Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2710 in VHS
• Released on: 2002-02-04
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of tapes: 1
• Running time: 134 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows is a TV movie raised above the usual weepy-biopic standard by the Emmy Award-winning performances of Judy Davis and Tammy Blanchard, unusually essaying the same role. Since the project is based on a memoir by Lorna Luft, Judy Garland's "other" daughter, the emphasis is on Garland's rocky post-MGM years, spotlighting marriages, pills and spectacular stage comebacks.

Davis handles the neurotic swoops with authority; when Garland sighs on her birthday, "I'm 47 today--with my life, that makes me 412", you believe her. One thing she can't capture is Garland's onscreen incandescence: Davis's lip-syncing of "The Trolley Song" is expert but joyless. The luminous young Blanchard (who won the supporting actress trophy) has a physical and vocal resemblance to the former Frances Gumm that's often breathtaking, and the Wizard of Oz sequences look like outtakes from the real thing. Too much TV-flick telescoping dooms the movie to sketchiness, but the two main performances are over the rainbow. --Robert Horton, Amazon.com

Synopsis
A dramatisation of the life and work of Judy Garland based on the memoirs of Lorna Luft.

From the Back Cover
Judy Garland was the brightest star in Hollywood's Golden Era and a legend worldwide. But away from the bright lights and brilliant performances, her life was with her family.

Based on the book by Lorna Luft, Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows is the story of Lorna, her half sister Liza Minelli, and baby brother Joem trying desperately to hang on to their legendary mother.

Graland loved her children unconditionally - but she was also the victim of a powerful dependence on alcohol and prescription drugs, which eventually claimed her life.

Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows is a deeply moving testament to the healing powers of embracing one's past, facing one's demons, and charting a course of self-love and discovery.