Life with Judy Garland - Me and My Shadows | Judy Davis, Victor Garber

Life with Judy Garland - Me and My Shadows | Judy Davis, Victor Garber | AMAZING job by Tammy Blanchard

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Life with Judy Gar...

	Life with Judy Garland - Me and My Shadows Judy Davis, Victor Garber Walt Disney Video, 2002 average customer review:based on 67 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Pulling off the rare feat of winning Emmys for portraying the same role, Judy Davis and Tammy Blanchard raise this widely watched TV movie above the usual weepy-biopic standard. Since the project is based on a memoir by Lorna Luft, Judy Garland's "other" daughter, the emphasis is on Garland's rocky post-MGM years, spotlighting marriages, pills, and spectacular stage comebacks. Davis handles the neurotic swoops with authority; when Garland sighs on her birthday, "I'm 47 today--with my life, that makes me 412," you believe her. One thing she can't capture is Garland's onscreen incandescence: Davis's lip-syncing of "The Trolley Song" is expert but joyless. The luminous young Blanchard (who won the supporting actress trophy) has a physical and vocal resemblance to the former Frances Gumm that's often breathtaking, and the Wizard of Oz sequences look like outtakes from the real thing. Too much TV-flick telescoping dooms the movie to sketchiness, but those performances are over the rainbow. --Robert Horton

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A Must for Judy Garland Fans

The good acting--and drop-jaw lookalikeness--of not only actress Judy Davis as the mature Judy Garland but whoever it was who played the Judy we know from the Wizard of Oz makes this the essential DVD for Garland fans. This younger actress, whose name I do not recall, is just sensational as the Garland we mostly identify with. If you have Garland's movies, you must have this as well, all put together by her not-as-well-known daughter Lorna Luft. You will watch this one over and over.

AMAZING job by Tammy Blanchard

For picky hardcore Garland fans who are looking for a movie that strictly sticks to the facts, presents them in the exact order that they happened, and doesn't deviate from the truth one iota, well...you'll have a field day pointing out the errors in "Me and My Shadows" (although I would say the movie does a somewhat better job of being factual than the book; apparently there were a few who "overrode" the filtered memories of Lorna Luft). If you can enjoy this movie as entertainment that gets the spirit of the situation right and nails the characterizations down perfectly, then you will enjoy this film immensely. MY one fault with the movie is the switch between the two roles. I think both actresses did an amazing job of portraying Judy Garland (at times, it is eerie to watch Tammy Blanchard without thinking that it's not Judy, as she nails the look, mannerisms, and emotions of Garland), but I do question switching the roles at the point of "Meet Me In St. Louis." Blanchard could have carried the role up until the point of Garland leaving MGM, and I believe that the change would not have been so jarring. It's just difficult to see the youthful Blanchard performing "I've Got Rhythm" from 1943's "Girl Crazy" and then seeing Davis step in doing "The Trolley Song" supposedly one year later. Besides the age problem, Davis' portrayal is more of the manic Garland that we expect in the 1960's, a Garland that had not emerged as of 1944. Other than that, the film manages to display the amazing sense of humor that Garland possessed, and how she used that to overcome the challenges she face with her career, her husbands, and her financial problems. Hugh Laurie does a nice job of playing Minnelli, without becoming a gross characterization or parody of the real man. Kudos also go to Marsha Mason as Ethel Gumm and John Benjamin Hickey as Roger Edens. Both forces show how they alternately tore down and bolstered up Judy's self-esteem. Victor Garber struggles to play tough-guy Luft, and is probably the weakest link in the cast. The costumes and settings also do an incredible job of nailing the period...again, you will be amazed at how closely they replicate the originals. The extras are nice; one deleted number of Davis lip-synching another live number by Garland, a making-of-featurette, and a commentary track by Lorna Luft and others involved in the movie (who are not shy about correcting Lorna's factual errors). If you are looking for even one frame of Judy Garland in the extras, it is not here. Nowhere do you see the image of the real Judy Garland. Everything is strictly to do with this photoplay. For the DVD, the sound and picture are transferred nicely as well; with the exception of a few short numbers that are incorporated into the dialogue without accompaniment, all the musical sets are from the original Garland recordings (unfortunately at times the lip-synching leaves a bit to be desired).

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Judy Davis IS Judy Garland!

Judy Davis deserved her Emmy win for her scary and accurate portrayal of Judy Garland! It was hard to tell who was the real Judy!

AS GOOD AS IT GETS!

This is undoubetdly the greatest biopic ever made. It's been several years since I first saw it on television and no matter where I go, I still hear people talking about it. I don't think I've ever experienced another television movie that has had such a strong and lasting hold on it's audience. It manages to get under the skin of it's central character, the phenomenal Judy Garland. It tells the story of her triumphant and often unhappy life as straight and honestly as any movie possible can, never letting us forget how brilliantly talented and troubled she was. There is an affection for Ms. Garland that permeates every frame of this film and infects its audience no matter how many times one sees it. Watching the brilliant performances of Tammy Blanchard and Judy Davis actually allows the audience to experience the greatness of Garland. I think this is a remarkable achievement. So that if you never saw Judy Garland perform, watching this movie, you can actually walk away from it a Garland fan. Much has been written about the faithful recreations of the movie musical sequences but little has been said about how they serve the film in a totally and unique way. In their original context of course they served to advance the story of the movies they were written for but here, the director has not only recreated them but he has reinvented them to serve the story he is telling of Garland's life. So that the TROLLEY SONG becomes the musical moment in which we see Vincente Minelli and Judy falling in love. THE MAN THAT GOT AWAY becomes Judy's lament for her dead mother. The Carnegie Hall sequence tells of Judy's rise from the ashes of a failing career. In this sense the director has actually invented a new and totally original form of musical film. The movie has won many accolades and has a great many admirers all over the world. Well deserved! A true work of art. Television never had it so good.

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Too many cut scenes-

The VHS version has cut scenes, too-Where is the whole story of Artie Shaw breaking her heart? Unless I'm dreaming, I saw this plot line in the original on TV-I just got mine in the mail today and I am so disappointed-I'm afraid to see what else was cut-The reason I bought the VHS version instead of the DVD was an earlier reviewer said it was the DVD that cut scenes-
Still a crackerjack performance for all concerned-

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

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