I COULD GO ON SINGING

UK, 1963, 100 minutes, Colour.
Judy Garland, Dirk Bogarde, Jack Klugman, Aline Mac Mahon, Gregory Phillips.
Directed by Ronald Neame.

I Could Go On Singing was Judy Garland’s last film. (She was to appear in Valley of the Dolls but her behaviour was erratic and she was replaced by Susan Hayward.

Judy Garland had achieved success as a child actress and singer, with The Wizard of Oz. Her last film was Summer Stock in 1950 in terms of M.G.M. musicals. However, she appeared to great acclaim in A Star is Born in 1954. Her final performances were a guest role in Judgment at Nuremberg and in the serious drama, A Child is Waiting, directed by John Cassavetes.

Here she plays a mother who has left her son. He has been brought up by his father in England. The father is played by Dirk Bogarde. Veteran Jack Klugman appears as Judy Garland’s agent and Aline MacMahon? as her dresser.

The film is very much a show business story with the usual story about parents, the absent mother and the reaction of the father when the mother reappears. It was directed by Ronald Neame who had begun his career as a cinematographer, especially with David Lean’s classic movies. In the US he directed big budget films like The Poseidon Adventure and The Odessa File in the 1970s.

1. The emphasis and significance of the title, its reference to the plot and the main character and themes? Its reference to Judy Garland and her impact?

2. The significance of the film as the last film of Judy Garland's career? the end of her cinema career? How did the plot sum up so much of Judy Garland herself? The fact that she was aging, putting on weight, yet having final successes? The contribution of the colour, the English locations, the American in England, the music and the appropriate songs for her, the impact of her dynamic performances?

3. The film as an exploration of the acting career: the temperament needed, the temperament that so many actresses have, the conflicts in their own character, the nature of their choices, hurt and emotional impetus, the capacity for being and being afraid, nervousness even in the face of an audience, the victims of an audience, the controllers of an audience when successful? How much insight did this screenplay offer into the meaning of a career of such a person as Jennie Berman, Judy Garland?

4. How well did the audience appreciate the character of Jennie via Judy Garland's portrayal? An American singer and the aura of the visiting American singer, the meaning of her past, her encounter with David and love for him? Her career in the past, the significance of her return to England? The significance of her personality and loyalties in the characters of Ida and George? What they did for her and how they helped her?

5. Her relationship with her son, her love for him? The fact that she didn't tell the truth, that she had made a promise in the past, that she continued to make promises about Matt and Boltham? The nature of her motherly love? Her fascination for her son and her possessiveness? Her spoiling him? Her love for his admiration? The detailed sequences of their outings, their visits to school etc? Her unwillingness to face reality?

6. The build-up to her nervousness about Matt's choice, her failure as a mother, her failure in not persuading him to come with her, her having to accept reality? the contribution of Matt himself, David and Ida and George?

8. How convincing a boy was Matt? As the son of his father, in his home sequences, the fact that he was so English, his relationship with his parents, his life at school, his admiration for Jennie as a singer, his being flattered with the outings, the effect of his being spoilt? His boorishness and the boorish nature of his response to Jennie? The irony of his discovering the truth and the way that this was portrayed on the screen? The convincing aspects of the choices he had to make? His telephone call? The fact that he had to grow up? How convincing an insight into the plight of such a boy? The contribution of David, the background of his relationship with Jennie, subsequent marriage, his courage in being a father to the boy? His relationship with Jennie, the love that the facing of reality demanded? The choices that he had made, his reaction to discovering the truth, his leaving Matt to make the decisions?

9. The personalities of Ida and George, their support of Jennie, especially when she was late for the show?

10. The enjoyable sequences of Jennie's visits to the school, the outings, the songs, the joining in the Gilbert and Sullivan etc.?

11. The impact of the final show, her being late, her control of the hostile audience, the verve and the fact that she went on singing?

12. What did the film offer by way of insight into human nature?