Judy Garland films on TCM: ‘Summer Under the Stars’ series to present Meet Me in St. Louis, The Clock, and A Child Is Waiting
Judy Garland star vehicles are a Turner Classic Movies staple, so the “Summer Under the Stars” day – Thursday, Aug. 6 – dedicated to the star of The Wizard of Oz and A Star Is Born brings nothing new.
Yet, those who have never watched or who don’t mind watching yet again and again some of Judy Garland’s classics and not-so-classics might want to check out or rewatch Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), The Clock (1945), Summer Stock (1950), A Child Is Waiting (1962), and I Could Go On Singing (1963).
Directed by Garland’s soon-to-be husband, Vincente Minnelli, Meet Me in St. Louis is a charming – if a little overlong – family musical. By that I don’t mean it’s a musical for families to watch together, as many – both young and old – may find the goings-on in this idealized period piece much too sugary for their taste. It’s just that Meet Me in St. Louis happens to be a musical about a specific family, in which a cast of excellent actors – Garland, Leon Ames, Mary Astor, and a fully believable Margaret O’Brien – makes the potentially saccharine situations feel comically (at times, touchingly) endearing. And there are some good songs, too, mostly courtesy of Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane.
The Clock pairs Garland with Robert Walker, then going through a difficult time with soon-to-be ex-wife Jennifer Jones, who had become producer David O. Selznick’s protégée. Perhaps as a result of his off-screen emotional travails, Walker delivers a remarkably sensitive performance as the shy soldier who spends a couple of days in New York City before returning to camp. Garland flawlessly plays the girl he meets and falls in love with in a matter of hours. Vincente Minnelli makes the unlikely affair seem fully believable and quite moving.
Directed by the underrated Charles Walters, Summer Stock was Garland’s last MGM film. Though considered a “minor” example of the genre, this “putting on a show” musical has several good songs and dance numbers, some funny jokes, and the usual good chemistry between Garland and costar Gene Kelly, with whom she can also be seen in both For Me and My Gal and The Pirate.
A Child Is Waiting and I Could Go On Singing were Garland’s last two films. (She was supposed to have appeared in Valley of the Dolls later in the decade, but that didn’t work out. She was replaced by Susan Hayward.) These two dramas (the second one with music) are Garland’s best showcases as an actress, even more so than A Star Is Born.
Neither film, however, is what one would call great: A Child Is Waiting, in which Garland plays an unstable woman teaching mentally handicapped children, is much too melodramatic – perhaps evidence that director John Cassavetes wasn’t comfortable working within the confines of a commercial production, as he frequently opted for in-your-face melodrama whenever the screenplay asked for visceral drama. (Even so, A Child Is Waiting eons more tolerable than his self-indulgent, independently produced efforts.) I Could Go On Singing, for its part, although directed by the capable Ronald Neame, is bogged down by a sentimental storyline that needed to go through a few more drafts.
But really, no screenplay or directorial shortcomings matter when Garland is on screen. Her performances in both films are nothing short of mesmerizing, as she brings in a nervous, raw vibrancy to her characters the likes of which have rarely been found on film.
Disguised as a “Let’s put on a show” musical, Strike Up the Band is actually one of the scariest horror movies ever made. In fact, Strike Up the Band could give one nightmares for months – just like the one Naomi Watts suffers from in Mulholland Dr. right before blowing her head off. Watch Strike Up the Band at your own risk.
Judy Garland films: TCM schedule (EDT) – Aug. 6
6:00 AM Listen, Darling (1938)
Director: Edwin L. Marin.
Cast: Judy Garland, Freddie Bartholomew, Mary Astor, Walter Pidgeon, Alan Hale, Scotty Beckett, Barnett Parker, Gene Lockhart, Charley Grapewin.
75m7:15 AM Every Sunday (1936)
Cast: Deanna Durbin, Judy Garland.
11m7:30 AM Andy Hardy Meets Debutante (1940)
Director: George B. Seitz.
Cast: Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Lewis Stone.
88m9:00 AM Life Begins for Andy Hardy (1941)
Director: George B. Seitz.
Cast: Mickey Rooney, Lewis Stone, Judy Garland, Ann Rutherford, Fay Holden, Sara Haden, Patricia Dane, Ray McDonald.
101m10:45 AM Strike Up the Band (1940)
Director: Busby Berkeley.
Cast: Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Paul Whiteman, June Preisser, William Tracy, Larry Nunn, Ann Shoemaker, Virginia Brissac, Enid Bennett, Helen Jerome Eddy.
120m12:45 PM Little Nellie Kelly (1940)
Director: Norman Taurog.
Cast: Judy Garland, George Murphy, Charles Winninger, Douglas McPhail, Arthur Shields, Rita Page, Forrester Harvey, James Burke.
99m2:25 PM If I Forget You – Judy Garland (1940)
3m2:30 PM For Me and My Gal (1942)
Director: Busby Berkeley.
Cast: Judy Garland, George Murphy, Gene Kelly, Martha Eggerth, Ben Blue, Stephen McNally, Lucille Norman, Richard Quine, Keenan Wynn.
104m4:15 PM In the Good Old Summertime (1949)
Director: Robert Z. Leonard.
Cast: Judy Garland, Van Johnson, S.Z. Sakall, Spring Byington, Clinton Sundberg, Buster Keaton, Lillian Bronson, Liza Minnelli.
103m6:00 PM Summer Stock (1950)
Director: Charles Walters.
Cast: Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Eddie Bracken, Gloria DeHaven, Marjorie Main, Phil Silvers, Ray Collins, Nita Bieber, Carleton Carpenter, Hans Conried.
109m8:00 PM I Could Go On Singing (1963)
Director: Ronald Neame.
Cast: Judy Garland, Dirk Bogarde, Jack Klugman, Gregory Phillips, Aline MacMahon, Pauline Jameson, Jeremy Burnham, Robert Rietty, Gerald Sim.
99m10:00 PM The Clock (1945)
Director: Vincente Minnelli.
Cast: Judy Garland, Robert Walker, James Gleason, Keenan Wynn, Marshall Thompson, Lucile Gleason, Ruth Brady.
90m11:35 PM La Fiesta de Santa Barbara (1935)
Cameos: Andy Devine, Buster Keaton, Judy Garland.
19m12:00 AM Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
Director: Vincente Minnelli.
Cast: Judy Garland, Tom Drake, Margaret O’Brien, Mary Astor, Leon Ames, Lucille Bremer, Marjorie Main, Harry Davenport, June Lockhart, Henry H. Daniels Jr., Hugh Marlowe, Chill Wills.
113m2:00 AM The Pirate (1948)
Director: Vincente Minnelli.
Cast: Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Gladys Cooper.
102m3:45 AM World Famous Musical Hits (2000)
A short promotional reel showcasing six MGM musicals: Three Little Words, Because You’re Mine, Till the Clouds Roll By, The Band Wagon, Words and Music, and Singin’ in the Rain.”
9m4:00 AM A Child Is Waiting (1963)
Director: John Cassavetes.
Cast: Judy Garland, Burt Lancaster, Gena Rowlands.
104m5:45 AM Judy Garland Biography (1962)
4m