Babes on Broadway

Unfairly maligned by viewers with little or no knowledge of history, "Babes On Broadway" is a reasonably good film that, more than anything else, speaks to us from across the years. It tells us a lot about America in 1941.

Several talented young people, just starting out, try to make it big on Broadway. That's the story premise. The script presents a thin, superficial plot. Dialogue lacks significant subtext. But, of course, the plot's real purpose is to create continuity in a film meant to showcase the musical talents of its two big stars: Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland. They, along with a large cast, sing and dance in various musical productions, some good, some not so good.

Which leads to my main criticism of this film: the editing. With a thin plot and a runtime of two hours, large chunks could have been chopped out. I have no idea why they included a Beethoven piano performance by a child prodigy; it has no connection to anything. Similarly, the "Hoe Down" musical segment is arguably weak. And, though I commend the producers for acknowledging Great Britain's War efforts, devoted plot elements are thematically irrelevant and overly long.

On the other hand, the best sequence in the film is its grand musical finale, a tribute to the American South. This segment provides a nice contrast to New York's Broadway allure. Dialogue here refers to an "old-fashioned" minstrel show. Most of the songs are from decades earlier. Musical lyrics include the wording "And boy that Southern cooking is okay". Clearly, the intent is to salute the South. So putting performers in black face is entirely appropriate within the well-defined historical context.

Performances are fine. Judy Garland shines. Fay Bainter, ideally cast as a theatrical agent, also gives a good performance. At various points Ray McDonald excels as a tap dancer; he's almost in the same league as Fred Astaire. And impersonating "Brazil bombshell" Carmen Miranda, Mickey Rooney is funny in drag, wearing platform shoes, tawdry women's jewelry, and a flamboyant hat as he sings Miranda's signature song "Mamae Eu Quero". Throughout the film Rooney exudes confidence, energy, and a highly animated persona.

The film's sets and costumes, dialogue about tough times, as well as the selected music and the big accent on tap dancing, combine to give viewers a pretty good feel for American pop culture in the early 1940s. It's by no means a perfect film. But it's worth watching, mostly for nostalgia, as representative of an era that is gone forever.

While Mickey Rooney did tend to overact throughout his career and not all his jokes worked, one cannot deny he was multi-talented and that his chemistry with Judy Garland (have always been a big fan of her) was unmatched. This is true in 'Babes on Broadway'.

'Babes on Broadway' is my least favourite of their musicals ('Babes in Arms' had its problems but was a little better as an overall film regardless of its bowdlerised treatment of the musical), but Garland and Rooney and their chemistry are what saves the film. It works well as a musical, but fares problematically as an overall film, one can totally see the appeal but there are definitely understandable reasons as to why it won't click with others.

The story is very contrived and the sentimentality and corniness went well overboard in places. Was willing to forgive that it was structurally thin, the contrivances and problematic tone less so. There is some wartime patriotism which feels both out of place (tonally it feels odd with the rest of the film) and heavy-handed, and some of the editing is on the bloated side, some of it not serving much relevance to the story.

Unsurprisingly, the biggest criticism that 'Babes on Broadway' has gotten is regarding the "black-face" finale. Some of the criticism here has been over-the-top and I have seen plenty of classic period musicals to know that black-face routines were common at the time (it's very like being familiar with racial stereotypes in cartoons), still doesn't stop me not particularly caring for them. Wasn't offended as such here, but the finale did come over as overblown, rather tasteless and it has aged badly (even when judging it by 1941 standards and not by 2017 standards).

However, even when not in Technicolor, 'Babes on Broadway' still looks lovely in crisp black and white and with elegant production design. As said, on the musical front (production values, songs, vocal performance, arrangements, choreography and dancing) 'Babes on Broadway' fares significantly better. The songs are very pleasant and lively, "How Are You", "By the Light of the Silvery Moon" and "Hoe Down" faring best, "Chin Up, Cheerio" is enthusiastically performed but a bit patronising. The choreography mostly has energy and tenderness, really appreciated "Hoe Down's" intricacy.

Of the humour, Rooney's hilarious and pretty amazing impression of Carmen Miranda is a big standout. Garland does well too with her imitation of Sarah Bernhardt. Some nice fun wit and charm in the script, and Berkeley directs more than competently. 'Babes on Broadway' more often than not has a lot of energy and charm.

Fay Bainter, James Gleason and Donald Meek are very good in their roles (then again they could phone in a performance and still be good), and Margaret O'Brien is adorable in a short pre-fame appearance. Ray McDonald's dancing is pretty incredible. At the end of the day though it is Rooney and Garland that make 'Babes on Broadway' worth watching. Rooney clearly has fun, even if he does overdo it at times, while Garland, on radiant and touching form, is even better. Their chemistry is wonderful.

Overall, uneven film but Rooney and Garland delight hugely. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Despite the fact the Busby Berkeley finale was a minstrel show, I like Babes on Broadway just fine. If you want to see Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland as a team at their peak, this isn't the film. But I like it fine anyway

Mickey is a member of a trio which also consists of Ray McDonald and Richard Quine singing for their supper at a one armed spaghetti joint owned by Luis Alberni. One of the three customers in the joint one night is Broadway girl Friday, Fay Bainter who loves the act and Mickey especially. She spends the rest of the film trying to get ulcer ridden producer James Gleason to hear him and the rest of the talent Rooney collects for that inevitable show he wants to put on.

Of course one of those talents is Judy Garland, another eager young hopeful and the musical highlight of the film is their singing the famous Vernon Duke song, How About You. It's not one of Berkeley's big production numbers, it's done with Mickey and Judy at a piano in her place, but their infectious enthusiasm will grab you immediately. How About You was later done in the fifties with a really fine arrangement by Rosemary Clooney and Bing Crosby in one of their joint albums.

The other highlight for me is the surreal number done when Judy and Mickey arrive at a long closed theater for their show and are transformed by the spirits of the performers of long ago who headlined in the place. What has to be remembered is that several of these people were actually still alive when Mickey and Judy are imitating them, people like George M. Cohan, Harry Lauder, Blanche Ring. Faye Templeton, Sarah Bernhardt, and Richard Mansfield were long dead or retired by then. Still people in the audience remembered them and Mickey and Judy's reverential treatment to these stage stars of long ago must have struck a chord in movie audiences we can't appreciate today.

The minstrel show finale of course isn't good, yet even that is salvaged somewhat by Judy's singing of Franklin D. Roosevelt Jones. She also recorded it for Decca and the number still plays well today. When Judy does it even in blackface, somehow instead of degrading, it comes out as a tribute, like Fred Astaire in blackface imitating Bill Robinson in Bojangles of Harlem.

My favorite of their joint projects has always been Girl Crazy, still Mickey and Judy are as alive and fresh in Babes on Broadway as ever and it's a great example of matchless chemistry and teamwork.

Mickey and Judy want to put on a show (surprise) to help orphans. Only Mickey has an ulterior motive -- to impress a big shot producer and get a gig on Broadway. When Judy finds out, it looks like splitsville for the duo. Nice Busby Berkeley musical although it's way too long to have such a thin plot. But the musical numbers with Judy and Mickey are what people care about and most of those are energetic and fun. Film debut of Margaret O'Brien in an adorable bit. Donna Reed has a small part as a receptionist. Mickey and Judy are both perfect, playing parts similar to many others they played. By the way, I love the posters the kids create to advertise the show. One slogan reads: "Do you want rickets on your conscience? Get the kids to the country." Certainly sounds more sincere than some celebrity-endorsed causes in recent years.

What seems to get the most reaction here on IMDb is not surprisingly the minstrel number at the close of the show with all of the actors in blackface. Yes it's dated and offensive but some of the comments here are way over the top. One imbecilic individual even said Mickey Rooney shouldn't have been allowed to work again! Put the Kool-Aid down, kid.

This is one of those Hollywood 'Let's put on a show!' movies that were so popular in that bygone era. Such ha sense of sadness, though, when you realize that so many of the stars died young(Judy Garland-47, Ray McDonald-34, Virginia Weidler-41). Mickey Rooney, always a little high-strung, outdoes himself here, as he seems a 78RPM record, while everyone else is moving at 33 1/3. The minstrel number at the end is really quite embarrassing by today's standards, but it was the sort of thing they could get away with in those days. Quite a few of the standard 'view from above' shots common in Busby Berkeley films. I found it interesting as a look back at a bygone time that never really was.