Review of Judy Garland: Duets

Introduction

Judy Garland is a name that is synonymous with The Wizard of Oz. Filmed at the age of 16 though, it`s certainly not the only string to her bow. She was also a singing star who released 13 albums and an Oscar nominated actress for both A Star Is Born (1954) and Judgement At Nuremburg (1962).

In 1964, CBS paid Garland an estimated $24 million for a weekly show called, oddly enough, The Judy Garland Show. It only ran for 26 episodes though, running opposite Bonanza, although it was critically acclaimed at the time.

Someone somewhere has now deemed it a great idea to collect together a number of duets, presumably all taken from the above mentioned show, and put them together in one hour long package that features Garland singing with some of the biggest names in showbiz at the time.

Ending with her daughter Liza Minelli, Garland also duets with Count Basie, Mel Torme, Bobby Darin, Lena Horne, Barbara Streisand, Ethel Merman, Tony Bennett, Jack Jones, Frank Sinatra & Dean Martin (together), Mickey Rooney and Peggy Lee.

Video

It`s all black and white footage, some of it in much better condition than others. No noticeable artefacts, although there is the occasional glitch in the picture - although this is understandable given the age and doesn`t spoil the overall performances.

Audio

MPEG soundtrack, no subtitles.

Features

Nothing.

Conclusion

I`m clearly not the target audience for this release, this is for fans of Garland`s work and as such not something I would ever be tempted at picking up. It`s a combination of swing and musical tunes, easy listening stuff really, so whilst it`s clearly for fans of a certain ear, it`s not so painful for the rest of us either. I watched it with some vague disinterest and found that I actually liked some of the performances and songs here. It`s clear that Garland loved performing with some of the singers here as she loses concentration momentarily on a number of occasions to break into a quick laugh.

The title is slightly misleading, as the performance with Count Basie is clearly not a duet, rather an accompaniment. Still, that`s just being picky and the performance with him and his band is pretty good so it would have been a shame not to include it here on a technicality. My favourite performances, for a genre I`m particularly enamoured with, were Mel Torme, Bobby Darin and a very fresh faced Barbara Streisand (prior to earning mega-bucks…).

As with most DVDs of this ilk, run time lasts for about an hour, which feels a little short when you consider just how much material must be out there and the scope of the format for more material. One thing I did notice though is that it looks exceedingly similar (right down to almost identical artwork) of a 2005 DVD release through a different studio. So if you`re a massive Garland fan, you may just have this already…