I Could Go On Singing

***I Could Go On Singing*** is a 1963 movie starring Judy Garland and Dirk Bogarde. It was Garland's last movie. It was not a huge box office success, but it won Garland much praise for her performance. In Bogarde's autobiographies and in the 2004 biography, it is written that Judy Garland's lines were substantially rewritten by Bogarde (with Garland's consent).

## Plot

Judy Garland plays a superstar singer named Jenny Bowman. She had met a man 15–16 years before. He is now a prominent physician, played by British actor Dirk Bogarde. They had a child whom she let his father raise in England. Jenny wants to finally see him, but in the end is left to her true home, the stage. Originally titled _The Lonely Stage_, it was renamed _I Could Go On Singing_, so that audiences would know it was the first time Garland sang in a movie since _A Star Is Born_ in 1954.

## Cast

- Judy Garland as Jenny Bowman
- Dirk Bogarde as David Donne
- Jack Klugman as George Kogan
- Gregory Phillips as Matt
- Aline MacMahon as Ida
- Pauline Jameson as Miss Plimpton
- Jeremy Burnham as Hospital surgeon
- Lorna Luft as girl on boat
- Joey Luft as boy on boat

## Music

All songs performed by Judy Garland.

- _I Am the Monarch of the Sea_ (Judy Garland and Boys) from _H.M.S. Pinafore_  by Gilbert and Sullivan
- _Hello Bluebird_, words and music by Cliff Friend
- _It Never Was You_, Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson
- _By Myself_, Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz
- _I Could Go On Singing_, Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg

## Movie reviews

"Either you are or you aren't - a Judy Garland fan that is. And if you aren't, forget about her new movie, _I Could Go On Singing_, and leave the discussion to us devotees. You'll see her in close-up...in beautiful, glowing Technicolor and striking staging in a vibrant, vital performance that gets to the essence of her mystique as a superb entertainer. Miss Garland is - as always - real, the voice throbbing, the eyes aglow, the delicate features yielding to the demands of the years - the legs still long and lovely. Certainly the role of a top-rank singer beset by the loneliness and emotional hungers of her personal life is not an alien one to her..."
- _Judith Crist_, _The New York Herald Tribune_

"3 stars...Judy Garland is back on screen in a role that might have been custom-tailored for her particular talents. A new song, _I Could Go On Singing_, provides her with a little clowning, a chance to be gay, a time for wistfulness, an occasion for tears. She and Dirk Bogarde play wonderfully well together, even though the script itself insists on their being mismatched..."
- _Dorothy Masters_, _The New York Daily News_

## Soundtrack and video/DVD releases

It was released on video in 1989, and on DVD in 2004. The soundtrack album was released at the time of the original movie release, and appeared on CD in 2002 along with the Garland album _That's Entertainment!_

## Other websites

- The Judy Garland Online Discography "I Could Go On Singing" pages.

## Infobox (movie)

- **name**: I Could Go On Singing
- **writer**: Robert Dozier (story),
 Mayo Simon (screenplay),
 Dirk Bogarde (uncredited)
- **cinematography**: Arthur Ibbetson, BSC
- **starring**: Judy Garland,
 Dirk Bogarde,
 Jack Klugman,
 Gregory Phillips
- **director**: Ronald Neame
- **producer**: Stuart Millar,
 Lawrence Turman
- **distributor**: **1963-1981**
 United Artists
**1981-present**
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
- **released**: March 1963
- **runtime**: 99 min.
- **language**: English