Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

BlazeLime Strong and Moving!

Murphy Howard I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Rexanne It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

vincentlynch-moonoi The reviewer Judith Crist wrote of this film: "Either you are or you aren't - a Judy Garland fan ... And if you aren't, forget about her new movie, 'I Could Go On Singing', and leave the discussion to us devotees. You'll see her in close-up...in beautiful, glowing Technicolor and striking staging in a vibrant, vital performance that gets to the essence of her mystique as a superb entertainer. Miss Garland is - as always - real, the voice throbbing, the eyes aglow, the delicate features yielding to the demands of the years - the legs still long and lovely. Certainly the role of a top-rank singer beset by the loneliness and emotional hungers of her personal life is not an alien one to her..." In some ways I agree with Ms. Crist. In other ways, I do not.I'm not a Judy Garland fan...at least not a fan of the grown up Judy Garland, but I did enjoy this film and I thought it was a good performance. Although, her fragility -- it seemed to me -- showed through in the more emotional scenes of the film. And, there were a number of scenes where I thought she looked rather beaten down.Yes, the Technicolor photography was excellent, and the settings chosen superb! Nevertheless, Judy Garland's performance here was excellent, although I thought her character was not a very admirable person who had no sense of what motherhood is and whose primary motivations were selfish.I continue to be impressed with an actor whom I've only recently come to appreciate -- Dirk Bogarde. He's excellent here as the father.Jack Klugman...oh, so so as the agent.I was most impressed with the young actor playing the son -- Gregory Phillips. A superb performance.And it was a treat to see the superb character actress of years earlier -- Aline MacMahon -- in her next to last film performance, here as Garland's assistant.In terms of plot, Bogarde and Garland were once lovers, and she had a son. She gave him up...totally...to pursue her career. Now, about 15 years later, she wants him back. The film does an excellent job of showing what parents can put their children through.A good film. Very worth watching.

Gord Jackson As others have noted, the story itself is certainly not top draw. A soap-operatic mishmash about a driven show biz mom, prim and proper stiff upper lip Brit doc and an illegitimate teenage son into whose life driven mom wants to re insinuate herself, well it's all right out everybody's favourite soap (spoof) As The Stomach Churns. Happily however, the whole enterprise is almost fully redeemed by the brilliant performances of Judy Garland, Dirk Bogarde, Gregory Phillips, Jack Klugman and Aline MacMahon. If you're a Judy Garland fan (and I am) you'll overlook the quill and parchment foolishness and wallow instead in the great songs and near flawless acting.Certainly, as others have also noted, there are threads of Judy Garland's life woven into this uneven tapestry, but one standout reason for watching this film, for those who never got to see Judy live, is to get a sense of the enormous power, indeed charisma the lady projected from the stage. I saw her in person twice with that first show being near the end of her 'Carnegie Hall' tour. With Mort Lindsay conducting thirty or more musicians out came 4' 11" 'Joltin' Judy' for what she once described as "two hours of POW!" Alone!No dancing chorus boys!No backup comedy acts!It wasn't just a concert - it wasn't an event - it was a HAPPENING - exactly as the concert sequences in this film imply. It's a shame other characters in the story weren't more fully fleshed out, and certainly it is highly regrettable that Judy Garland was such an underrated actress. It is equally shameful that she didn't cop an Oscar nomination for her performance or indeed that I COULD GO ON SINGING was her cinematic swan song. But we do have what she left us in movies, her television series and her glorious recordings, most especially those great Capitol Records titles like MISS SHOW BUSINESS, JUDY, ALONE, JUDY IN LOVE, THE LETTER, JUDY! THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT and of course JUDY GARLAND AT CARNEGIE HALL. Under brilliant producer Voyle Gilmor she got to work with the best musicians and orchestrater's in the business, people who knew exactly how to showcase her unique vocal talents, names like Nelson Riddle, Gordon Jenkins, Jack Marshall and the aforementioned Mort Lindsay among others. Indeed, it is why, along with film titles like A STAR IS BORN and I COULD GO ON SINGING that I unhesitatingly say Judy Garland will always GO ON SINGING!!

jjnxn-1 It's Judy's show all the way even if to paraphrase one of her most famous numbers she been through the mill. Surely not looking her best, although here and there she manages to look at least chic, she is still wonderfully compelling. One of the more interesting aspects of her performance is her entrance preparation before her first musical number where it seems we see a glimpse of the real Judy. The story itself is as old as the hills but it's filled with exceptional talent, Aline MacMahon as a loyal companion, Jack Klugman as Judy's manager and Dirk Borgarde as the stuffy, conflicted but ultimately kind hearted love interest. There is an beautiful performance of "It Never Was You" done in one long slow approach take and even though the final number and title tune isn't the best song she's ever sung Judy punches it across with breathtaking flair making it a fitting close to a storied career. She leaves the cinematic stage with arms thrown outward, feet firmly planted, singing to the heavens just as it should have been.Interesting side notes to look for are the unbilled appearances of Judy's kids, Lorna and Joey Luft, in background of the ferry sequence and an aerial view of 60's London. By all accounts a horror show to make this is still an enjoyable experience particularly if you're a Judy fan.

Martin Bradley Judy Garland is magnificent playing herself; sorry, playing Jenny Bowman, an American singer of a certain age, in London for a series of concerts at the Palladium. The movie is a mostly mediocre tale of mother love but as a showcase for Garland, both as actress and as a performer, (her scenes at the Palladium were probably as close as the movies ever came to capturing her on-stage persona), is it exhilarating and indelibly moving. By the time she gets around to her drunken 'I can't be spread so thin' speech all traces of the character have been wiped clean and it's Garland, raw and emotional, up there on the screen. She was never to make another film, which is probably just as well. With this you can say she went out on a high.Co-star Dirk Bogarde fights a losing battle, (and he gets some terrible lines to say). He's a prissy, fussy stuffed shirt and you can never believe that he and Garland could ever have been romantically involved. There is also a wonderful turn from that great and perpetually undervalued actress Aline MacMahon as Garland's dresser-cum-secretary-cum-companion. But it's Garland's show. The panavision frame can hardly contain her.