast, with the likes of Judy Garland and Lana Turner on hand to add, each in her own special way, spice. This being before The Wizard of Oz, a young Garland hadn't really broken into the big time yet, but you'd never know it from her performance here. She's given three songs (while, surprisingly, star Mickey Rooney gets none); none of the songs are remotely above average, but Garland sells them with an ability that goes far beyond her teenaged years. Her voice is youthful and lovely, but it's her phrasing that's so remarkable; the way in which she handles lines both melodic and lyric is amazing, particularly for one so young. For her part, Turner looks totally delicious. The script calls for the viewer to believe that Rooney has to be coaxed into dating her and then complains because she doesn't like to swim and just wants to kiss. This gives huge credibility problems to the story, but credibility isn't what Love is about, anyway. It's about honor and dignity and small-town virtues and listening to your father. It's also about Rooney, and one's fondness for his specific brand of 'gee whiz' acting and never-ending energy will likely affect one's enjoyment of Love." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/love-finds-andy-hardy-v30291/

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