Babes in Arms

Released Oct 13, 1939

1 hr. 34 min.

Musical

List

90%

40 Reviews

Tomatometer

70%

1,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Mickey Moran (Mickey Rooney) and Patsy Barton (Judy Garland) are aspiring entertainers and the children of vaudeville performers. Vaudeville is losing its popularity due to the success of the movie business, and Mickey and Patsy's parents are struggling to revitalize its popularity. After deciding to produce their own show in a bid to reach their dreams of stage stardom, the young couple runs into problems, including Mickey's jealous girlfriend and the threat of being sent to a work camp.

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Critics Consensus

With all the adorable gumption of its young stars, Babes in Arms pays thoroughly entertaining tribute to the magic of show business.

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Audience Member

LOL, the funniest 01 hour: and 34 minutes ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/11/23

Full Review

Audience Member

For Mickey and Judy fans, Babes in Arms is an absolute must. It's the only one of their films in which one of the two got an Oscar nomination. Mickey Rooney was nominated for Best Actor, personally I think as an afterthought because his competition was Clark Gable for Gone With the Wind, Laurence Olivier for Wuthering Heights, James Stewart for Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and the winner Robert Donat for Goodbue Mr. Chips. Not that Mickey's bad, but he really didn't belong with this field. What he and Judy do, they do better than anyone else, put on a show. In fact in this case the 'put on a show' gambit did originate in the original Broadway Musical. Babes in Arms was one of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart's best shows it ran for 289 performances in the 1937 season and boasted such Rodgers&Hart classics as Johnny One Note, Way Out West, My Funny Valentine, I Wish I Were in Love Again all of which were discarded for the film. The Lady is a Tramp is only heard instrumentally, my guess is the Code frowned on that lyric. The title song and Where or When are retained. In fact when you come right down to it, only the basic idea the songs mentioned and a couple characters names came over from Broadway. Still Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed wrote Good Morning which is better known from Singin' in the Rain, but it was Judy and Mickey who introduced it here. And a whole lot of other Brown&Freed songs from MGM musicals got interpolated into the score. Douglas MacPhail and Betty Jaynes who were introduced in Sweethearts also are here and sing beautifully. They married, but the marriage and MacPhail's career fell apart and he committed suicide a few years later. He had a great baritone voice, what a shame. The following year he introduced my favorite Cole Porter song, I Concentrate On You in The Broadway Melody of 1940. This was the film Judy Garland did right after The Wizard of Oz and coming along right with her is Margaret Hamilton playing another Miss Gulch like character. One of those spinster ladies who forever pry into other people's business. Believe it or not there was still a lot of prejudice against theatrical people even in 1937. A lot of old vaudeville types like Charles Winninger, Rooney's father in the film, settle in the town of Seaport on Long Island and their presence apparently upsets the ruling families like Hamilton's. When times go bad and vaudeville goes to seed, things get kind of rough for them. The old timers try to take a last tour to raise some money, but instead it's the kids who are up to the latest trends in pop music who save the day. Guy Kibbee is in this also, playing against type as a wise and sympathetic judge, usually the parts MGM reserved for Lewis Stone or Lionel Barrymore. A more typical Kibbee type would be the oafish tycoon in 42nd Street, but he's fine here. Possibly director Busby Berkeley wanted Kibbee, maybe as a good luck charm from that other breakthrough musical of his from his days at Warner Brothers. Of course the musical numbers in the show are set with the usual Berkeley surrealism, a little tempered though from his high flying days at Warner Brothers. That same year Berkeley had done a surreal type number in the Jeanette MacDonald-Lew Ayres film Broadway Serenade and it laid an egg. Someone at MGM must have reined him in. Babes In Arms retains all its charms from 1939 mainly because Mickey Rooney is infectious and Judy Garland's singing is eternal.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/08/23

Full Review

william d

The show business and political references definitely date the picture, but that shouldn't keep you from enjoying the musical numbers.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

William L

There are enjoyable moments, but Babes in Arms has not only aged very poorly, it doesn't come close to being an entertaining experience for most of its runtime. Rooney has his youthful vibrance and undeniable talent that at least keeps the film feeling energetic in places, but the music in this musical is unengaging in and of itself, feeling stereotypical and often dull (with the half dozen better musicals that had already been made lamenting the downfall of stage entertainment in the era of talkies easily outstripping them for substance and catchiness). McPhail's traditional, deep voice doesn't mesh well with the sprightly tone that the film at least attempts to create. Garland shines at times, but never forms a good complement to Rooney. The plot is incredibly predictable and drones on and on. And the elephant in the room - the minstrel blackface (on kids, and featuring some equally offensive lyrics to accompany it all; it was so bad that God literally sent a hurricane in the film to stop it) just pushes this whole mess off a cliff. It's a fast race to the bottom for supposedly 'classic' early film musicals, but Babes in Arms has a strong case to be leading the pack. (1.5/5)

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

03/12/21

Full Review

steve d

Garland is fun but the rest is lame.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

david l

Babes in Arms is charming and fun in a couple of musical numbers and comedic bits, but for the most part it's a dated vaudeville musical that is just a curiosity for today's audiences. Judy Garland is pretty good here, but Mickey Rooney, although killing it impersonating Lionel Barrymore, was mostly too annoying. His Oscar nomination was a ridiculous choice.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

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Busby Berkeley

Director

Mickey Rooney

Michael C. 'Mickey' Moran

Judy Garland

Patsy Barton

Charles Winninger

Joe Moran

Guy Kibbee

Judge John Black

June Preisser

Rosalie Essex

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Mildred Martin

Philadelphia Inquirer

If the film lacks something of the engaging freshness Babes in Arms had on the stage, it retains the bounce and the breezy comedy.

Feb 19, 2021

Full Review

Edwin Schallert

Los Angeles Times

Babes in Arms wouldn't be so much of a film for the back stage story fundamentally is trite were it not for the animated work of its stars, and the incidental doings.

Feb 19, 2021

Full Review

Charles E. Ward

Miami Herald

The film has lavish scenes elaborate song and dance numbers and a plausible narrative to string it together.

Feb 19, 2021

Full Review

Cinelandia Staff

Cinelandia

A first rate musical comedy. [Full review in Spanish]

Sep 1, 2022

Full Review

Ada Hanifin

San Francisco Examiner

Babes in Arms is more than "box office" entertainment. It is the triumphant cry or youth that will carry on when today's stars pale into memories.

Feb 19, 2021

Full Review

Robert Ford

Austin American-Statesman

It's good entertainment, even if the producers do attempt to put the show over with hokum disguised as Americanism. The songs generally are catchy and Miss Garland knows how to sing.

Feb 19, 2021

Full Review

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Synopsis

Mickey Moran (Mickey Rooney) and Patsy Barton (Judy Garland) are aspiring entertainers and the children of vaudeville performers. Vaudeville is losing its popularity due to the success of the movie business, and Mickey and Patsy's parents are struggling to revitalize its popularity. After deciding to produce their own show in a bid to reach their dreams of stage stardom, the young couple runs into problems, including Mickey's jealous girlfriend and the threat of being sent to a work camp.

Director: Busby Berkeley
Screenwriter: Jack McGowan, Kay Van Riper, Anita Loos, Richard Rodgers, Annalee Whitmore
Distributor: Warner Home Vídeo, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Distributing Corp.
Production Co: Metro Goldwyn Mayer
Genre: Musical
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 13, 1939, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 1, 2008

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