People are voting emotionally.

Gripping story with well-crafted characters

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

The reviewer Judith Crist wrote of this film: "Either you are or you aren't - a Judy Garland fan ... And if you aren't, forget about her new movie, 'I Could Go On Singing', and leave the discussion to us devotees. You'll see her in close-up...in beautiful, glowing Technicolor and striking staging in a vibrant, vital performance that gets to the essence of her mystique as a superb entertainer. Miss Garland is - as always - real, the voice throbbing, the eyes aglow, the delicate features yielding to the demands of the years - the legs still long and lovely. Certainly the role of a top-rank singer beset by the loneliness and emotional hungers of her personal life is not an alien one to her..." In some ways I agree with Ms. Crist. In other ways, I do not.I'm not a Judy Garland fan...at least not a fan of the grown up Judy Garland, but I did enjoy this film and I thought it was a good performance. Although, her fragility -- it seemed to me -- showed through in the more emotional scenes of the film. And, there were a number of scenes where I thought she looked rather beaten down.Yes, the Technicolor photography was excellent, and the settings chosen superb! Nevertheless, Judy Garland's performance here was excellent, although I thought her character was not a very admirable person who had no sense of what motherhood is and whose primary motivations were selfish.I continue to be impressed with an actor whom I've only recently come to appreciate -- Dirk Bogarde. He's excellent here as the father.Jack Klugman...oh, so so as the agent.I was most impressed with the young actor playing the son -- Gregory Phillips. A superb performance.And it was a treat to see the superb character actress of years earlier -- Aline MacMahon -- in her next to last film performance, here as Garland's assistant.In terms of plot, Bogarde and Garland were once lovers, and she had a son. She gave him up...totally...to pursue her career. Now, about 15 years later, she wants him back. The film does an excellent job of showing what parents can put their children through.A good film. Very worth watching.

Well, it's her birthday, so let's do this.By now you know the film is melodrama; famous mom seeking custody of the child she left to her husband. You probably know as well that there's a 'b' feel to most of this. Add to this mix the really dreadful title and, no, you don't have a brilliant Garland film. Or do you? Because the never fully appreciated power Garland had as a purely instinctive Method actress is in full swing here. From awkward jokes with Dirk Bogarde (who is surprisingly perfect for the role of the ex, and quite possibly because of his gay screen image) to the heavy-duty stuff, she is amazingly real. Down to her voice cracking painfully at the end of the final number. Two things worth noting: there's an almost creepy moment towards the beginning when Judy is entertaining her son's chums at the piano and a fiercely gay boy dances near her, and then there's the major and overwhelming reason to actually own this film. It is Judy's performance of 'It Never Was You', which must rival forever the most poignant version of 'Send in the Clowns' you ever heard. This is pure artist and material coming together at one. It is beyond brilliant.

I just don't where to begin. I guess it's best to start at the beginning.The plot revolves around a singer who's had a successful career and is on tour constantly. But because of this, she has no time for anything else, or anybody else. She met Dirk Bogarde years ago in New York and had a child, which she gave to him to raise because her going from place to place was no way to raise children. We open today on Judy seeing Dirk for medical help, since he is a eyes, ear, and throat specialist, and she has recently arrived in England for a concert, where he lives with her son and his wife. She gets around to the fact that she wants to see her son. He ultimately and reluctantly gives in. But once she sees him, she wants him in her life all the time.I don't know if I can really review this movie unbiased. I admit the movie itself is probably average, if it weren't for Judy Garland's raw and on-the-edge performance of a singer who's seen it all. She is nothing less than magnificent in showing the desperation and loneliness of the singer she portrays, which she probably felt all her life. She once said she'd rather have the love of a man over the applause of the crowd. The bitter irony of her own life paralleled to this story only makes it more real for the viewer. We can see Judy in real life in every scene, especially when she tells Dirk she's hung on all her life.The "concert footage" is simply outstanding, with Judy giving all of herself in what may be her most dramatic moments ever captured on screen, even considering "A Star is Born." I guess less is more, so I should stop. But, if you've never seen this highly underrated film and you call yourself a Judy Garland fan (if asked for my favorite crooner/singer/star, it's Judy Garland, bar none), then stop what you're doing and rent/buy or do whatever you have to to find this movie, and see the great Judy Garland in some show-stopping numbers and in a performance of a lifetime. It's an experience not likely to be forgotten.

To be honest, I am not REALLY a Judy Garland fanatic, even though I ought to be. I found her TV show extremely entertaining when I saw them on DVD, and, well, how can one NOT be entertained by the Wizard Of Oz? And I've seen snippets of her here and there. I begin this review of 'I Could Go On Singing' saying this and defending my uh, un-Judy Garland obsessiveness, and then say that I found this movie incredibly entertaining! It's as if they got her to play herself during the last portion of her life, what, being a total singing diva, and let the audience go home happy. In this movie, she plays a famous singer who meets up with an old flame (played low-key to the hilt by Dirk Bogarde) to try to meet up with her son who she abandoned long ago, soon after meeting, she wants to keep him! But Bogarde says no! Oh no! What is she to do? Yes, that's pretty much the plot. But who cares when you get to see La Judy in action, singing, bitching and chewing everyone up and spitting everyone out? This is nothing but fun, and well, not Kramer Vs. Kramer. I really would recommend this to anyone, because this could entertain anyone, Judy fan or not (I tell you I'm not!!!!)