Mickey Moran (Mickey Rooney) and Patsy Barton (Judy Garland) are teenage sweethearts and children of longtime vaudeville families. But vaudeville has suffered since the introduction of talking pictures, and their parents are out of work. When Judge John Black (Guy Kibbee) threatens to send the children of the actors off to a work farm, Mickey and Patsy lead the vaudeville kids in a rebellion. Using that old reliable stand-by -- "Hey, let's put on a show!" -- the vaudeville kids decide to prove that they are capable of supporting themselves. They develop a show that they hope to take to Broadway.
As usual for screen musicals of this time, the Broadway-to-Hollywood transition does not go well. The Broadway version of "Babes In Arms" was a fairly-successful and watchable musical. But when MGM bought the rights to it, they threw out the script and most of the songs and started all over again. They tossed out classic songs like "My Funny Valentine," "The Lady is a Tramp," and "Johnny One-Note," in favor of mediocre songs like "Good Morning" and "God's Country."
Rooney gives a decent performance, and Garland is well on her way to becoming America's Sweetheart. But this movie has NOT held up well over time. There is a nerve-grating "Minstrel Show" number at the end, with Rooney and Garland in blackface. Also, there is a disturbing scene where the vaudeville kids light a bonfire in the middle of town and use it to burn books of authority. (Didn't anybody in Hollywood watch the newsreels at this time, and see what was going on in Berlin?) But even more so than that, the plot is just a clothesline to string together musical numbers. Compared to today's musicals, where you have interesting things going on in between the musical numbers, the Rooney-Garland romance story in "Babes in Arms" is just marking time between songs.
The movie is worth watching to see Garland in the prime of her teen sweetheart years, and possibly to check out the dance numbers. But overall, this musical is best forgotten.
As usual for screen musicals of this time, the Broadway-to-Hollywood transition does not go well. The Broadway version of "Babes In Arms" was a fairly-successful and watchable musical. But when MGM bought the rights to it, they threw out the script and most of the songs and started all over again. They tossed out classic songs like "My Funny Valentine," "The Lady is a Tramp," and "Johnny One-Note," in favor of mediocre songs like "Good Morning" and "God's Country."
Rooney gives a decent performance, and Garland is well on her way to becoming America's Sweetheart. But this movie has NOT held up well over time. There is a nerve-grating "Minstrel Show" number at the end, with Rooney and Garland in blackface. Also, there is a disturbing scene where the vaudeville kids light a bonfire in the middle of town and use it to burn books of authority. (Didn't anybody in Hollywood watch the newsreels at this time, and see what was going on in Berlin?) But even more so than that, the plot is just a clothesline to string together musical numbers. Compared to today's musicals, where you have interesting things going on in between the musical numbers, the Rooney-Garland romance story in "Babes in Arms" is just marking time between songs.
The movie is worth watching to see Garland in the prime of her teen sweetheart years, and possibly to check out the dance numbers. But overall, this musical is best forgotten.