TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film

StunnaKrypto Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

ChicDragon It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

Kamila Bell This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

vincentlynch-moonoi Interesting how varied our reviewers look at this film. I liked many things in it, but overall, the way it was set up in the early going, I don't think it works.What I mean by that is that in the early parts of the film, Judy Garland seems like a young kid with the typical dreams of Broadway. Okay. Along comes Broadway director Van Heflin to visit his mother in the same town. Judy has a way to get to Broadway now...albeit not a smooth ride. Okay. The suddenly she and Heflin are falling in love. He seems way too old for Judy who seemed like a kid just a few scenes back. It really bothered me. Not morally, since she was of age. But it just doesn't quite work. And, Heflin dislikes Judy way too much in the beginning of the film to then fall in love with her. In fact, I don't think this film really works for Heflin, particularly early on.Nevertheless there are some things I liked very much. Judy has several great musical numbers here. A scene with Judy and Connie Gilchrist is quite touching. The plot after reaching New York City improves, despite the off-kilter beginning.Judy Garland is very good here as the young hopeful Lily Mars. Her singing is impressive. Van Heflin (as the director) doesn't seem right for the part, but could have been; I blame poor direction and scripting in the early part of the film. Fay Bainter, a favorite character actor of mine, has a small but good part and Heflin's mother. Similarly, Spring Byington has a decent but small part as Garland's mother. Richard Carlson is Heflin's best friend and associate, and is fine. Connie Gilchrist was great in terms of singing, but I disliked her character...but I guess I was supposed to.Take away the first quarter of the film, and it's quite good. Certainly worth watching.

rspencer-909-101250 A certain 30s sensibility through much of this, with Spring Byington reprising her role in You Can't Take It with You (sort of). Judy is always worthwhile, but Van Heflin is awful, just awful. His sudden transition from cranky genius to love-struck schoolboy is sudden and unconvincing, and his range of expression is paper-thin. Also, why director Taurog thought he needed to subject his audience to so much of Eggerth's ridiculous "singing" and "acting" is beyond me. Finally as another reviewer says, the finale is tacked on and not particularly interesting. Judy could have used a more engaging co-star (like one with actual talent!), but she's often funny, and when they let her swing in the musical numbers, she leaves you wishing for more.

bmacv This long fizzle of a backstage comedy/romance doesn't number among Judy Garland's more congenial vehicles (nor, for that matter, Van Heflin's). It can't make up its mind whether to milk wartime audiences with sentimental hometown horseplay or dazzle them with the foots and spots of the great white way, and ends up doing justice to neither. Stale old tropes and gags, dating from Busby Berkeley musicals a decade old and Mickey Rooney vehicles like the Andy Hardy series and The Human Comedy, get passed around without the slightest attempt to crisp them up. Worst of all, the song and dance numbers get doled out parsimoniously (a blessing in disguise, since they're insipid and rarely do Garland justice). Norman Taurog's Presenting Lily Mars presents a pastiche of the second-rate.Garland's Lily Mars is a small-town Indiana girl intoxicated by the smell of the greasepaint and the roar of the crowd. When a neighbor's Broadway-producer son (Heflin) blows into town, she pulls a string of Lucy-Ricardoish stunts to get discovered. With the blessing of her mother (Spring Byington), she thumbs her way to New York and wedges herself into Heflin's life. (Heflin's mother is Fay Bainter, making this Hoosier town a world capital of sugary supermoms.) But once in The Big Apple, the problem proves to be Heflin's girlfriend, charmless Martha Eggerth. She's the temperamental and heavily-accented star of his big hit, an utterly dreadful Ruritanian folly, lousy with bad ballet and crummy coloratura, that's foisted off as fun. The movie's almost a break-a-leg story but pulls up lame, because Garland must learn patience and earn her stardom. But second thoughts from MGM's executive suite must have prevailed, because after the point where Booth Tarkington's story logically ends, with Garland humbly delivering the equivalent of a `dinner is served' line, Judy/Lily gives a couple of encores in the style of her daughter Liza/Francine's Happy Endings lollapalooza in New York, New York. Luckily for Garland, she would soon catch the eye of a director (and husband) who would appreciate and showcase her gifts (and her maturity) in movies like Meet Me in Saint Louis and The Clock, leaving behind forever juvenilia like Presenting Lily Mars.

BLG-2 Sweet story of a small-town girl who seeks fame and fortune on the stage. Judy Garland, like other ladies blessed with gorgeous voices, i.e. Celine Dion, Sarah Vaughan, Barbra Streisand, was not beautiful, but she looks pretty good here. I always liked Van Heflin, although due to the gaps in their ages and heights, when shot from certain angles he looks more paternal than like a love interest. I felt the romance developed too quickly and would have enjoyed seeing it happen more gradually. Judy's main song in this film, "When I Look at You," is a standout.