I Could Go on Singing

. . . to a great artist: Judy Garland. At the end of her fabulous, unparalleled career, Garland made this swansong. Under-appreciated at the time of its release, it now grows in stature, like fine wine aging.

Medical experts warned Judy would never sing again in the early fifties before she made the astonishing "A Star is Born." Then she went on to her historic national concert tours, and fifteen years after "Star" she made "I Could Go on Singing."

Defying all predictions about her career, Garland triumphed. True, it wasn't easy, for her or her fellow actors and crew. Somehow, though, she just kept bouncing back, overcoming the most formidable obstacles.

Here she's supported by an excellent cast headed by Dirk Bogard in a very strong performance. Ronald Neame's direction is on-target, though the script is a bit uneven. Yet the film is looking better and better, and viewers are growing in their appreciation of this legacy of one of the 20th century's most talented and beloved artists.

Caught this on daytime TV one day and found it surprisingly engrossing. The plot line could be corny, but instead it is a touching and believable story. The principals are excellent - Judy Garland is not my favourite performer but she is very likable here, and Dirk Bogarde presents with his usual charm a role which could easily be unsympathetic. The young man who plays the part of the son is fresh and appealing, providing an excellent foil to the two seasoned professionals who play his parents. The Englishness of the settings comes across strongly but is not overdone. The script is low key but interest never flags. I don't find the vocal numbers particularly appealing - Garland's mature voice is rather smoky, but she delivers with all the seasoned arts of a veteran. Touch of weirdness - Garland's hair! Whoever coiffed her for this movie should be run out of town. Over-teased and over-sprayed, it is somehow dishevelled also, and strangely one-sided at times. Not flattering!

1963's "I Could Go On Singing" would prove to be Judy Garland's final film, and what a shame.

Here, Garland plays Jenny Bowman, a famous performer who comes to London with a manager (Jack Klugman) and an assistant (Aline McMahon) to do concerts and goes to see an ex-beau, Dr. David Donne (Dirk Bogarde) with a faux medical problem. He knows she has an ulterior motive.

The two of them had broken up, but later, Jenny gave birth to their son. The newlywed David and his wife adopted the child because Jenny couldn't really handle carrying for a new baby and having a career. Matt never knew and believed that both David and his wife were his adopted parents.

Jenny claims that now that David's wife is dead, she just wants to see her son (Gregory Phillips). Once she sees him, she wants to spend time with him - it spirals out of control.

Despite its soapy plot, "I Could Go on Singing" manages to be very effective for two reasons: Judy Garland and Dirk Bogarde, both of whom lift this film up from the maudlin.

Bogarde is an uncredited writer on this film, contributing a lot of Garland's dialogue, as the script needed work before she could take the role; he often participated in screen writing on his films.

Garland plays her role as a brilliant talent who is a needy woman, but one who also is used to getting her way and knows what she wants. Despite an outer fragility, she knows how to stand up for herself.

As an entertainer, she is second to none - magical, warm, exciting, passionate, and fun. Garland sings the title song plus "By Myself," "It Never Was You", and "Hello, Blue Bird," all beautifully performed. Garland looks petite and wonderful as well.

During the scene in the hospital, in which David comes to see Jenny after she sprains her actor, the director, Ronald Neame, realized as the camera was rolling that the scene had passed out of the movie and into real life. Garland was no longer Jenny but Garland.

There was an incredibly intense atmosphere in the room, so instead of yelling cut, doing another take, and repositioning the camera, he let the scene go on. Normally a scene like that would take all day to film.

Bogarde realized that Neame wasn't going to stop and even altered his dialogue to respond to her. The result is an incredibly moving, very personal scene.

Bogarde gives a low-key performance and is perfect opposite Garland, very British, attempting to keep his emotions even -- a very generous actor who was also helpful to Neame in keeping Garland going.

There were a great many difficulties on the set, including an incident where a plate of food went flying through the air as Judy yelled at director Henry Hathaway. In the end, they all made it through, and the result is successful.

We have lots of examples on the screen and in recording of Judy Garland's tremendous talent and brilliance. "I Could Go On Singing" is a look at a character very close to Garland and gives a good sense of the real woman. Art imitates life, or did life imitate art - with Garland, one never knows.

Just prior to starting her controversial TV series, Judy Garland returned to the big screen for two films: the straight drama "A Child is Waiting", and the musical drama "I Could Go on Singing". This last film could have been a personal triumph for her, and based upon her excellent performance, should have been. She sings, she emotes, she clowns, and not once does she disappoint. What turned off the critics was the old-fashioned mother love story attached to the glitz and glamour of Judy's performance.

The story tells of an American singer, Jenny Bowman who comes to London for a sold-out series of concerts. She longs to see her illegitimate son Matt (Gregory Phillips) whom she left with his father, Dr. David Donne (handsome Dirk Bogarde) years before to pursue a career. Matt, unaware of who Jenny really is, is taken under her magic spell much to David's chagrin. Jenny becomes attached to Matt and undergoes a lot of trauma as she seeks to pursue her way back into David's life in order to become Matt's mother at last.

The obvious Madame X story could be an instant turnoff for those who are sickened by sappy dramas like this, even the best ones of the 30's and 40's.

However, Judy takes this beyond possible Ross Hunter soap opera twists and turns it into a one-woman show where she gave movie audiences a chance to see what she had been doing live on stage since her MGM years ended 13 years before. The excitement builds with Jenny's manager George (a young Jack Klugman) helping to build up her excitement and the audience's enthusiastic rise to their feet when she makes her first entrance. Matt's smile as she begins to sing is one that must have crossed many a young man's face during this era, particularly the gay fan base Judy had been building up during the past 10 years. His earlier performance in drag in a production of "HMS Pinafore" could have come off as camp (especially when he introduces Judy to one of his co-stars as "One of the Pinafore's best top men"), but fortunately, his youth kept him from looking like a female impersonator.

Each of Garland's numbers are carefully staged with her outfits matching the backdrops, yet not blending in. Particularly dramatic is Garland's rendition of "By Myself", a Fred Astaire tune from "The Bandwagon". In a flaming sequined red dress (and an equally fiery mood), Garland unleashes all the passion of her performance. One solo ballad, "It Never Was You", is reminiscent of "Friendly Star" from her last MGM movie, "Summer Stock", done in a way which proves Judy could sing any type of song. "Hello, Blue Bird" is a companion tune with "Over the Rainbow", done in a subtle shade of blue, indicating that maybe Dorothy did find where those happy little blue birds fly. She sings the title song over the credits and in the rousing finale.

Dirk Bogarde gets second billing, but doesn't appear as much as the sweet looking Gregory Phillips, then 14 years old, just a few years younger than Judy's daughter Liza. Bogarde and Garland do have some great scenes together, but lack the chemistry of Garland and her previous British co-star, James Mason. Phillips' excitement in the concert scenes is most believable, and he works well with the great lady of song. Following his Broadway experience with another great entertainer, Ethel Merman in "Gypsy", Jack Klugman does well as Garland's patient agent, George; It would be almost another decade before he found lasting fame on TV as part of "The Odd Couple" and later "Quincy". In the confrontation scenes with Garland, Klugman is outstanding. The small role of Ida, Garland's wardrobe lady, is played by the wonderful stage and screen actress Aline MacMahon, a tall lanky character performer who once had the opportunity for screen stardom but preferred the more real characters she ultimately played. (See her as one of the wisecracking "Gold Diggers of 1933" as well as one of the many kind hearted characters she played during her Warner Brothers days; You will see what a lovely performer she was, and the chance to appear with Garland was an excellent way to top her career.)

It is a shame that this film came and went. It probably did very well in cities such as New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, where Judy's gay audiences flocked to see it, but probably failed in smaller areas where audiences wanted to remember Judy as Dorothy and not see her as a troubled adult with a scandalous past (much like herself). Sometimes its hard to tell where Judy ends and Jenny begins, but life is not imitating art here; She is only playing several aspects of who Judy was. Yes, she could be trouble (as Dirk Bogarde would reveal about her behavior on the set), but many people (Dirk included) would admit that when she did deliver, the magic she gave was worth the trouble. Jenny comes off as a troubled woman filled with the love for her audience that Judy indeed had, and an almost unfullfillable need for love from those immediately around her. There is a pain in Judy's eyes that comes out in the character that makes you wonder if she wasn't feeling pain inside from playing part of her own life. Yet, there is a humor that shows the survivor side as well, something Judy could portray as well. Both Jenny and Judy were very complex women, and Judy's ability to play that side of her without coming off as self-parody is a performance that was more than deserving of Academy Award consideration. It is that performance which takes away some of the clichés of an old formula and makes it fresh and moving.

Judy's last film ranks among her greatest as she lurches along as Jenny Bowman, grasping, insecure, and in life pretty much washed up. Echoes of Miss Garland's tragic real life cloud this film in places but that only serves to make it more effective. The three songs are superb and I only wish there had been more. Dirk Bogarde gives good support in a performance which by necessity is in the shadow of the tempestuous star. Seems better every viewing and highly recommended for Judy fans.