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Babes in Arms Photos

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Movie Info

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.

Genre:

musical
Original Language:

English
Director:

Busby Berkeley
Producer:

Arthur Freed
Writer:

Jack McGowan, Kay Van Riper, Anita Loos, Richard Rodgers, Annalee Whitmore
Release Date (Streaming):

Sep 1, 2008
Runtime:

1h 34m
Production Co:

Metro Goldwyn Mayer

Cast & Crew

Mickey Rooney
Michael C. 'Mickey' Moran

Judy Garland
Patsy Barton

Charles Winninger
Joe Moran

Guy Kibbee
Judge John Black

June Preisser
Rosalie Essex

Grace Hayes
Florrie Moran

Show all Cast & Crew

Critic Reviews for Babes in Arms

All Critics (39) | Top Critics (15) | Fresh (35) | Rotten (4)

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

February 19, 2021 | Full Review…

Mildred Martin
Philadelphia Inquirer
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.

February 19, 2021 | Full Review…

Edwin Schallert
Los Angeles Times
The film has lavish scenes elaborate song and dance numbers and a plausible narrative to string it together.

February 19, 2021 | Full Review…

Charles E. Ward
Miami Herald
We definitely don't like the screen play by Jack McGowan and Kay Van Riper. If we must have hokum, let us at least disguise it gracefully, even when it's with music.

February 19, 2021 | Full Review…

Frank S. Nugent
New York Times
Mickey performs with all the youthful vigor he is capable of throwing into a screen role.

February 19, 2021 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…

Kate Cameron
New York Daily News
When the film is finished, it is still the Rooney-Garland combination which has put the picture over as one of the most entertaining and laughable of the year.

February 19, 2021 | Full Review…

Marjory Adams
Boston Globe
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.

February 19, 2021 | Full Review…

Ada Hanifin
San Francisco Examiner
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.

February 19, 2021 | Full Review…

Robert Ford
Austin American-Statesman
It is one of 1939's brightest entertainments, a gay, rollicking, tuneful frolic in which Mr. Mickey Rooney nominates himself for president, vice president, secretary and treasurer of the Screen Actors Guild. The kid's magnificent.

February 19, 2021 | Full Review…

Harold V. Cohen
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
It may not be art, in fact no one pretends that it is, but the people who know they like Mickey must think of him hereafter as the nearest thing to a universal genius the screen has yet unveiled.

February 19, 2021 | Full Review…

Jay Carmody
Washington Star
Nobody will be surprised to learn that Babes in Arms, the new Judy Garland-Mickey Rooney co-starring vehicle... is thoroughly entertaining. Those two lavishly talented youngsters could take the slimmest story and make it seem fresh.

February 12, 2021 | Full Review…

Wesley S. Griswold
Hartford Courant
The Rodgers and Hart musical has two irresistible personalities who can sine and dance and play comically and sweetly in proper order, and even better, we think, than any of the youngsters in the original.

February 12, 2021 | Full Review…

Herbert Cohn
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

View All Critic Reviews (39)

Audience Reviews for Babes in Arms

Aug 12, 2007

I'm not a big fan of the early Mickey Rooney stuff. Yeah yeah. Its cute and sentimental but it just doesn't translate well anymore.

John B Super Reviewer
Apr 04, 2007

let's put on a show!!!

jay n Super Reviewer