My Favorite Judy Garland Films

June 10th would have marked Judy Garland's 93rd birthday. In honor of that my next two posts will be dedicated to her. The first is five of my favorite Judy flicks.

Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)

Hands down this is my favorite Judy film. I love the music, the storyline and how beautiful the coloring is. Everything about this is cheerful and bright even though the last few scenes can make me shed a tear or two. 

A Child is Waiting (1963)

Doing an all drama film when you're mostly known for cheerful musicals can be tricky. However, Judy being the talented performer she was could carry off both drama and those happy pictures. Obviously this wasn't the first drama she made but it's my favorite. 

 

The Wizard of OZ (1939)

I was hesitant to add this film even though it's one of my favorites. ( I watch it every Thanksgiving) The reason, it's cliche- this is the film everyone has seen and everyone knows Judy as Dorothy Gale. To me Judy is so much more than a girl in a blue gingham dress- even though I do own this film a great deal of appreciation for my love of gingham! Still it's the first film to catapult her to major screen stardom and without it we'd never see what else this talented lady could do. 

A Star is Born (1954)

The classic Hollywood tale- A fading actor finds a young ingenue and turns her into a star, becoming more successful  than he was thus causing many problems. This movie was first made in 1937 and in 1976 was remade with Barbara Streisand and there's talk for a remake again (Please Hollywood, I beg you NO!) This version is my favorite. Of course the famous The Man That Got Away sequence remains one of the best ever in musicals. 

Summer Stock (1950)

This was Judy's last film not only with Gene Kelly but for M-G-M and as sad as that is this film goes out on a happy note. I mainly included this film because it has one of my favorite songs, Get Happy. I really love that sequence. I also love the You, Wonderful You number. 

Until Next Time,

Ashley A.