Reviews & Ratings for
A Date with Judy More at IMDbPro »

Page 1 of 3:

[1] [2] [3]

24 out of 32 people found the following review useful:
Classic Teenie-Bopper of it's time., 30 May 2004
Author: guil fisher from New York City, NY

1948 produced some of MGM's top teenagers to movie audiences. Put them in a gorgeous technicolor musical comedy, add some veteran adults and you have one of the best of it's time.

Jane Powell, lovely voice and all, plays Judy. Her best friend is the now-sophisticated Elizabeth Taylor, all of 15 years old, looking absolutely lovely that you know she's headed for glamorous grownup roles down the road. The camera loved her. Then there's Scotty Beckett, having started his career at the age of four, now in the awkward teens, doing one of his best performances as Judy's date. Sad he died such a tragic death at an early age.

Scatter many film veterans to the likes of Wallace Berry and Selena Royale as Judy's parents, Robert Stack, young and handsome as Elizabeth's love interest, Leon Ames as Elizabeth and Scotty's dad, Clinton Sundberg as the butler to Ames, Xavier Cugat and his band with Carmen Miranda his star attraction, and one of her last films, and George Cleveland as Judy's Grandpa.

A trivia note: watch the scene with Judy waiting to be picked up for the prom. Early in the picture. Grandpa enters and actually kicks the dog to make his entrance. I had to rewind to believe what I saw. The dog also yelped when he did. And this is the guy who later played all those "Lassie" TV programs. Shame on you George!

All in all a charming and lighthearted film with the beauty of Taylor, the voice of Powell and the comedy of Beckett. Jane sings "A Most Unusual Day" and "Love Is Where You Find It".

19 out of 23 people found the following review useful:
The exhilarating Carmen Miranda almost stole the show..., 5 June 2005

Author: ironside (robertfrangie@hotmail.com) from Mexico

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

In "A Date with Judy," Liz is fully the poor little rich girl, snobbish and out for trouble because her father's real attention is elsewhere, on making money…

Unhappy at home, she stirs up trouble abroad, giving naive Jane Powell bad advice on how to handle boys, and stealing one of Jane's boyfriends right out from under her twitching nose…

Very pre-Lolita, a Forties style teenaged sex kitten, this is the first version of the Taylor minx and she seems highly sophisticated for a small-town high school girl, even if she is rich...

"A Date with Judy" is a pleasant musical, antiseptic and cheery, suggesting Hollywood's conception of high school Life in the Forties… Like "Cynthia," the film is very class conscious, contrasting Taylor's cold, upper class household with Jane Powell's comfortable middle-class home…

Typically, Liz is rich, spoiled, and reserved, but typically, too, when all is said and done, she's not bad-mannered or troublesome one; she's a good kid who just needs a little love and attention…

Taylor's character finally allowed her to use the sexiness that everyone had sensed since she rode that horse in "National Velvet."

21 out of 29 people found the following review useful:
A charming view of family life in the late 1940s., 4 February 2003

Author: Ken Lipshez (kenlip@aol.com) from Unionville, CT

The music is nice and the acting is excellent. While I like Jane Powell and Elizabeth Taylor was positively gorgeous, I'm a huge fan of Wallace Beery. When we look back and consider great actors, he is very underrated. It offers a look back at the family unit of the time compared to what exists now.

24 out of 36 people found the following review useful:
Scotty Beckett's best, 20 August 2000
Author: ivan beshkov (ivanbeshkov@msn.com) from LOS ANGELES

This film is a real riot of charm, song, wit and dazzling color. This kind of movie-making has been dead for a very long time, to my everlasting regret. Scotty Beckett and Jane Powell stand out. Unfortunately, Carmen Miranda is made to sing Hollywood's version of Brazilian songs, rather than the authentic stuff. It is disappointing that foreigners should so often be the object of amusement in American films. They are not allowed any dignity. However, Miranda makes the best of what she is given, and shines like a star.

The fun is wholesome, but not too wholesome. The plot involves suspected adultery by a venerable father!!! Plots and subplots are gloriously interwoven. Every time I see this film I am reassured that there IS such a thing as perfection.

13 out of 15 people found the following review useful:
A charmer from 1948!!!, 23 November 2005

Author: Richard Harrison (rjamesharrison@cs.com) from Carmel New York

I first saw 'A Date With Judy' at the Radio City Music Hall in late August 1948 when I was eight years old.....what an epiphany!!! Years later I revisited the film via television...how could it ever hold up...but...it remains a total charmer!! Music via Powell is lovely, Elizabeth is breathtakingly beautiful...and charming.....then there is the rest of a super cast...Wallace Beery, Robert Stack, Selena Royale, George Cleveland (the wonderful grandfather from Lassie), Scotty Becket, Xavier Cugat...and lest we not forget, the superlative Carmen Miranda! "It's A Most Unusual Day" ( remember Hitchcock's use of this as Cary Grant walks through the Plaza just before his kidnapping?), Judaline, Love is Where You Find It" and most memorably of all.."Cuanto Le Gusto" (I have murdered the spelling but 'a rose is a rose'!) Super music and memories of the radio program and comic book of the same name.

This is a delightful musical , and successful, in 1948....today I would really appreciate seeing its re-release on DVD....

19 out of 27 people found the following review useful:
A sweet movie; a lot of fun!, 11 January 2002

Author: daisyduke8000 from NS, Canada

I love this movie. Sure, I have to admit it's cheesy in parts. The story is light,but interesting. Jane Powell's acting and singing are great, and a young Elizabeth Taylor turns out, I think, one of her best performances. It is also the first of her "snobby, rich girl" roles.If you can find a copy of this, nab it! It's really good.

13 out of 18 people found the following review useful:
Wallace Beery dances the rumba!, 18 November 2005

Author: jotix100 from New York

"A Date with Judy" was a typical entertainment that MGM produced over and over as a way of showing its contract players. This film was a showcase to present Jane Powell and Elizabeth Taylor, two of the popular young actresses at the time. While the movie will not add anything to either one of the stars resumes, it's a pleasant way for watching how times have changed. The film was directed by Richard Thorpe, and produced by Joe Pasternak.

Judy and Carol are friends from school. Judy is the talented singer who is going to perform at a school party. Carol is the spoiled rich girl who is jealous of Judy. Oogie, Carol's brother, the band leader, is in love with Judy. To complicate things a newly arrived young man, Stephen, has come into town to work for the summer and he is the object of both Judy's and Carol's attention.

Wallace Beery is the best thing in the film. He plays Melvin Foster, Judy's father. He refuses to dance at the party with his wife, and thanks to Xavier Cugat's suggestion, he decides to engage Rosita, the voluptuous Carmen Miranda, to give him private lessons. Since the tutoring takes place in his office, and it's surrounded by a cloud of mystery, it appears Melvin and Rosita are having an affair. But the biggest surprise comes at the end of the film when the Fosters are celebrating their 20th anniversary and we watch Melvin, who by now is an experienced dancer, shows off on the dance floor. A delicious moment, indeed.

Jane Powell and Elizabeth Taylor are charming in their roles. Robert Stack and Scotty Beckett are also good. Leon Ames, Xavier Cugat, and the effervescent Carmen Miranda make excellent contributions, but it's Wallace Beery, who steals the show.

"A Date with Judy" will delight viewers looking for a nostalgic look at an uncomplicated time in America.

8 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
"There Are People, Meeting People, There Is Sunshine Everywhere", 26 May 2007

Author: bkoganbing from Buffalo, New York

A Date With Judy probably is Jane Powell's career role, maybe even more so than Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. It's Jane at her juvenile cuteness with the movie song probably most identified with her.

Amazingly enough, It's A Most Unusual Day did not even get nominated for the Oscar sweepstakes that year which saw the best song as Buttons and Bows. Still the Jimmy McHugh-Harold Adamson song has an enduring quality, it's one eternally optimistic tune. Jane sings it so well.

The movie is based on a popular radio series of the time and in a few years it would move on to television where Judy Foster and Oogie Pringle would continue the everlasting courtship.

In this film we have two story lines working in tandem. War veteran Robert Stack working as a soda jerk, putting himself through college, and interested in both Jane Powell as Judy or Oogie Pringle's older sister Carol, who is Elizabeth Taylor. Jane is pretty, but Elizabeth was drop dead gorgeous. Is that ever a no brainer.

The second is Judy's dad, Wallace Beery learning the rumba from Carmen Miranda, so he can surprise mom, Selena Royle on their anniversary. Of course Powell and Taylor mistake the meaning of those office rendezvous.

In true family film fashion it all works out in the end. One thing I never understood is why any kid like Scotty Beckett would want to be tagged with the moniker of Oogie even though it's short for Ogden. What a name to go through life with.

Jane sings divinely though and that's the real reason for watching this pleasing, but terribly dated family film.

3 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
Fun with Judy and Co., 8 June 2010

Author: allaboutlana from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Jane Powell and company hit a home run with this sweet and fun outing from MGM with music courtesy of Xavier Cugat and Carmen Miranda. Miranda fans will have to wait for the last 30 minutes for her two numbers, but they're worth it.

The movie centers on Judy's love life and steady boyfriend, Ogden "Oogie," played by Scotty Beckett. Because he doesn't pick her up for a school dance and sends a "mere child," she gets miffed and drops him cold. The rest of the film has "Oogie" miserable and wanting back in the fold, with "Judy" giving him a hard time. Meanwhile, soda-jerk-for-the-summer Robert Stack is on hand to escort her to the dance, allowing her to make "Oogie" jealous. Elizabeth Taylor is great as "Oogie"'s sister (they both come from a rich family), who is a spoiled brat and dominates everything, getting her way all the time and who of course takes an instant liking to Robert Stack.

Also, Wallace Beery, in a musical-comedy of all places!, is Jane Powell's pop, who finally learns to rumba to please his wife of 20 years and wants to surprise her on their wedding anniversary. Of course, he's taught by Miss Miranda and complications arise. Jane Powell has a little brother, who spouts fresh comments, and a sweet grandfather, who misses his deceased wife.

If I haven't made you nostalgic feeling describing this old-fashioned movie, then you must be a Grinch. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed this quick, witty and feel good movie. Granted Miss Powell's songs aren't anything too memorable, but the majority of them are upbeat and cute. I personally like the slow ones. She does a sing a sweet one for her grandpa, which was her grandmother's favorite.

Lastly, I'll say that this movie has always seemed somewhat like the Archie comics to me brought to life, in MGM style, due mostly to the fact that Elizabeth's character is practically "Veronica Lodge." Jane Powell could be "Betty Cooper" maybe, but I doubt "Betty" could sing like her. But with the soda shop/pharmacy as the hangout, it does feel like Archie's hometown of Riverdale, but without a true Archie here.

If you're looking for the days of yore, when life was simple and bright, or just need a picker-upper, then this is for you. "A Date with Judy" will make you feel better long after the date's over.

5 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
Duelling Sopranos?, 28 November 2005

Author: D.F. Bartlow from United States

I found it interesting that MGM's two leading sopranos (Kathryn Grayson and Jane Powell) performed the same song ("Love is Where You Find It")in two different movies that were released in 1948. I had first heard the song sung by Kathryn Grayson in "The Kissing Bandit" and the first thing I thought of was how the song would sound if sung by Jane Powell. When I saw "A Date with Judy" 5 days ago for the first time, I got my answer! I thought Elizabeth Taylor was a hoot as a sultry "come-hither" sophisticated type against Jane Powell's perinnial "good girl". It's a wholesome corny flick, but boy, they don't make them like that anymore! As always I wish there had been more singing. Can anyone tell me where to get song lyrics from all the great old MGM musicals. I would love to have the words to "Love is Where You Find It".

Page 1 of 3:

[1] [2] [3]

Add another review

Related Links