I Could Go On Singing (1963)

Thefemale chorus onstage, played by boys A heavy drama about a fading entertainer a little too dependent on booze and medication, a stuffy English man, and their son. Judy Garland plays herself, and Dirk Bogarde is suitably gloomy as the father. The son was born out of wedlock and adopted by Bogarde's character, his natural father. The boy is now 15 and his mother wants him back -- to gratify her own feelings.

With those two big-name actors, the film should have been a success, but the dull plot, the slow pace of the action, and the introspective performance by Garland killed it stone dead.

The son, Matt, was played by Gregory Phillips. He is at an English all-boys boarding school, and there is a school performance of the Gilbert & Sullivan operetta, HMS Pinafore. We see the scene A British Tar which in the film has the chorus of sisters, cousins and aunts on stage as well as the sailors. All the female parts are played by schoolboys.


Matt and two others performing Matt (left) evidently has a starring role as Josephine, the Captain's daughter (and the female romantic lead character).


Matt singing and being held by the male lead The plot of HMS Pinafore follows the destiny of an Able Seaman, Ralph Rackstraw, who aspires to wed the Captain's daughter; here Ralph is holding Matt's shoulder in a chorus. Judy Garland's character remarks later how pretty Matt looks.


Little Buttercup Another boy is playing the character female role of Little Buttercup, a bumboat woman.


Matt receives a bouquet from the headmaster This chorus is apparently the end of the performance, and the curtain closes. Everyone takes their bows. Two boys playing sailors are given awards by the headmaster; they look like books. But then the boy playing Buttercup gets an award - it's a bouquet of flowers; and next Matt gets a bouquet too.

HF January 2006


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