Calouros na Broadway

This big MGM "let's put on a show" musical is obviously a showcase for the over-sized talents of JUDY GARLAND and MICKEY ROONEY.

But it amuses me to see young commentators expressing "shock" and dismay at the blackface routines shown in the big finale. They never knew how popular minstrel shows were, even into the 1940s? Where have they have been living? They never heard of Al Jolson and how he rode to stardom on his blackface routines?

The film actually rises above its clichéd plot whenever Judy takes the spotlight with a song. Never has she looked so radiantly youthful and vibrant. Rooney, while of course obviously talented, tends to ham it up a bit too much whenever he's given the spotlight, which is a little too often for my taste. Fay Bainter does nicely as a patron of the arts while James Gleason gets on the nerves with his frustrated bit as a producer.

Amusing to see gangly RICHARD QUINE hoofing it up (before he became a film director). The standout dancer is Ray MacDonald, the fresh faced kid who lights up the screen whenever he dances, resembling, in style and acting technique, Donald O'Connor. Tragically he, like others in the cast, ended his life much too soon.

Judy and Mickey do a fabulous version of "How About You?" and Buby Berkeley's genius at staging intricate dance routines is nowhere more evident than in the "Hoe Down" number, probably one of the catchiest of all the musical routines.

There are slow spots and the film could easily have omitted footage to pare it down to a running time of, say, an hour and forty minutes. As it is, you have to be willing to stick with it for the full two hours, something only likely to occur if you're a true fan of Garland and Rooney.

You can catch a brief glimpse of two up and coming stars, Margaret O'Brien and Donna Reed. Reed has a brief moment as a receptionist.

Trivia note: Shirley Temple was originally considered for the Virginia Wiedler role. Might have been OK too, since the part is not that demanding musically and Temple could certainly still do the required amount of hoofing.

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.

To get an idea of just how talented a performer Mickey Rooney is, watch his banjo playing in the movie's final number, The Robert E. Lee. At first you may think he's just going through the motions, but he's actually playing the banjo for the last 3 minutes of the movie. His dance numbers are also superb.He was at the height of his popularity when this 1941 movie came out, the #1 Box Office Male Star for 6 years in a row. To say this movie is too sugary, is a cheap shot and you must put it into perspective of when it was made. (The black face number at the end was far from sugary). Rooney dances and imitates Cagney in Yankee Doodle; He does a perfect impersonation of Carmen Miranda in another number and the finale is worth the price of admission. Corny, yes. Talented? precisely.

Ahh, musicals. A tough genre; mostly unwatchable except for certain show-stopping individual numbers (which is the reason compilation films like 'That's Entertainment' are so much more enjoyable). Obviously a minstrel finale is in itself cringe-worthy, but this movie has so much more to cringe about. There's that, now comically risible, putting-on-a-show-in-our-backyard story line; and of all people to direct such a set-up you get Busby Berkeley. The "kids" have no money and pull strings right and left to get that show they just got to put on (sure, it's for orphans and rickets and whatnot, but the sweaty desperation of the would-be talent is all about the need to show off in front of an audience) and when they do put on the show it is GIGANTIC with what looks like a hundred hoofers and singers, all tightly choreographed in that elaborately tricky Berkeley style. And, in the hope-you-ignore-it category, these poor kids somehow manage to scrape together hundreds of matching costumes for every number (I guess that old theatre they have access to is a treasure trove of perfect fit, mint-edition clothing, from hoe-down jeans to tuxedos). Sure, it's all fantasy, and the plot is mostly non-existent, but the writers could have tried a little harder considering the enormous amount of energy on screen... or should I say the enormous amount of Mickey Rooney on screen. Woo-wee! The young Rooney has a dynamo inside his dynamo! He all but comes out at you in 3-D to grab your throat and demand that you be impressed. It's a nitro of prodigious talent and a glycerin of overwhelming ego that nearly explodes the film to Rooney-flavored smithereens. And so only a giant talent like Judy Garland can compete with him, and that's possibly why they appear together so often in films. She looks great, sounds great and charms in her usual wistful manner. She wears well, unlike Rooney, who captivated audiences at the time with his ham-fisted theatrics but now repels for the most part. But the film does contain some notable features: like the first appearance of the truly talented Margaret O'Brien, all of age four, and on camera for all of one minute. There's also a young Donna Reed in a bit part, and even Rooney's father, Joe Yule, gets a bit as James Gleason's assistant. It also features future director Richard Quine ('Bell, Book and Candle', etc.) in a rare, though colorless, acting role as a part of Rooney's performing team. And once-famed popular culture critic Alexander Woollcott, part of the famous Algonquin Round Table, has a bit at the beginning. Garland sings "How About You" which became a hit song in 1942 (for Tommy Dorsey, not Garland). It was written by Harburg & Lane, who had only recently worked together. In 1947 they would create the smash musical 'Finian's Rainbow' on Broadway (which coincidentally, has racist components to it that also makes it hard for audiences today to take, much like the minstrel stuff in 'Babes on Broadway'). So, there are some things to gather from this otherwise dated hash. And dated doesn't just mean the story line or minstrel theatrics, but also the heavy dose of British wartime material, including a number extolling their prideful "stiff upper lip" attitude and presented with re-settled English children crying into the camera. And with Garland crying and Virginia Weidler crying and Rooney always ready to burst into tears, this film almost suffers from dehydration!

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.