Babes In Arms 1939

There is a hell of a lot of talent rolling around in this musical, but it shows its age and some of the political inferences and references are disturbing to say the least. Its the old hey let’s put on a show in the barn to save the farm but this time its to keep the babes out of institutional homes for wayward babes and to help out their vaudevillian parents who are lost and floundering because of the invention of talking movies and the demise of vaudeville. Margaret Hamilton is back with a new broom to bother and threaten them all but gentles out at the end. The babes are led by Mickey  Rooney and Judy Garland both of whom were the right age for their roles and were at the top of their games. Rooney was maniac and Garland was sweet and gentle with her magnificent voice in rich tones, she soars especially when she sings “I Cried For You” on a bus (yes a bus)  with a sleeping car no less that is as big as all outdoors. Based on the hit Rogers and Hart Broadway musical the producer Arthur Freed left out many of the memorable songs including “My Funny Valentine”, “The Lady is A Tramp” (heard as an instrumental only) the lyrics were probably too hot for 1939 movie audiences, “Johnny One Note”, ”I Wish I Were In Love Again”, and is instead stuffed with a horrible long racist Minstrel number with Mickey and Judy in black face that is cringe worthy. I suppose seeing it today serves a purpose; it slaps us in the face of what African Americans were faced with back in the day. I wasn’t expecting this number and it really jarred me. There is also a Babes In Arms number that is a combination of Left and Right wing ideology that is confusing and also quite disturbing as hordes of young folks flock together in a fascist like march with torches and they start a fierce bonfire in which anything and everything is thrown in meanwhile singing hysterically that they are not going to take it any longer.  Rooney for some reason got a best actor Oscar nomination for this, probably for his imitations of Clark Gable and Lionel Barrymore which to be fair are hysterically funny. Directed by Busby Berkeley who seemed to be lost without his dancing girls and kaleidoscopic camera designs. With blonde curly haired  June Preisser who plays a former child star who comes on hard and strong doing pinwheels and incredible contortions during her first rehearsal for the show as “Lady Is A Tramp” plays in the background. Has to be seen  to be believed. The entire spectacle comes to an end with a large production number staged on Broadway where the babes are a big hit and save the world, the farm, their parents and themselves from the poor house by putting on a patriotic number called “In God’s Country” in which they sing the praises of how great America is and how the rest of the world is falling apart. This is where Mickey and Judy play Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt in a Berkeleyesque dream or nightmare of a number. The film was one of the big hits of 1939 making more money than The Wizard Of Oz.