A Date with Judy (1948)

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Excellent but underrated film

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Remember when Shirley Temple became a teenager and she made a few awkward films about the generation gap before rock 'n roll kicked in? A Date with Judy reminds me of one of those movies.In this one, Wallace Beery plays the out-of-touch father, and his daughter Jane Powell tries to teach him the errors of his ways. Powell sings "Love is Where You Find It", a song that Kathryn Grayson also introduced in 1948's The Kissing Bandit; will we ever know who was truly the originator? To help teach her structured father, Powell enlists the help of Carmen Miranda and Xavier Cugat. They basically play themselves.If you're not intimately familiar with the 1940s, the movie will seem incredibly dated. It's chalk-full of songs and dances, and a teenage romance between Elizabeth Taylor and Robert Stack, but it doesn't really stand the test of time very well.

This is a terrific film with a great cast and plot line. This film would begin the end of Elizabeth Taylor's career as a child star. 3 years later she would reach dramatic stardom for "A Place in the Sun." She has the right mode for this 1948 film as a shrewd girl, trying to lure Robert Stack away from Jane Powell.The real hit here is Wallace Beery as Powell's father. His practicing the learning of the rumba with Carmen Miranda was absolutely wonderful.This is a story of the coming of maturity among young adults as well as Beery, and Leon Ames, who portrayed Taylor's father.Stack is rather stiff as the summer soda-jerk smitten with both ladies. Perhaps, that's what the part called for.

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 was very successful, in 1948 and is a treasure for today...and it's been released on DVD! It would look sumptuous in Blueray...maybe soon?

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".