The Hollywood Reporter reports that all three of Judy Garland’s children—Liza Minnelli, Lorna Luft, and Joseph Luft—will be on hand at this year’s Oscar ceremony to pay tribute to their late mother, on the 75th anniversary of her iconic performance in The Wizard of Oz.
Few directors have made as lasting and beautiful a contribution to musical films as Vincente Minnelli, the filmmaker responsible for helming such enduring classics as An American in Paris, Meet Me in St. Louis, The Pirate, The Band Wagon, and Gigi. Happily, in a month filled with Oscar-related woes about snubs and forgotten categories, it’s nice to look back …
While I’m never really expecting to see Judy Garland involved in a bar brawl, or threateningly brandishing a pistol in each hand, I really wasn’t expecting to see it happen in The Harvey Girls, a wholesome 1946 musical based on the true story of a restauranteur’s trainside western empire. But that’s what happened, and I’m glad it did—as little surprises like this were part of what made the film charming, if a little creaky, to behold.
Hollywood loves a good behind-the-scenes tale, so it’s fitting that the Oscars have rewarded a number of actors for playing… well, actors. Though it may seem like an obvious and easy role given their own career, portraying an actor on screen offers a unique set of challenges for thespians. Not only do they need to make the audience believe their character as a real person, as all actors do, but they must do this while calling attention to their acting process, by virtue of their character’s profession. It can be a challenging task to keep their acting relatively invisible, and some actors have managed great success in this realm.
On the surface, The Phantom of Hollywood, a TV movie from 1974, may seem like it’d only appeal to the most devoted of B-horror aficionados. A retelling of The Phantom of the Opera, the film has plenty of inventive killings and questionable dialogue to satisfy those viewers, but it also holds value for fans of classic films—particularly those interested in MGM. That’s because The Phantom of Hollywood was actually filmed on the MGM backlot as it was being parceled off and torn down. The movie makes great use of that decaying, yet familiar, setting, and also creates a fun, rebellious, pro-film anti-hero as its villain.
Before Rodgers and Hammerstein, there was Rodgers and Hart: Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, that is, the popular Depression-era songwriting duo responsible for a bevy of songs now commonly accepted as American cultural currency—”Blue Moon,” “The Lady is a Tramp,” and “My Funny Valentine” included, among many others. Their sometimes prolific, sometimes turbulent partnership is the focus of the 1948 musical comedy, Words and Music, starring Tom Drake as Rodgers and Mickey Rooney as Hart. Though many of their most famous songs embody a kind of wistful, depressive nature, and their partnership ended on uncertainly unhappy terms, this film is highly sanitized depiction, and really uses only the most basic elements of the real-life story. Any weaknesses in the plot, though, are ably enhanced by some fun dance numbers from an exceptional array of guest stars and cameos brought in to celebrate the pair.