Customer Reviews

Judy Garland Scrapbook [VHS]

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A scrapbook is, by definition, a subjective collection of memorabilia, so the appropriate title for this study of Judy Garland. Our unctuous narrator prefaces what is to follow by stating that previous efforts have concentrated on Judy's unhappy private life and ignored her prestigious body of work, so the aim then is to demonstrate that they don't make `em like Judy anymore. What does follow however will not satisfy those seeking a definitive portrait. We see a lot of studio photos, stills, trailers for her films with Mickey Rooney, one for Meet Me in St Louis (in black and white!), a radio broadcast of her singing Over The Rainbow, her wardrobe tests for Valley of the Dolls, and the Who and Look for the Silver Lining numbers from Till the Clouds Roll By. (It amuses me to think that the exertion of her dancing in the Who number while pregnant combined with her pill-taking produces a Liza Minnelli). There is no footage of The Wizard of Oz, A Star is Born is only covered by the newsreel of the opening, nothing on The Pirate, Easter Parade, Get Happy or Summer Stock, no footage of her concerts or TV series, and no mention of A Child is Waiting and I Could go on Singing. A still from Judgment at Nuremburg used out of context in the discussion of her marriage to Vincente Minnelli is particularly irkesome. However, what redeems this video is the surviving footage from Annie Get Your Gun that Judy was fired from - I'm an Indian, Too and Doin' What Comes Naturally. Indian appears the same as it did in the MGM doco When the Lion Roars, though here the colours are blurier. Having not seen the Betty Hutton eventual film, since it has been unavailable for years, I can only go by the cast recordings I have heard where the number is definitely longer. The sequence here, as in the Lion Roars, feels abbreviated. It is said that the number was incomplete, whether due to the removal of director Busby Berkelely or because of Judy's troubles. Either way, it does contradict the myth that Berkeley was not serving the material well, since it is remarkeable. Most of it is in one take and features more than 20 dancers, which would explain the length of time taken to film it. The same thing appears to be true for Doin' What Comes Naturally, which is preceded and followed by dialogue. Here again Berkeley has used an uninterrupted take. This time it is more obvious that Judy is not well. She wears a wig to disguise the fact that her hair was falling out, but despite her condition and the fact that she did not get along with Berkeley, here is the proof that they don't make `em like Judy anymore. Here is the essence of Garland as performer, a showbiz avatar. The real tragedy of Garland leaving MGM is what she may have achieved if she had been inclined to stay. In spite of the myth that she herself perpetuated, she wanted out of her contract, when the studio agreed to let her go. The point is made that the evolution of her films with Rooney showed her eclipsing him, and she did salvage her career by re-inventing herself as a live performer. But she was always a fine actor and the performance we see as Annie Oakley shows her in a very different light. Vincente Minnelli said that Hollywood had barely scratched the surface with her, and this makes the footage saved for this video all the more invaluable.

This was the first Judy Garland Video Biography I ever got. I received it as a gift many years ago. I got it when I was trying to research information on Garland on my early days of being a fan of hers. I learned a lot from this video. It basically gives you the HIGHLIGHTS of Garland's life.

This video pretty much just cuts to the chase of her life. Where than most biographies of Garland today by A&E and The Biography Channel don't just cut to the chase of everything. They gave you every specific detail a Garland fan would want in a 1 - 2 hour video. But this video fails to pursue that.

The only time I would recommend this to any person is if they are a NEW fan of Judy Garland. But if you are like me currently, and have been a fan of Judy for at least few years of Judy, this is HIGHLY NOT recommended to you then.