Babes in Arms (1939) on Netflix
Mickey Moran, whose vaudeville parents plan to tour without him, rallies the kids to stage their own show. Patsy Barton sings his songs, and a child movie star wants her part.
- Netflix3.8/5
- IMDb6.3/103,102 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes90%
Trailer
Plot summary
Joe Moran, a vaudeville performer, welcomes a son, Mickey, in 1921, but talking pictures end the family's stage career. Grown up, Mickey writes songs and Patsy Barton sings them; when his parents Joe and Florrie plan to tour without the children, Mickey objects and proposes that the youngsters put on a show of their own. Martha Steele complains to Judge Black that the vaudeville children are neglected and wants them sent to a workhouse, though the judge refuses to remove them from their homes. After Mickey tells the judge that his parents' show flopped, he is given 30 days to pay damages. At a drugstore Mickey and Patsy meet the child movie star Baby Rosalie Essex, and Mickey wants her in the show, which needs $287. Rosalie offers to put up the money.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Babes in Arms (1939)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Babes in Arms originally included a finale segment in which Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland lampooned President Franklin D. Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. MGM cut it after Roosevelt's death for the 1948 reissue, and the scene was thought lost until it turned up on a 16-mm reel and was restored in the 1990s.
- Mickey Rooney was 19 when he was nominated for Best Actor for Babes in Arms, making him the second-youngest Best Actor nominee. The film's other Academy Award nomination went to Roger Edens and Georgie Stoll for Best Music, Scoring.
- Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown wrote the song "Good Morning" for Babes in Arms; it later became a musical number in Singin' in the Rain.
- Babes in Arms was the first film that choreographer Busby Berkeley directed in its entirety at MGM, where it was made by the Arthur Freed unit.
- The musical numbers in Babes in Arms were recorded in stereophonic sound but sent to theaters in conventional monaural sound; some of the original stereo recordings appear on recent home-video releases.
