Little Nellie Kelly
|
List Price: Category: VHS Video See more movie releases |
|---|
(Click here)
Canada
VHS Movie Reviews of Little Nellie Kelly
Movie Review: Mild Entertainment
Summary: 3 Stars
Judy Garland was a sensation in THE WIZARD OF OZ and BABES IN ARMS--but by 1940 she was eighteen years old, and LITTLE NELLY KELLY finds her in transition between the child star she was and the adult star she would become. Based on a George M. Cohan play, the film offers Garland a double role: first as Irish-born Nelly Kelly and later as her teenage daughter, "Little" Nelly Kelly. The storyline is sentimental. Against father Charles Winninger's wishes, Garland marries George Murphy and leaves Ireland for America--with her stubborn and ill-tempered father in tow. After becoming an American citizen, she dies in childbirth (Garland's only death scene, and she plays it very well), leaving possessive grandfather and police officer husband to wangle over her surviving child.The first portion of the film is the weakest, with neither Garland nor Murphy entirely at home with their Irish accents; another flaw is the fact that Winninger's irrascable grandfather eventually becomes a shade too obnoxious to fully engage our sympathies and Murphy is none-too-convincing in old-age make-up. Although not a musical per se, the real highlight of the film are Garland's few songs, which include "A Pretty Girl Milking Her Cow," "A Great Day for the Irish," and an elaborate staging of "Singin' In The Rain." Although she still shows traces of the affectations forced upon her in previous films by director Busby Berkley, she performs both her numbers and her scenes with a playfulness and sincerity that is quite charming.
Although expertly made, LITTLE NELLY KELLY is essentially an inexpensive programmer designed to test Garland's potential as an adult actress--a test which she clearly passes. But the film is so greatly overshadowed by both her earlier and later achievements that it is negligable in both her cannon and the musical genre as a whole, and as such will be of interests more to Garland completists than to casual viewers. Recommended for hardcore fans only.
Movie Review: Vintage Garland
Summary: 5 Stars
They don't make 'em like this any more, arguably with good reason. However, Garland is luscious and joyful in this film, which pre-dates her quirky gestures and throbbing vocals. Here she is all sweetness and light, especially in the sublime "Pretty Girl Milking Her Cow" and "Singing in the Rain" numbers. God was she an original! Her luminous screen presence is what makes this film work.
1 2