''I Could Go On Singing'' is a 1963 British-American

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Ronald Neame Ronald Neame CBE, BSC (23 April 1911 – 16 June 2010) was an English film producer, director, cinematographer, and screenwriter. Beginning his career as a cinematographer, for his work on the British war film '' One of Our Aircraft Is Missin ...

. It stars

Judy Garland Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. Possessing a strong contralto voice, she was celebrated for her emotional depth and versatility across film, stage, and concert performance. ...

in her final film performance alongside

Dirk Bogarde Sir Dirk Bogarde (born Derek Jules Gaspard Ulric Niven van den Bogaerde; 28 March 1921 – 8 May 1999) was an English actor, novelist and screenwriter. Initially a matinée idol in films such as ''Doctor in the House (film), Doctor in the Hous ...

, and Jack Klugman. Originally titled ''The Lonely Stage'', the film was renamed so that audiences would know that Garland sings in it; she had not sung in a film since '' A Star Is Born'' in 1954. Although not a huge box-office success on release, the film won Garland much praise for her performance.The Times, 6 March 1963, Page 2 This was Garland's final film before her death in 1969. In his memoir, Bogarde claimed that he had substantially rewritten Garland's lines, with her consent.

Plot

Jenny Bowman (

) is a successful concert singer who regularly tours the world. During a stay in London, she visits recently widowed David Donne (

), a prominent surgeon. More than a decade ago, the two had an affair that led to the birth of Matt, who is raised by David alone and has been told that he was adopted. Although Jenny and David agreed that Matt would never know the truth, David takes Jenny to Matt's boarding school in

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

so that she may meet him just once. Jenny and Matt hit it off and the three spend the whole day together. Jenny invites the two to her concert at the

London Palladium The London Palladium () is a Grade II* West End theatre located on Argyll Street, London, in Soho. The theatre was designed by Frank Matcham and opened in 1910. The auditorium holds 2,286 people. Hundreds of stars have played there, many wit ...

, but David is unable to make it because of work in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. With David absent and under the impression that Matt is back at school, Jenny and Matt spend a few days together exploring London. Jenny's manager and assistant try to cover for Matt by calling his school, but word about his absence gets back to David in Rome, who is furious. When David returns to London, he and Jenny have a fight, during which Matt overhears that they are his birth parents. David implores Matt to remain in England and finish his schooling, while Jenny insists that Matt should accompany her on her world tour. Confused, Matt rejects Jenny's invitations and the two agree to see each other again sometime in the future. Jenny turns to a night of drinking on the town to cope with the heartbreak and ends up twisting her ankle. At a clinic, she demands that David come to treat her. When he arrives, she claims to be quitting singing as she is "stretched too thin and everyone wants a bite," but David insists that she cannot let herself down this way and tells her that he loves her. At her concert that night, Jenny sings marvelously to the crowd. David leaves midway through her first number.

Cast

as Jenny Bowman *

as David Donne * Jack Klugman as George Kogan (Jenny Bowman's manager) * Gregory Phillips as Matt *

Aline MacMahon Aline Laveen MacMahon (May 3, 1899 – October 12, 1991) was an American actress. Her Broadway stage career began under producer Edgar Selwyn in ''The Mirage'' during 1920. She made her screen debut in 1931, and worked extensively in film, the ...

as Ida, Miss Bowman's dresser * Pauline Jameson as Miss Plimpton, Donne's nurse/receptionist *

Jeremy Burnham John Richard Jeremy Burnham (28 May 1931 – 31 December 2020) was a British television actor of the 1960s and 1970s, and a screenwriter. Life and career Burnham began in the 1950s as an actor and appeared in many popular British TV series such ...

as Hospital surgeon * Lorna Luft as Girl on boat (uncredited) * Joey Luft as Boy on boat (uncredited) * Leon Cortez as Busker * Robert Rietty as Manager,

* Gerald Sim as Joe, Assistant Manager,

* Frazer Hines as a Schoolboy * Tony Robinson as a Schoolboy

Release

The film had its world premiere at the Plaza Theatre in London's West End on 6 March 1963. A soundtrack album was released by

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

at the time of the original film release and re-issued in 2002 by Capitol on a CD along with a re-issue of Garland's ninth studio album, ''That's Entertainment!''. The film was released as home media on

LaserDisc LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. It was developed by Philips, Pioneer Corporation, Pioneer, and the movie studio MCA Inc., MCA. The format was initially marketed in the United State ...

in 1989, on VHS in 1992 (both released by MGM/UA Home Video), on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

in May 2004 by MGM/UA Home Video, on DVD in 2013 by Acorn Media, on

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

in 2016 by Twilight Time, on Blu-Ray in 2023 by Sandpiper Pictures and on DVD in 2023 by Final Cut Entertainment.

Music

All songs performed by Judy Garland: * "I Am the Monarch of the Sea" (Judy Garland and Boys) from '' H.M.S. Pinafore'' by

Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900) and to the works they jointly created. The two men collaborated on fourteen com ...

* "Hello Bluebird", words and music by Cliff Friend * "'It Never Was You" by

Kurt Weill Kurt Julian Weill (; ; March 2, 1900April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for hi ...

and

Maxwell Anderson James Maxwell Anderson (December 15, 1888 – February 28, 1959) was an American playwright, author, poet, journalist, and lyricist. Anderson faced many challenges in his career, frequently losing jobs for expressing his opinions or supporting ...

* " By Myself" by

Arthur Schwartz Arthur Schwartz (November 25, 1900 – September 3, 1984) was an American composer and film producer, widely noted for his songwriting collaborations with Howard Dietz. Biography Early life Schwartz was born to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New ...

and Howard Dietz * "I Could Go On Singing" by

Harold Arlen Harold Arlen (born Hyman Arluck; February 15, 1905 – April 23, 1986) was an American composer of popular music, who composed over 500 songs, a number of which have become known worldwide. In addition to composing the songs for the 1939 film ' ...

and E. Y. Harburg * "Please Say Ah" ong deleted from final print; the film's musical supervisor Saul Chapin was at least one creator of the song and provides the male voice on the YouTube clipref>

Reception

In the ''

New York Herald Tribune The ''New York Herald Tribune'' was a newspaper published between 1924 and 1966. It was created in 1924 when Ogden Mills Reid of the '' New York Tribune'' acquired the '' New York Herald''. It was regarded as a "writer's newspaper" and compet ...

'', Judith Crist wrote, "Either you are or you aren't—a Judy Garland fan that is. 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...". Writing in the New York ''Daily News'', Dorothy Masters said, "3 stars...Judy Garland is back on screen in a role that might have been custom-tailored for her particular talents. A new song, ''I Could Go On Singing'', provides her with a little clowning, a chance to be gay, a time for wistfulness, an occasion for tears. She and Dirk Bogarde play wonderfully well together, even though the script itself insists on their being mismatched...".

Novelization

A paperback novelization of the screenplay (uncredited in the book's authorship) was written by celebrated mystery novelist John D. MacDonald, perhaps best known as the creator of private investigator Travis McGee. It was published in 1963 by Gold Medal Books to coincide with the film's release. There was only one US printing, although a UK publisher, Robert Hale, followed up with a hardcover in 1964. In 2013, trade and ebook editions, tacitly marking the novelization's 50th anniversary and its first-ever reprint, were released by

Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

; the ebook is still available.

References

External links

The Judy Garland Online Discography "I Could Go On Singing" pages.
* * {{Ronald Neame 1963 films United Artists films Films directed by Ronald Neame Films produced by Lawrence Turman Films about entertainers Films about singers 1960s musical drama films British musical drama films American musical drama films 1963 drama films 1960s English-language films 1960s American films 1960s British films English-language musical drama films Films scored by Mort Lindsey Films with songs by Yip Harburg