To assume that Judy Garland lost the Oscar that year because she was late
for work tops the list of absurdities I've had to listen to for the last 50
odd years. No one bothers to mention that Kelly had the backing of THREE
different studios - - Paramount, M-G-M, Warner Bros(read Jack Warner, who
cut two of Judy's best scenes in the editing and held considerable clout
over Academy voters) - - going for her that year for which she worked. Judy,
who had been off the screen four years after M-G-M fired her, made only this
one film.
All the politics aside, performance-wise the two gave brilliant work. Kelly
held her own against her two very popular co-star pros. Judy, on the other
hand, gave a tour de force acting, singing, dancing performance which is
agreed universally to be her crowning glory. Of all the actresses that year
who gave good acting performances, nobody worked harder than Judy. I am
well familiar of the many who deride musical films as, somehow, not really
acting. Singing a part and dancing a part, to them, is just having fun.
This kind of snobbery still prevails today - - although not as much as it
did back then - - and cost her votes.
THE COUNTRY GIRL is an excellent movie with good direction, writing, and
- - especially - - acting. Bing Crosby dominates almost every scene he's
in. He, above all in this film, deserved the Academy Award. Being known
as a singer who has appeared in mostly musical films, turns in an acting
job that can only be called a revelation. He's superb.
The same cannot be said for Kelly. It's obvious the part was written for
a middle-aged, older actress, which Kelly strives to make believable. The
excellent Uta Hagen originated this part and went on to win the Tony Award
for it. Her age was the right age for the wife of a has-been actor. Beside
Crosby, however, Kelly, despite the heavy make-up and plain, dowdy look,
simply doesn't look old enough to have been propping up a dead-beat hubby
as long as her character implies. Kelly boosters too-easily overlook this
defect that, I believe, weakens the film's impact. She's obviously an
actress who likes wearing pretty clothes and playing the ravishing blonde.
Judy Garland, a show business legend, deserved to win, even tho she isn't
the cover girl type who became a princess. Judy won the Golden Globe
for A STAR IS BORN. She brings you to tears in that great scene where
she's wiping away tears while applying clown make-up before the dressing
room mirror. This scene is hard enough to play without the clown make-up,
so opposite from the unhappiness her character was feeling inside. This
is the kind of role actresses dream of doing. Judy Garland, after many
years of playing juveniles, grew up before our eyes in this film where
she finally got to show to the world her true dramatic range. Not giving
Judy her well-deserved Oscar for this achievement stands as one of the
great injustices in Oscar history. For a show business legend to lose
to the long-forgotten Kelly serves as a monumental blunder.
- - SoundTrak
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