60 of 1001 Movies: Babes in Arms (1939)

Where to begin with this one? It's one of the reasons American going into the mid-1900s got stereotyped as it did as a very "gee-golly" time. For Judy Garland fans it is something you want to see just to see her in probably one of the highest moments of her career as this was released the same year as The Wizard of Oz. Also, while some may have their tiffs with this film you can't deny the amazing fact that this is one movie in a very long career for Mickey Rooney.

Mickey was born into show businesses with his father, Joe, being a big Broadway guy himself at the time of his birth. Wanting to follow in his father's footsteps he hopes to go out again with his mom and dad one of their troupe tours, but his parents deny him this go about, and instead he is faced with the prospect of going away to a ranch with his sister, Molly, in their absence. Mickey has a plan though to team up with Patsy to put on a show to keep them in town to help, and hopefully further themselves in show business.

As said, you might need to be a hardcore fan of musicals, or both actors to get into this one. It doesn't really have any relatable content that makes it accessible to most audiences, and while it is clean enough to be watched by the family it doesn't have anything in it that can imaginably entertain younger kids. The teens are way too perfect, and by today's standard don't seem realistic. It paints the portraits of how great American used to be to people who live in the idea that America has fallen into something worse. To get through this movie the best thing to do is to try to place yourself in that setting because there will be many things that are outdated or questionable to an audience in 2012.

It's difficult to review this one, and not mention the one glaring piece of this movie that will be too noticeable not to, and that is the use of the black face. The white actors do paint their faces black at one point in this movie during their play to portray black people. Robert Downey Jr. did this a couple of years ago in Tropic Thunder, and it caused a stir. A lot of people questioned why the director Busby Berkeley didn't just hire African Americans for the role, and that is applying thinking from 2012 to 1939. No one would have thought to do that at a time where it wasn't as controversial to have that piece in your movie. To be honest though it will be a very awkward scene to watch for anyone if you choose to pick this one up.

As for the acting it is very over the top. Mickey Rooney may have had a very long career, but his acting was very in your face. He sort of topples over Judy Garland, and the rest of the cast with his acting. He may be suited for the stage, but for movies he wasn't the niche. Judy Garland can't really be measured as far as acting in this film. Her voice is nice, and she sings great, but she wasn't complex enough. That is something that is lacking with this one as a whole. The characters just have nothing substantial about them.

Either you will like it or love it, but there might not be much in between as far as feelings toward it. There are also might be some mixed sentiments about how it portrays America. This film had a certain audience for that time, and unless that audience is older most younger audiences may not really be able to relate to any of those ideas or concepts. Keeping in mind that this film was made in 1939 will hopefully help some though. America was just coming out of the Great Depression around this time, and you will find that there was a lot to celebrate for some people, and this in some ways is trying to capture that innocent celebratory attitude. If you want a musical from the 30s that really shows the genre at one of it's highest then go for 42nd Street.

Rating 2 of 5.