sdiner82 Review of I Could Go on Singing

I Could Go on Singing (1963)

First-rate, overlooked adult drama. Judy Garland's finest hour.

[10/10 · 28 June 2001]

This afternoon, TCM showed Judy Garland's last and sadly underrated film--restoring its wide-screened brilliance (letterboxed), shimmering color photography, and Ms. Garland's award-worthy portrayal of an internationally famed concert singer's stopover in London to perform at the Palladium and seek a reunion with her illegitimate teenaged son raised by his father (Dirk Bogarde). An astoundingly moving adult drama (not a bit of sentiment or bathos here) also offers the rare treat of seeing and hearing Ms. Garland perform four songs before a live audience at the Palladium: the title song, "By Myself," the haunting "It Never Was You," and, best of all, her incredibly rousing rendition of "Hello, Bluebird!" An excellent supporting cast (Bogarde proves her dramatic equal in one of his finest performances), gorgeous location photography in London, and fine, restrained direction by the woefully underrated Ronald Neame. Forget the parallels between the character played by Ms. Garland and her own tumultuous real life. This is a Grade-A production. You don't even have to be a Garland fan to be deeply moved by its emotional resonance. But Ms. Garland's aching "It Never Was You" and show-stopping "Hello, Bluebird!" are a definitive display of her timeless, unsurpassed musical artistry; and her touchingly underplayed performance remains her final (though sadly neglected) cinematic triumph.