I Could Go on Singing (1963)

Jenny Bowman is a successful singer who, while on an engagement at the London Palladium, visits David Donne to see her son Matt again, spending a few glorious days with him while his father... See full summary »

Director:

Ronald Neame

Writers:

Robert Dozier (story), Mayo Simon (screenplay),

Stars:

Judy Garland, Dirk Bogarde, Jack Klugman

Cast

Cast overview:
Judy Garland	...	Jenny Bowman
Dirk Bogarde	...	David Donne
Jack Klugman	...	George
Aline MacMahon	...	Ida
Gregory Phillips	...	Matt
Russell Waters	...	Reynolds
Pauline Jameson	...	Miss Plimpton
Jeremy Burnham	...	Young Hospital Doctor
Eric Woodburn
Robert Rietty
Gerald Sim	...	Assistant Mgr. at the Palladium
David Lee	...	Pianist
Leon Cortez	...	The Busker
Al Paul

Storyline

Jenny Bowman is a successful singer who, while on an engagement at the London Palladium, visits David Donne to see her son Matt again, spending a few glorious days with him while his father is away in Rome in an attempt to attain the family that she never had. When David returns, Matt is torn between his loyalty to his father and his affection for Jenny.

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Plot Keywords:

singer | opening night | cigarette smoking | lateness | hospital | 

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Taglines:

IT'S JUDY! Lighting up the lonely stage in the singing-acting role of her life!

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Genres:

Drama | Musical

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Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 October 1963 (Finland)

Also Known As:

The Lonely Stage

Filming Locations:

Canterbury Cathedral, Canterbury, Kent, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Barbican Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Originally, Judy Garland had prerecorded the tender ballad "It Never Was You" (music by Kurt Weill, lyrics by Maxwell Anderson) with full orchestral backing arranged and conducted by Mort Lindsey. When filming on a mock-up of the London Palladium stage, Miss Garland chose to sing live on the set, accompanied by just pianist Dave Lee (IV)'. Capitol Records, in 2006, released the star's initial version on a CD collection called "The Essential Judy Garland." Her rendition used in the movie has been brought back on the CD soundtrack from the Collectables label.

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Quotes

David Donne: Jenny, it's a sell out.
Jenny Bowman: I'm ALWAYS a sell out.

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Connections

Featured in American Masters: Judy Garland: By Myself (2004)

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Soundtracks

"I COULD GO ON SINGING"
Music by Harold Arlen
Lyrics by E.Y. Harburg

User Reviews

A Closing Symmetry

Though she didn't and couldn't have known it, I Could Go On Singing became Judy Garland's farewell to the big screen. In this role she's perfectly cast in a role that bears a lot of resemblance to the real Judy Garland, a famous singer with problems of custody who wants the son she gave up for adoption years ago.

Some twenty years before young medical student Dirk Bogarde, studying in America fell in love with singer Judy Garland just starting her career. That career is something she wanted more than him. But one thing couldn't be changed and that was the boy child Bogarde left with her.

Bogarde marries a girl from Great Britain and later on Judy who can't manage a baby and a career gives him up to Bogarde who adopts his own son with his wife and raises him. Now his wife is dead and Judy's back to lay a claim on her son played by Gregory Phillips.

Of course Bogarde has never told his son about his origin and therein lies the story. It's the kind of tale we've seen in hundreds of films and radio and television soap operas.

But of course what makes I Could Go On Singing special is the singing of Judy Garland. Giving this film which title could serve as her epitaph is Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg who wrote the title song and who wrote her famous Over The Rainbow.

Judy also sings By Myself which was sung and danced to by Fred Astaire in The Bandwagon. But a song I'm really glad she did was the Kurt Weill-Maxwell Anderson song It Never Was You. That song comes from the score of Knickerbocker Holiday and it didn't make the screen version. I'm glad that Judy Garland used it in this film, giving it the classiest interpretation possible.

A passable enough drama, but great singing and the best epitaph possible for a career which was one of the brightest.