Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows

Judy Davis gets the Emmy for this one. Beyond belief performance. Not since Ben Kingsley in "Gandhi" have I seen anyone inhabit a real-life based character the way Davis does here. A career high note. Hate to say it..but this movie really deserved a theatrical release. It's almost too big for TV. Hats off to ABC either way. Great direction by Ackerman. The attention payed to the nuances is surreal. Blink..and you'll swear you're watching the real deal. Solid support from Victor Garber and Alison Pill as a young Lorna Luft. And Tammy Blanchard just bought herself a career. Wave bye-bye to "The Guiding Light", Tammy. Your boat has just sailed.

There has to be some sort of cosmic yin-yang Zen supernatural otherworldly force at work here that placed one "Judy" in the ruby slippers of another to this effect. There is no other handy explanation. A star is born (Blanchard) and another one goes into supernova (Davis). This is great moviemaking. Now, get this sucker to video where I can watch it without commercial interruptions.

There have been a lot of show business biographies put on film, but for the most part, they are sketchy and fictionalized. Judy Garland was a show business legend, who even though much has been written about her, a definitive film biography has alluded us. An NBC TV movie was made in the 80's called RAINBOW, but it only covered Garland's childhood to the time she was cast in THE WIZARD OF OZ. At long last, we finally were gifted with a surprisingly factual and lavishly produced TV movie called LIFE WITH JUDY GARLAND: ME AND MY SHADOWS, a two-part mini-series which chronicles Garland's life from her first audition for MGM to her tragic death in 1969. Most show biz biopics tend to fictionalize material for dramatic effect or lack of knowledge of the facts, but I trust the facts presented here because there are several events recreated here that I have actually heard Garland herself talk about in interviews. Some things are omitted and/ or glossed over (Her first marriage to David Rose is barely mentioned), but when you only have 2 hours and 45 minutes to tell the story, some fact-trimming is necessary. The filmmakers wisely chose two actresses to play the teenage and adult Garland. Tammy Blanchard and Judy Davis both won Emmys for their work as young Frances Gumm and the adult Judy Garland. Davis, in particular, is astonishing in a powerhouse performance that just gets richer and more complex upon repeat viewings. Another wise decision to dub original Garland recordings for Davis' singing voice further enhances the power of the piece. I read that prior to shooting, Davis watched every movie Garland made and as much concert footage as she could get her hands on and her homework pays off in spades here. Her recreations of "The Trolley Song" from MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS and "The Man that Got Away" from A STAR IS BORN are positively spooky. Victor Garber gives the performance of his career as Judy's volatile third husband, Sid Luft. Hugh Laurie is a little too masculine as Judy's 2nd hubby, Vincente Minnelli, whose rumored bisexuality prior to meeting Judy is part of Hollywood folklore. There is also solid work from Sonja Smits and John Benjamin Hickey as Judy's good friends, Kay Thompson and Roger Edens and by Dwayne Addams as a young Mickey Rooney. There is also a memorable turn from Marhsa Mason as Ethel Gumm, Judy's hard-nosed mother. A hauntingly accurate look at the tragic life of, arguably, Hollywood's greatest creation, whose very human troubles never allowed her to live up to the creation.

No one can capture the true Garland essence, but Tammy Blanchard and Judy Davis come as close as humanly possible, and I'll settle for that. While I'm still conflicted over daughter Lorna's motives for writing the book upon which this film is based (and would Judy have approved??), and knowing there are gaps in the story, I was nonetheless astonished at the total virtuosity of this film. Wisdom prevailed when electing Blanchard and Davis to lip-sync to Judy herself, although this undoubtedly created more of a challenge for the actors portraying her. Both rose to the occasion. Ms. Blanchard's performance is little short of incredible--she captures the young Judy with a brilliance that is exceeded only by the subject herself (the "Oz" sequence is almost spooky). Judy Davis performing "The Trolley Song" is a bit jarring (perhaps Ms. Blanchard exited the film a bit too soon), but as the film moves ahead, the perfection of her casting is obvious. She vocally and physically mimics the great Garland in another "tour-de-force" performance. The supporting cast also shines, in particular John Benjamin Hickey as Roger Edens, Judy's vocal coach, mentor, and dear friend. Mr. Hickey's quiet strength matches that of Mr. Edens, a lovely, warm glow in the background. Even Legends have their anchors--Roger was Judy's for many years, and Mr. Hickey's silent presence in this regard is perfect. Garland fan or not, this is captivating show(man-and-woman)ship of the first order. I repeat . . . "virtuosity". In keeping with the great and wonderful Judy Garland.

Arguably the single greatest talent to emerge from golden-era Hollywood, Judy Garland continues to fascinate us even more than four decades after her untimely death. As a singer, she was incomparable; as an actress, she was exceptional; as a star, she was perhaps the most brilliant celebrity of her generation. But behind the brilliance there was a deeply troubled woman who began her career as a child in the hands of a driven mother and an all-powerful studio, who raced through five husbands, who fought a losing battle with chemical dependency throughout most of her life, and who self-destructed again and again--only to arise, phoenix-like, from her own ashes time and time again. It was an extraordinary life.

So it should come as no surprise, really, that this three-hour television falls a bit short. Realistically, it would take a talent of Garland's own scope to bring her fully to the screen. But what the film does right, it does extremely, extremely well--and the centerpieces of the film are the remarkable performances of Tammy Blanchard and Judy Davis. Both give extraordinary performances. That said, however, both performances are flawed due to the age of the actresses. Blanchard, who plays the teenage Garland, is clearly too old to be thirteen-ish when the film begins; Davis, who plays Garland from her twenties until her death, is clearly too old to be Garland in her twenties.

But so exceptional are the performances that these are actually minor quibbles. When made up for the role and placed in period attire, both Blanchard and Davis have the look to an absolutely uncanny degree. More importantly, they match each other in their skill at playing Garland, who was one of the most uniquely idiosyncratic personalities of her era--indeed, Davis has been described by many as having "channeled" Garland, and I certainly wouldn't disagree. And the supporting cast is quite good as well, ranging from above average to extremely good, something of a surprise in a made-for-television movie. Equally impressive is the painstaking recreation of the world in which Garland moved; her wardrobe, both on stage and off, has been meticulously recreated right down to the hat she wore for her wedding to Vincent Minnelli. Be it sets, costumes, or props, the design staff did a truly miraculous job.

But the film falls down a bit in both script and detail. Part of this is due to fact that Lorna Luft's memoir was, naturally enough, based on what her mother told her about her life. Doubtlessly Luft accepted much of this as fact, but Garland was notorious for twisting the truth if it would make a good story--and consequently the film includes several depictions of events that by all other accounts didn't happen that way, assuming they happened at all.

When filming THE WIZARD OF OZ, SHADOWS shows Garland being crowded out of the shot by her co-stars, prompting director Victor Flemming to say "You three dirty hams, let that little girl in there!" It was one of Garland's favorite party stories--but it didn't happen. Garland was well known for her ability to perform complex musical numbers with little rehearsal in a single take, and SHADOWS offers her performance of "The Trolley Song" in MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS as an example of her ability to do that--but while she certainly could and often did perform her numbers in a single flawless take, she didn't do it for that particular number. You need only look at MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS and count the cuts in the sequence for change of camera set up. Perhaps the most obvious gaffe in the film is when Garland is found dead in the bathroom of her London apartment; SHADOWS shows her husband going to the bathroom door and seeing her sprawled out on the floor, clearly dead. In reality, the door was locked and he had to climb out on the roof to look in the window--and from her appearance he was unsure of her condition until he actually got into the room.

Such details aside, the script does a superior job of showing Garland's racy, acid, and often self-mocking sense of humor and her often-hidden but powerful sexuality. It also does a fairly good job of displaying her love-hate relationship with her own talent. But it is extremely spotty, skipping over major events and focusing on considerably more trivial incidents. (Garland's first husband, David Rose, is never seen in the film--and indeed, scarcely mentioned at all.) It lacks flow. And were it not for the incredible performances of both Blanchard and Davis, it would often also lack drama--a pretty astonishing thing when one considers how electrically dramatic Garland's life was from day to day. Perhaps most frustrating, the film also has a certain aloofness from its own subject; we observe Garland, but the script itself never really allows us to get inside her.

In the final analysis, ME AND MY SHADOWS is a film that will most greatly appeal to casual viewers or to new Garland fans, for it does show the main outlines of her life and her career. Hardcore fans, however, will be frustrated by its covert inadequacies--and will be quick to spot the numerous moments when the script goes awry. Still, even with its numerous flaws, Blanchard and Davis are exceptional. And I strongly recommend it on that basis.

Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer

Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows is the penultimate of made-for-TV biopics. Both Judy Davis and Tammy Blanchard do fine jobs portraying the legendary singer/actress Judy Garland. Based on daughter Lorna Luft's loving paean to her mother, this is a warm, poignant, buoyant motion picture for the small screen. The re-creation of "Meet Me in St. Louis" is eerily exacting, it's like watching a documentary of the film. Davis quite simply glows as the doomed Judy. Old pro Marsha Mason has the unenviable role of mother Ethel Gumm, and quite convincingly too. This movie was televised five years ago, but it still haunts me. Even Judy would have been proud of this masterful television production. Kudos to all.