User reviews

In the 1939 Mickey Rooney was among the top box office draws in the world. Judy Garland had appeared as a supporting player in several Rooney films, and the two had significant chemistry--more over, Garland had just completed photography for THE WIZARD OF OZ--a film that MGM rightly expected would launch her to international stardom. The time was right to costar the two, and MGM did it with BABES IN ARMS. The film was an immediate hit, one of the most admired musicals of the year. But time has a way of changing our perspective. Seen today, BABES IN ARMS feels a little strange, a little strained, and at times just downright, well, ODD.

BABES IN ARMS was originally a Rogers and Hart show that proved a smash on the New York stage--a slightly satirical script with one of the most powerful scores of the 1930s. MGM specifically purchased the property for Rooney and Garland and then promptly threw out the script, most of the score, and transformed the thing into the tale of young teenagers who decide to put on a show in a barn.

Although well performed, the songs that replaced the original score simply do not measure up to the play's original score, and viewers are likely to be startled by a minstrel show number that finds Mickey and Judy romping in blackface. In justice to the film, it should be remembered that while minstrel shows remained popular well into the 1950s, and such great stars as Al Jolson and Eddie Cantor performed in full blackface well into the 1930s. While the number is stereotypical, it is not meanspirited, and if nothing else it offers a glimpse into a now dead theatrical tradition.

But weirdest of all is the grand finale "In God's Country," a strange mixture of Hollywood ballyhoo, patriotism, and fear of the European war that would soon engulf the world. In its original form, the number also included Rooney and Garland doing a take off of FDR and Eleanor; although cleverly performed and quite mild in content, this was later cut in re-release, for MGM worried it might be construed as disrespectful during wartime.

The film has a number of distinct flaws. Director Busby Berkley was most at home with big-budget musicals that had scope for the elaborate dance numbers he favored--he's something of a fish out of water with this more intimate material, and his approach feels heavy handed. Although much admired at the time (he actually received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for this film), Mickey Rooney's performance is absurdly manic by modern standards, and Garland's more natural performance is too often overshadowed by his excesses. The script is as weak as the score, few of the supporting performers are memorable (Margaret Hamilton is an exception), and the whole thing has a awkward quality to it.

Even so, it's still possible to see what all the fuss was about. The film does capture an inkling of the famous Rooney-Garland chemistry--a chemistry that would fuel three more "let's put on a show!" musicals, each one more more effective than the last. It is there in every musical number the two perform, in every line, in every scene, a very real and very powerful thing. While casual viewers would do better to select either BABES ON Broadway or GIRL CRAZY, in spite of all its flaws, Rooney-Garland fans will likely find BABES IN ARMS an essential.

Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer

Wow, I just finished watching "Babes in Arms", and my head is spinning. We old movie fans are used to seeing ethnic humor and even the occasional bit of blackface in early Hollywood films; but what "Babes in Arms" gives us is outrageous by any definition: an entire cast of a "show within a show", numbering at least 50 to 75 people, including Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, every one in blackface, performing not just a minstrel skit, nor a single musical number, but an entire 20 minute full-blown minstrel show in spectacular MGM full-production mode. It goes on and on and on. Dialect jokes. Banjoes and songs about Alabammy. And finally, Judy Garland, having removed her blackface, comes out and performs an additional number ("I'm Just Wild About Harry") as an only slightly darkened black woman. Wow.

On the other hand, is it really possible that the manic Mickey Rooney was only 19 when he made this? He really shows why he may be the single most talented American performer of the last century. He dances, he sings, he does drama, he does comedy, and he has incredible control over his every move and muscle. And he does unbelievable and hilarious impressions of Clark Gable and Lionel Barrymore. And Franklin Roosevelt.

A few quick notes: June Priesser, who plays "Baby" Rosalie, was a terrible actress. But watch out for her stomach-churning contortionist back-rolls when she first comes out on a stage.

The child actor who plays Mickey Rooney at age 5 dancing on a Vaudeville stage for a few moments early on really does look like Mickey Rooney!

I think Judy Garland actually has some of the same lines in this movie as she does in "Wizard of Oz", done in this same year. Watch out for when Mickey Rooney feints early in the film; Garland reacts to this exactly, and I mean exactly, as she does in Oz when the Lion feints. Eerie!

When Judy Garland, as Eleanor Roosevelt, sings "My day, my day", she is referring to an actual long-running newspaper column written by E.R. from 1936 to 1962.

Finally, the final song and dance number is the most mind-numbing, over-the-top tribute to America, dancing, how we are not Nazis, American Indians, Asian Indians, dancing, the Roosevelts, and dancing, that I have ever seen. Yes, it was early WWII, but still, you wonder if anyone even in 1939 thought this was a little too much?

Recommended for its high energy, its Rooney and Garland, its more Rooney, its offensiveness, and its too much of everything. It is history, and should be watched by all.

The children of struggling vaudeville stars decide to put on a musical show to save their homes. Yes, it's a Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland "let's put on a show" musical. Their first such movie, I think, and probably their most famous. Mickey & Judy are great. Mickey does Lionel Barrymore and Clark Gable impressions that are a hoot. He also has a fight scene in a drug store which is amusing. The supporting cast is made up of fine character actors like Guy Kibbee, Charles Winninger, and Henry Hull. Adorable June Preisser steals every scene she's in. Margaret Hamilton plays the villain, a busybody who tries to get the kids taken away from their parents. Garland & Hamilton filmed this right after Wizard of Oz, by the way. Interestingly, this was actually a bigger hit at the box office than Oz was in 1939.

Most of the songs are nice but none wowed me. Several classic Rodgers & Hart tunes from the Broadway musical this was based on are either omitted altogether or featured too briefly to make an impact. An ear-splitting operatic version of "You're My Lucky Star" by Betty Jaynes is probably the worst song in the movie. Judy's "I Cried for You" is best. Salute to minstrel shows with cast members in blackface will upset some so prepare yourself if you're one of them. Directed by Busby Berkeley, as evidenced by his distinct touches on the "God's Country" closing number. Speaking of which, that number has Mickey & Judy satirizing FDR & Eleanor. After FDR's death this part was cut out of future showings and it remained that way until the '90s. It's a lively number and the added historical value is a plus. Good old-fashioned fun. Charming, innocent, and yes, a little corny, but an enjoyable movie overall.

This Busby Berkeley musical of the 1930s represents Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland at their best, which in the end really doesn't say "greatness." The film, which involves a recurring reminiscence on the "nostalgia" of the 1910s, is often over-acted, over-sung, and over-choreographed. Judy Garland's portrayal of a girl in love but shunned is reminiscent of almost all of the MGM musical roles in which she partook during her stint that lasted into the late 1940s. The minstrel act is a particularly interesting look at the virulent racism that still plagued American cinema during the Studio Age-Judy Garland in blackface is perhaps one of the most frightening images I have ever encountered.

Though, one cannot approach a film like this with more than a hint of cynicism: Busby Berkeley is arguably the greatest choreographer in the history of film, and though he does not show off the spectacle of his earlier films, like Gold Diggers of 1933 and Gold Diggers of 1935 (which he did not direct), his dance numbers are interesting (for instance, when the town's teenagers partake in a book-burning, throwing into the flames symbols of conformity). The film is sweet, fresh, and bright, and, as the first Arthur Freed musical, serves as one of his better (though certainly not his best).

In all, I give it a 3 out of 4 stars (***).

On a side note, three of the songs that appear in Singing in the Rain appear in this film, predating the Gene Kelly musical by over 15 years: Good Morning, Good Morning, Singing in the Rain (which appears in a montage showing previous MGM musicals), and You Are My Lucky Star.

It's an early Freed Unit picture, and among other Freed staples it has the work of Roger Edens, snatches of "Singing in the Rain" and "Good Morning," plus a whisper of "Broadway Rhythm." But it's kind of cuckoo. The director is Busby Berkeley, who wanted everything BIG even when the movie was supposed to be SMALL. Thus BB encourages the Mickster to go into his full Eugene O'Neill mode and he out-shouts everyone in the movie, including the hurricane! That is, when he's not on the verge of tears. If a woman had so over-heated, you'd say it's her time of the month; I can only guess Mick's ego went nuclear and BB wasn't interested enough to rein him in. He may not have even noticed. The most absurd stroke is that Rooney clearly believed he was a great impressionist too, and BB let him do crude impersonations of Gable and Barrymore, among others, that seem pointless and self- congratulatory. Judy is early Judy: shy, more Dorothy Gale than the windstorm of talent she'd become in later Freed masterpieces like "Meet Me in St. Louis" and so forth. Some other oddities, or at least they seem odd now: a big number in which Mick and the "kids" march through the streets of a Long Island coastal town, carrying torches and proclaiming that they are the future has an odd Nazi vibe to it. Creepy. Then there's baritone Doug McPhail who was five years from suicide; he's the next Nelson Eddy except there was no next Nelson Eddy which may be why he poisoned himself. Johhny Sheffield, later to be "Boy" to Johnny Weismuller's Tarzan, is briefly glimpsed and such MGM regs as Guy Kibbee and Margaret Hamilston are around to ground the movie in solid professionalism. It's sure watchable, even today, but now you think: these people thought they were riding the wave and the wave was coming in to crush THEM.

This 1939 musical reflects the tastes of the American public of that era. As such, "Babes in Arms", proved to be a favorite film that made a lot of money for the studio. The young stars of this film proved to be the main attraction for watching it more than sixty years after it was done.

"Babes in Arms" was a Broadway musical by Lorenz Hart and Richard Rodgers. Like most of those movies of that time, the creative people in the studio took liberties, incorporating material that was not in the original theater work. Busby Berkeley, the genius of those musical films, was at the helm. It's easy to see his imprint all over the movie in the way he stages the big musical numbers and move his players to get a maximum result out of them.

Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland were two young actors at the time that were good in whatever they did together. The pair showed an amazing amount of charisma in their musical numbers as well as in the over all chemistry in all their scenes together. Mickey Rooney plays the earnest Mickey Moran, the son of vaudevillians, who wants to make a name for himself. Judy Garland is Patsy Barton, a girl-next-door type that is sweet, wise and patient, even when Mickey is dazzled by the film star that wants to back their show in order to have the lead in it.

The other players are excellent, which is not saying much, as MGM and the other studios were blessed with solid talent that went from film to film doing amazing work in whatever picture they appeared. Charles Winninger, Guy Kibee, Betty Jaynes, Douglas McPhail, and the wonderful Margaret Hamilton appear in supporting roles.

Enjoy the infectious actors of this movie and the Rodgers and Hart music, as well as the other songs that were added to it. Busby Berkeley did a marvelous job with the film that shows a less stressful time in the country.

The story for this film is that Mickey Moran (Mickey Rooney) and Patsy Barton (Judy Garland) are aspiring entertainers and the children of vaudeville performers. Vaudeville has lost its popularity do to movies!

Mickey and Patsy's parents are are trying bringback Vaudeville but they are failing . Now Mickey and Patsy now decide to produce their own show in a bid to reach their dreams of stage stardom and save their homes and not end up in a work camp!.

I am not sure if this the first movie that has the plot of "Let's Save the ______" by putting on a show.

Now the best musical number is at the begging of the film and its the "Good Morning" number. What is great about this number is that is just "Judy" and "Mickey". No fireworks or special effects. ITs two very talented people and a piano.

Other numbers in this film range only from "Barely Tolerable" to "Awful". Worth watching once.

Funny thing is that this film made more money (At The Time) than "The Wizard of Oz"

For Mickey and Judy fans, Babes in Arms is an absolute must. It's the only one of their films in which one of the two got an Oscar nomination. Mickey Rooney was nominated for Best Actor, personally I think as an afterthought because his competition was Clark Gable for Gone With the Wind, Laurence Olivier for Wuthering Heights, James Stewart for Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and the winner Robert Donat for Goodbue Mr. Chips. Not that Mickey's bad, but he really didn't belong with this field.

What he and Judy do, they do better than anyone else, put on a show. In fact in this case the 'put on a show' gambit did originate in the original Broadway Musical. Babes in Arms was one of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart's best shows it ran for 289 performances in the 1937 season and boasted such Rodgers&Hart classics as Johnny One Note, Way Out West, My Funny Valentine, I Wish I Were in Love Again all of which were discarded for the film. The Lady is a Tramp is only heard instrumentally, my guess is the Code frowned on that lyric. The title song and Where or When are retained. In fact when you come right down to it, only the basic idea the songs mentioned and a couple characters names came over from Broadway.

Still Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed wrote Good Morning which is better known from Singin' in the Rain, but it was Judy and Mickey who introduced it here. And a whole lot of other Brown&Freed songs from MGM musicals got interpolated into the score.

Douglas MacPhail and Betty Jaynes who were introduced in Sweethearts also are here and sing beautifully. They married, but the marriage and MacPhail's career fell apart and he committed suicide a few years later. He had a great baritone voice, what a shame. The following year he introduced my favorite Cole Porter song, I Concentrate On You in The Broadway Melody of 1940.

This was the film Judy Garland did right after The Wizard of Oz and coming along right with her is Margaret Hamilton playing another Miss Gulch like character. One of those spinster ladies who forever pry into other people's business.

Believe it or not there was still a lot of prejudice against theatrical people even in 1937. A lot of old vaudeville types like Charles Winninger, Rooney's father in the film, settle in the town of Seaport on Long Island and their presence apparently upsets the ruling families like Hamilton's. When times go bad and vaudeville goes to seed, things get kind of rough for them. The old timers try to take a last tour to raise some money, but instead it's the kids who are up to the latest trends in pop music who save the day.

Guy Kibbee is in this also, playing against type as a wise and sympathetic judge, usually the parts MGM reserved for Lewis Stone or Lionel Barrymore. A more typical Kibbee type would be the oafish tycoon in 42nd Street, but he's fine here.

Possibly director Busby Berkeley wanted Kibbee, maybe as a good luck charm from that other breakthrough musical of his from his days at Warner Brothers. Of course the musical numbers in the show are set with the usual Berkeley surrealism, a little tempered though from his high flying days at Warner Brothers. That same year Berkeley had done a surreal type number in the Jeanette MacDonald-Lew Ayres film Broadway Serenade and it laid an egg. Someone at MGM must have reined him in.

Babes In Arms retains all its charms from 1939 mainly because Mickey Rooney is infectious and Judy Garland's singing is eternal.

The adults in this film are all Vaudeville stars. However, now that the age of talking pictures is here, they have all fallen on hard times. So, it's up to the spunky teens (most of which appear to be in their mid-20s) to save the day by proving they ARE the stars of the future and making enough money to save their bankrupt folks--who have no confidence in their talented youths.

Technically speaking, "Babes in Arms" is a very good movie. After all, Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland and the rest of the relatively young cast are immensely capable singers and dancers. You can't help but marvel at such talent and energy. Although this movie was hugely successful and led to many sequels, it's amazingly hard to sit through the film today--mostly since tastes have changed and this sort of film is clearly passé. I really struggled to stick with the film but couldn't pay attention because there were just so many songs that it lost my interest. Now I am NOT a person who hates 1930s Hollywood films--in fact, these are the sort of films I enjoy most and I have probably reviewed a couple thousand. But these musicals bore me because there isn't that much plot and the singing is incessant. If you like this, then by all means watch it--I just couldn't. This film is not like a fine wine that gets better with age--it's more like a nice loaf of bread.

Mickey Moran (Mickey Rooney) and Patsy Barton (Judy Garland) are teenage sweethearts and children of longtime vaudeville families. But vaudeville has suffered since the introduction of talking pictures, and their parents are out of work. When Judge John Black (Guy Kibbee) threatens to send the children of the actors off to a work farm, Mickey and Patsy lead the vaudeville kids in a rebellion. Using that old reliable stand-by -- "Hey, let's put on a show!" -- the vaudeville kids decide to prove that they are capable of supporting themselves. They develop a show that they hope to take to Broadway.

As usual for screen musicals of this time, the Broadway-to-Hollywood transition does not go well. The Broadway version of "Babes In Arms" was a fairly-successful and watchable musical. But when MGM bought the rights to it, they threw out the script and most of the songs and started all over again. They tossed out classic songs like "My Funny Valentine," "The Lady is a Tramp," and "Johnny One-Note," in favor of mediocre songs like "Good Morning" and "God's Country."

Rooney gives a decent performance, and Garland is well on her way to becoming America's Sweetheart. But this movie has NOT held up well over time. There is a nerve-grating "Minstrel Show" number at the end, with Rooney and Garland in blackface. Also, there is a disturbing scene where the vaudeville kids light a bonfire in the middle of town and use it to burn books of authority. (Didn't anybody in Hollywood watch the newsreels at this time, and see what was going on in Berlin?) But even more so than that, the plot is just a clothesline to string together musical numbers. Compared to today's musicals, where you have interesting things going on in between the musical numbers, the Rooney-Garland romance story in "Babes in Arms" is just marking time between songs.

The movie is worth watching to see Garland in the prime of her teen sweetheart years, and possibly to check out the dance numbers. But overall, this musical is best forgotten.

Babes In Arms is one of my favorite movies of all time. I will never forget seeing this film. In fact, it was the first Mickey Rooney film I ever saw. Mickey Rooney shows off all of his talents here, proving why he was Hollywood's biggest star. Also, earning a much deserved Oscar nominations. Mickey and Judy always charm the pants off of me. Hollywood will never know two more talented teenagers. If you want a good laugh just watch Mickey's impersonations of Clark Gable and Lionel Barrymore. Very impressive stuff. Judy is simply gorgeous in this film as Mickey's girlfriend. The Rooney/Garland chemistry is unmatched to this day. For great music and fun, check out this classic musical.

The children of a group of vaudevillians put on a show to help their parents out of dire financial straits.

This wasn't as good as Girl Crazy, but was perfectly entertaining. Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland are charming, and there's some good song and dance routines, including an odd number where they lampoon Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt.

First time viewing. 3.5/5

The beginning of Babes in Arms shows vaudeville star Charles Winninger with the audience eating out the palm of his hand. In the middle of a performance, he learns his wife has given him a son, and the audience cheers him. One man, Henry Hull, warns Charles that vaudeville's popularity is dwindling, with the advent of movies, but Charles waves him off. The years pass in an extremely clever montage: the film uses old footage of Mickey Rooney in his earlier films to show the audience he's growing up. How adorable! And how lucky; how many people can see themselves growing up and growing older through movies? You'll see him tap dancing-from Broadway to Hollywood-and the film cuts to Charles Winninger and Grace Hayes clapping from the wings. Charles and Grace celebrate New Year's, and a young Mickey from Ah Wilderness! stuffs earplugs in his ears before the fireworks.

The rest of the movie is pretty terrible, so you'd better turn it off when the going gets good. Once Mickey Rooney is grown up and decides to-three guesses-put on a show with his pal Judy Garland, things become silly and stupid. It might be the most unrealistic portrayal of how a show gets to Broadway I've ever seen. If any teenager watches this and thinks he or she can write a few songs, get their friends together during a few rehearsals, and then through a family friend, get on Broadway with a snap of their fingers, they're in for a rude awakening. Henry Hull may be a nice guy, but he's not a fairy godmother-even though he seems like one in Boys Town. Mickey, Judy, and their pals are all children of vaudeville performers, and they ought to know better than to think they can fly to the top of Broadway so easily. A high-school graduate just can't wave a baton and end up conducting an orchestra on opening night as a surprise to his parents.

If the ridiculously thin plot doesn't bother you, it's still not a safe bet that you'll enjoy this movie. Mickey Rooney's in his bobble-headed, hyper-energetic phase, and Judy Garland isn't any different when she's yelling at Margaret Hamilton not to send them to reform school than when she's yelling at her to stay away from her dog in The Wizard of Oz. Unfortunately, the kids in the movie who have beautiful operatic voices, Douglas McPhail and Betty Jaynes, aren't given the star spots. With the exception of a couple of songs, most of the performances are so irritating they'll need to be fast-forwarded. Do you really want to sit through a parody of the Roosevelts or a huge production number of "My Daddy Was a Minstrel Man" in blackface? I didn't either.

I'm not kidding. Mickey Moran (Rooney) and Patsy Barton (Garland) have parents who were in vaudeville before talkie pictures wiped the business out. Now, the kids want to put on a show, but their folks won't let them. Well, Mickey incites a riot, and the kids run around Town Square throwing fire-prone things into a massive pile and chanting stuff like "a-tisket, a-tasket, 200 yellow baskets..." Honestly. It's really bizarre. Then, when the whole pile is burning, they join hands, and, singing like mad, proceed to skip around the fire in a circle. WHOA! It's definitely something to see. Moving on, the plot is pretty typical, highlighted by the aforementioned bonfire scene and some excellent numbers. I wish they hadn't used a minstrel act though... All in all, fairly standard.

P.S. Judy has a really cool dress in the finale.

"Babes in Arms" is the first of four musicals MGM made for its two young musical talents, Mickey Rooney (as Mickey Moran) and Judy Garland (as Patsy Barton). And this one is very entertaining. The story is OK – the kids are protégés of parents who had been successes in vaudeville. They now live in a community on Long Island where many performers also have settled down. The rest of the story plot will be familiar to movie buffs.

The story was developed so that we could see Rooney, Garland and several other good performers display their talents. The movie is adapted from a play by Richard Rogers and Lorenz Hart. The "kids" shine in two Rogers- Hart numbers – "Babes in Arms" and "Where or When." Several other numbers are interspersed in the movie. The last two numbers are lengthy staged routines with singing, dancing, and dialog. Nacio Herb Brown & Arthur Freed wrote "Good Morning," and Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg wrote "God's Country." In the latter two, Rooney shows some excellent footwork and does a couple of nice imitations. Garland also does a nice imitation of Eleanor Roosevelt.

One strange thing in this move was the bus that Patsy takes to visit her mother in Schenectady, NY. I've ridden Greyhound and Trailways buses many years ago, but I've never seen a bus with sleeping berths. This is the first and only one I've ever seen in a movie or anywhere. And this berth doesn't even look cramped, like those in trains. I suspect this was just a concoction of MGM to give Garland a more comfy setting in which to film her song, "I've Cried for You."

This early film of the series isn't up to the caliber of the later ones; but it's enjoyable just the same. Most have more comedy dialog. One cute and funny scene here is in the opening. Mickey asks Patsy, "Would you like my pin?" Patsy replies, "It's your music class pin." Mickey: "Well, what do you want me to say?" Patsy: "You know what I want you to say." Mickey: "Well, I won't." Patsy: "All right then, don't." Mickey: "Oh, Pat …. I do." Patsy: "You do what?" Mickey: "I do, what you want me to say and I won't. Very much."

And, remembering that this was 1939, the last song in the tune, "God's Country," has some clever lines. "We've got no Duce, we've got no Führer; but we've got Garbo and Norma Shearer. Got no goose steps, but we got a Suzie Q step .. Here in God's country."

Mickey Moran (Mickey Rooney) was born in 1921 to vaudeville stars but vaudeville itself fails in 1928 with the arrival of the talkies. Mickey writes "Good Morning" and plays the piano with singing partner Patsy Barton (Judy Garland). With his parents going on the road by themselves, Mickey proposes for the kids to put on a show themselves.

This has the great pairing of Rooney and Garland although they're not always together. It has great songs including "Good Morning" which would hit much bigger in the musical "Singin' in the Rain". I do have to warn about some full-on blackface minstrels due to its era. It's generally Rooney at his youthful height. It has some great song and dance although a big one is the minstrels.

'Babes in Arms' is one of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart's best musicals, and one of their biggest successes, with wonderful songs (some of their best) and a witty script.

This film version starring Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland doesn't come up to its level. Although "Lady is a Tramp" is heard in brief instrumental form, the best songs from the musical don't appear and the script does lack the wit and sharpness of the stage show's, instead feeling bland and flimsy. Other flaws are that the story does lack oomph and sometimes drags and the supporting cast are variable, with the best performance coming from a very good Margaret Hamilton, Betty Jaynes and Douglas McPhail sing beautifully.

June Preisser and Charles Winniger are terribly annoying however. My biggest complaint however is the minstrel number, there is no denying that it is exuberantly performed but there is a lot to dislike about the number, it is not for the easily offended, it appears randomly, feels out of place, goes on for far too long and has to be up there as one of the most overblown scenes in early film musicals.

Flaws aside, there is still a good deal to enjoy in 'Babes in Arms'. While it is a bowdlerisation adaptation-wise, the songs are still of good quality, it was interesting to hear "Good Morning", "Broadway Melody" and "Singin in the Rain", while "You are My Lucky Star" and especially the poignant "I Cried for You" are the standouts. "God's Country" is the sole misfire. The use of pre-existing material and operatic excerpts are also a delight, as are the sumptuous production values and lavish photography. Busby Berkeley's direction is not as imaginative, witty or dazzling as some of his other films, but it doesn't come over heavy-handedly and it has charm and energy, especially the clever staging of the title number.

As said, the supporting cast are variable, but it's Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland that make 'Babes in Arms' worth seeing. Their chemistry shines beautifully, his brashness contrasting beautifully with her vulnerability. Rooney's performance does feel excessive and hammy sometimes and when it comes to the Oscar nomination he was nowhere near to the level of the other nominees in my opinion, however the boundless enthusiasm is there as is the charm. Garland is luminous and incredibly touching, her voice is also one that you can listen to for hours and not get enough of.

On the whole, has a lot to like, especially Rooney, Garland and their chemistry, but it is patchy too. 6/10 Bethany Cox

This is not good because it's a Busby Berkley film. It's not good because of the corn fed mom country and apple-pie sentiment. It's not good because of the Rogers and hart score.

This is great to watch because it comes from the hard years of the depression where even in hard times young people learned how to sing, or dance, or act, or sing dance and act.

This large cast of performers is packed with showbiz musical theater talent born of Vaudeville, that represents an era that was unparalleled and we will never see again. For all his goofiness Rooney does it all here. And Judy, oh dear Judy, she shines in absolutely every thing she does. Giving more than we have a right to expect in every thing she does.

Even with it's flaws as an over the top movie, the black face routine is not defensible even in it's own time, there are moments in this moving where if you don't see the awesome musical theater talent of the whole cast of "PERFORMERS", you are miserable indeed.

Former child-stars Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland both star in this movie about two young talented artist who try to make it in the world of show-business. It wasn't the first movie they appeared in together and it also wouldn't be the last. They appeared in several Andy Hardy movies together for instance, in which Mickey Rooney played the title role.

Judy Garland was actually still only 17 when she appeared in the movie, the same year she did "The Wizard of Oz" and also Mickey Rooney looked like he was 15, while he was actually around 19 years old at the time. Both also play young teenagers in this movie and it earned Mickey Rooney actually an Oscar nomination. There of course weren't a lot of musicals around at the time which purely had teenagers in it. In that regard this movie is a refreshing little entry in the musical genre.

It's an enjoyable and obviously light movie. But this of course also has as a result that the movie doesn't really ever reaches the a level of true greatness. The movie is enjoyable but just nothing more than that. It's obviously rather formulaic and predictable but this doesn't take away the entertainment value of it all. The movie is dragging in some parts but then again which '30's movie doesn't do so in parts? The movie perhaps also doesn't end in the way as it should have had, when some more sentimental themes start to kick in.

In all fairness, the movie features some good songs. I'm normally not particularly too fond of songs featured in most musical movies but this movie does form an exception. Nothing I would be singing along with but it's nice sounding and of course gets performed by some capable artist.

I enjoyed watching this movie simply for what it was.

7/10

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Mickey Rooney plays the son of vaudevillian parents, most of whom have decamped to Long Island. Vaudeville is dead now that it's 1939, but Mickey has performing in his blood, even selling the song "Good Morning" which is original to this movie. (Arthur Freed, who wrote the lyrics, would later reuse it in Singin' in the Rain.) When Mickey finds out that Margaret Hamilton is going to evict the underemployed vaudevillians and send their kids off to work schools, he vows to put on a show to bring in the money. He does with with the help of Judy Garland and June Preisser among others (watch for a young Johnny Sheffield).

Some of the musical numbers are interesting, such as one with all the young folks marching through town and starting a bonfire. And then there's the blackface number that's the bulk of the show Mickey writes. It's almost as nuts as the one Joan Crawford does in Torch Song, except that the later movie is in Technicolor and gets to show off Crawford's hair. There's also the finale, that has Mickey and Judy doing their impressions of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt respectively.

Mickey also gets to do an impression of Lionel Barrymore (not too successfully), and Clark Gable (absolutely hilarious). Mickey is determined and almost manic, to the point I half expected him to exclaim, "As God is my witness, I'll never go hungry again!" This movie would normally be a 7/10, but Mickey Rooney's 9/10 performance raises it to an 8/10 for me.

My real-time thoughts while watching the movie:

• Garland and Rooney were so talented even at a young age - Music performances are great, both the vaudeville and Busby Berkley numbers. - Its philosophy is childish (telling Native Americans to dance away their sadness), but it's kinda fitting for its juvenile subjects. - What kid wouldn't like this, young people rebelling against ignoring & discouraging parents? - …AAAAANNNNNNDDD, a parade of blackface. So offensive and insensitive it's almost laughable…almost.

Considering the time in which this was made, many of the elements in this flick are a little disturbing. While the Nazis were getting ready for world domination, these kids are running through the streets of their town with torches. As the kids make a bonfire in the middle of the street, one Arayan ideal sings along to a Wagner score while wreathed in flames. The only thing missing is the tossing of books by "degenerate" authors into the fire. Don't even get started about the Mr. Sambo minstrel show they put on....