Not one of Judy Garland's finest hours. In fact, while none of the film's faults lie with her (she is the reason to see it) 'Little Nellie Kelly' is one of her worst films and one of the few films of hers that is a one-or-two-time watch only.There are good things about 'Little Nellie Kelly'. It is a very competently made film visually, immaculately photographed and the costume and production design are attractive enough. While a couple of them are inconsequential to the story (in a film that is more a comedy drama than a musical), the songs are still very pleasant with a real sense of whimsy, energy and pathos. Coming off best are "Singing in the Rain", "It's a Great Day for the Irish" and "A Pretty Girl Milking Her Cow" (which Garland would send up later on in her life frequently).Best of all is Garland, who is a sheer delight in a sometimes playful but always touchingly sincere performance that shows a lot of maturity compared to her earlier roles. Regarding her singing, as always, praises are endless, beautiful tone, sincere phrasing and musicality, a playful energy and poignant emotion. Douglas McPhail also sings beautifully.Of the cast however, Garland is the only one who either really registers or halfway impresses. McPhail sounds great but lacks charisma as an actor. George Murphy is both bland and stiff, while Charles Winninger has the single most obnoxious character (a type that he played frequently in and specialised in, except all were far more likable than here) of his entire career and he fails to bring any positive attributes whatsoever to it so much so that it jars with everything else and unbalances everything too.'Little Nellie Kelly's' script is also weak, too much excessive corn and cutesiness and the mawkish sentimentality also gets too much. The characters, with the sole exception of Garland (which is testament to how good a performer she was) are stereotypes that are either passive in accepting the grandfather's mistreatment of everybody or annoying to an unbearable degree with the grandfather coming out on top. Story-wise, it shines with Garland on screen but falls flat everywhere else, the first portion also drags with a real unsettled feel to almost everything but Garland. The direction is undistinguished.Overall, worth seeing for Garland, the production values and the songs (Garland being the best thing about it) but with everything else not coming off well 'Little Nellie Kelly' is a near-miss. 4/10 Bethany Cox

When the film begins, Nellie (Judy Garland) is living with her father, Michael (Charles Winninger), in Ireland. Inexplicably, Michael is against Nellie marrying Jerry Kelly (George Murphy)--and the reason for this is never explained in the film. Soon after Jerry and Nellie marry, they head to America--and Michael follows (even though he vowed never to leave Ireland). Then, Michael moves in with them--though this makes no sense. Michael refuses to talk to Jerry and is a nasty old b--, I mean, 'jerk'. Later, Nellie dies during childbirth--and still Michael won't talk to Jerry---yet he continues to live with him! The child, also called Nellie, grows up to be...Judy Garland!! Yes, Judy plays both her mother and daughter--a bad Hollywood cliché. And, during all this time, STILL Michael won't talk to Jerry--yet is allowed to live with them. Considering all the divisiveness caused by Michael, the film made no sense--Jerry SHOULD have thrown the old jerk out long ago. Oh, and did I mention that Michael refuses to get a job and doesn't work for decades?! Overall, he's a terribly written and completely unsympathetic character who seemed to take pleasure in ruining his daughter's and granddaughter's lives. He really needed to be written better--a serious weakness in the film AND people in the film shouldn't have put up with his abusiveness. He should have been written as a lovable grouch--instead he comes off as a nasty creep who you want to see get hit by a bus or beaten to death by all the people this nightmare of a character insults during the course of the film!!! It's a shame because Winninger's boorish character completely overpowers Garland's nice performance. At only 18, she is very poised--especially when playing the mother. And, while I didn't love the song selection, she did a great job. This film didn't seem to hurt her career any--but it SHOULD have been a much better showcase for her amazing talents, not a showcase for poor writing and a hateful character.By the way, although it didn't hurt the film any, George Murphy's Irish accent was amazingly absent. With a name like Murphy, you'd have thought he could have done better. Additionally, on a sad note, Judy's love interest later in the film, Dennis (Douglas McPhail), killed himself just a few years after making this picture. He had an incredible voice.

Irish-accented Judy Garland (as Nellie) ignores the objections of lazy father Charles Winninger (as Michael "Mike" Noonan) and marries ambitious George Murphy (as Jerry Kelly). The trio immigrate to the United States and become citizens. The years pass quickly and center stage switches to identical singing daughter "Nellie" (also played by Ms. Garland). She is attracted to Irish import Douglas McPhail (as Dennis Fogarty). History repeats itself when Mr. Winninger strongly objects to granddaughter Garland's courtship...For most of this film, Winninger's character displays an intense hatred for his son-in-law. His other traits include laziness and drunkenness. This character is so relentlessly unflattering, the hopeful ending does not count for much. There is little Winninger can do with the script, but he manages. The real main attraction is Garland, who gets to emote and sing. Her incredible voice shines throughout, but especially on the amazing highlight "A Pretty Girl Milking Her Cow" and the MGM standard "Singin' in the Rain".***** Little Nellie Kelly (11/22/40) Norman Taurog ~ Judy Garland, Charles Winninger, George Murphy, Douglas McPhail

Judy Garland was a sensation in THE WIZARD OF OZ and BABES IN ARMS--but in 1940 she was eighteen years old, and LITTLE NELLY KELLY finds her in transition between the child star she was and the adult star she would become.Based on a George M. Cohan play, the film offers Garland a double role: first as Irish-born Nelly Kelly and later as her teenage daughter, "Little" Nelly Kelly. The storyline is sentimental. Against father Charles Winninger's wishes, Mother Garland marries George Murphy and leaves Ireland for America--with her stubborn and ill-tempered father in tow. After becoming an American citizen, she dies in childbirth (Garland's only death scene, and she plays it very well), leaving possessive grandfather and police officer husband to wangle over the future of daughter Garland.The first portion of the film is the weakest, with neither Garland nor Murphy entirely at home with their Irish accents; another flaw is the fact that Winninger's irascible grandfather eventually becomes a shade too obnoxious to fully engage our sympathies and Murphy is none-too-convincing in old-age make-up. Although not a musical per se, the real highlight of the film are Garland's few songs, which include "A Pretty Girl Milking Her Cow," "A Great Day for the Irish," and an elaborate staging of "Singin' In The Rain." Although she still shows traces of the affectations forced upon her in previous films by director Busby Berkley, she performs both her numbers and her scenes with a playfulness and sincerity that is quite charming.Although expertly made, LITTLE NELLY KELLY is essentially an inexpensive programmer designed to test Garland's potential as an adult actress--a test which she clearly passes. But the film is so greatly overshadowed by both her earlier and later achievements that it is negligible in both her cannon and the musical genre as a whole, and as such will be of interests more to Garland completest than to casual viewers. Recommended for hardcore fans only.Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer