Así son las mujeres

The music is nice and the acting is excellent. While I like Jane Powell and Elizabeth Taylor was positively gorgeous, I'm a huge fan of Wallace Beery. When we look back and consider great actors, he is very underrated. It offers a look back at the family unit of the time compared to what exists now.

1948 produced some of MGM's top teenagers to movie audiences. Put them in a gorgeous technicolor musical comedy, add some veteran adults and you have one of the best of it's time.

Jane Powell, lovely voice and all, plays Judy. Her best friend is the now-sophisticated Elizabeth Taylor, all of 15 years old, looking absolutely lovely that you know she's headed for glamorous grownup roles down the road. The camera loved her. Then there's Scotty Beckett, having started his career at the age of four, now in the awkward teens, doing one of his best performances as Judy's date. Sad he died such a tragic death at an early age.

Scatter many film veterans to the likes of Wallace Berry and Selena Royale as Judy's parents, Robert Stack, young and handsome as Elizabeth's love interest, Leon Ames as Elizabeth and Scotty's dad, Clinton Sundberg as the butler to Ames, Xavier Cugat and his band with Carmen Miranda his star attraction, and one of her last films, and George Cleveland as Judy's Grandpa.

A trivia note: watch the scene with Judy waiting to be picked up for the prom. Early in the picture. Grandpa enters and actually kicks the dog to make his entrance. I had to rewind to believe what I saw. The dog also yelped when he did. And this is the guy who later played all those "Lassie" TV programs. Shame on you George!

All in all a charming and lighthearted film with the beauty of Taylor, the voice of Powell and the comedy of Beckett. Jane sings "A Most Unusual Day" and "Love Is Where You Find It".

As somebody who would see anything with Elizabeth Taylor and Jane Powell in it, and who has gotten a lot of pleasure out of Carmen Miranda, 'A Date With Judy' was quite the treat. It is an utterly charming film with much to like and difficult to hate.

It may feel overlong and twee by today's standards for some, both feelings understandable. Personally thought that there was very little to dislike about 'A Date With Judy', and its flaws are just a couple actually and very minor. It does to me go on a little longer than necessary for a story that is relatively slight, so a couple of parts lose momentum just a tad. Robert Stack, while handsome, is also a little too stiff for my liking.

However, 'A Date With Judy' is a lovely-looking film, lovingly shot in glorious Technicolor (that clearly loves Taylor and Powell, not quite so kind to Wallace Beery, often seen in black and white and towards the end of his life, though) and elegant and cosy production and costume design. While not unforgettable or timeless as such, the music and songs are still very good. "Love is Where You Find It" is heart-warming and heartfelt, and it is similarly easy to see why "A Most Unusual Day" was such a hit.

The script warms and touches the heart, and the storytelling while slight is warm, touching and amusing, losing very little if any of its appeal so long after the film was made and released. Richard Thorpe's direction never undermines the film's tone, which is always clear, and there is the sense that he knew what to do with the film and how to do it and that his heart was in it.

Stack aside, the cast are on point. Cute as a button and exuberantly youthful Powell effortlessly charms the viewer and her singing is divine. Taylor in one of her earliest roles is so beautiful here (if not quite as much as in 'Ivanhoe' and 'Cat On a Hot Tin Roof') one can't take her eyes off her, she had a character that could easily annoy but she makes the role endearing. Scotty Beckett is amusing, while Leon Ames is movingly dignified and George Cleveland is a memorable grandfather figure.

Carmen Miranda is quite the Brazilian bombshell and a definite scene stealer. A big surprise was a more restrained and sympathetic than usual Wallace Beery, who tended to be in larger-than-life and large-slice-of-ham roles, this side to him was done remarkably by him and his learning of the rumba with Miranda stays with one forever, very sweet and moving.

Overall, an utterly charming film. 8/10 Bethany Cox

"A Date with Judy" was a typical entertainment that MGM produced over and over as a way of showing its contract players. This film was a showcase to present Jane Powell and Elizabeth Taylor, two of the popular young actresses at the time. While the movie will not add anything to either one of the stars resumes, it's a pleasant way for watching how times have changed. The film was directed by Richard Thorpe, and produced by Joe Pasternak.

Judy and Carol are friends from school. Judy is the talented singer who is going to perform at a school party. Carol is the spoiled rich girl who is jealous of Judy. Oogie, Carol's brother, the band leader, is in love with Judy. To complicate things a newly arrived young man, Stephen, has come into town to work for the summer and he is the object of both Judy's and Carol's attention.

Wallace Beery is the best thing in the film. He plays Melvin Foster, Judy's father. He refuses to dance at the party with his wife, and thanks to Xavier Cugat's suggestion, he decides to engage Rosita, the voluptuous Carmen Miranda, to give him private lessons. Since the tutoring takes place in his office, and it's surrounded by a cloud of mystery, it appears Melvin and Rosita are having an affair. But the biggest surprise comes at the end of the film when the Fosters are celebrating their 20th anniversary and we watch Melvin, who by now is an experienced dancer, shows off on the dance floor. A delicious moment, indeed.

Jane Powell and Elizabeth Taylor are charming in their roles. Robert Stack and Scotty Beckett are also good. Leon Ames, Xavier Cugat, and the effervescent Carmen Miranda make excellent contributions, but it's Wallace Beery, who steals the show.

"A Date with Judy" will delight viewers looking for a nostalgic look at an uncomplicated time in America.

This film is a real riot of charm, song, wit and dazzling color. This kind of movie-making has been dead for a very long time, to my everlasting regret. Scotty Beckett and Jane Powell stand out. Unfortunately, Carmen Miranda is made to sing Hollywood's version of Brazilian songs, rather than the authentic stuff. It is disappointing that foreigners should so often be the object of amusement in American films. They are not allowed any dignity. However, Miranda makes the best of what she is given, and shines like a star.

The fun is wholesome, but not too wholesome. The plot involves suspected adultery by a venerable father!!! Plots and subplots are gloriously interwoven. Every time I see this film I am reassured that there IS such a thing as perfection.