A Date with Judy

Genre: Musicals
Rating: NR
Release Date: 22-APR-2008
Media Type: DVD

Shot in soft-focus Technicolor by Oklahoma!'s Robert Surtees, A Date with Judy offers a candy-colored version of the high-school musical. In a cozy seaside town, 16-year-old Judy Foster (tiny soprano Jane Powell) and poor little rich girl Carol Pringle (a stunning Elizabeth Taylor, dubbed) prepare for the school dance. When Carol’s brother, Oogie (former child star Scotty Beckett), stands up Judy--on Carol’s advice--she takes new soda jerk Stephen (Written on the Wind's Robert Stack). Though Stephen can't take his eyes off Carol, he concedes, "You're the prettiest girl in Santa Barbara--and you know it." Afterwards, the girls compete for his affections, while Judy's dad, Melvin (The Champ's Wallace Beery), takes rumba lessons from Carmen Miranda's Rosita in preparation for his 20th wedding anniversary. Carol’s mild conniving aside, there are no bad guys here, and all's well that ends well. Notable numbers include Powell's "It's a Most Unusual Day" and Miranda's "Cuanto le Gusta" with the Xavier Cugat Orchestra. Aside from the ladies on screen, Dorothy Cooper and Pal Joey's Dorothy Kingsley adapted the script from Aleen Leslie’s 1941 radio play, hence lines like, "Don't try to understand women, just accept them." With direction by Ivanhoe's prolific Richard Thorpe and choreography from Singin' in the Rain's Stanley Donen, MGM’s A Date with Judy serves up wholesome entertainment for all ages. Special features include the original trailer and two shorts, Martin Block’s Musical Merry-Go-Round #3 with Ray Noble and Buddy Clark and Tom and Jerry's Professor Tom. --Kathleen C. Fennessy