Little Nellie Kelly (1940) boasts Judy Garland singing "Pretty Girl Milking Her Cow" but is otherwise as bland as unsalted butter. What might have been an OK little MGM film is ruined by the ceaselessly repulsive character played by Charles Winninger. No one could have made this odious daddy palatable. I guess we're supposed to find the character an Irish imp, but instead we' find a shiftless, lying, boasting a-hole drunkard who ran his wife into an early grave, treats his daughter like a plow mule, and uses his granddaughter like a slave ... all for his own selfish purposes. While he despises the George Murphy character as husband/father to the Garland dual role mother/daughter, he sponges off him for 20 years and even stalks them to New York after they bail Ireland. When all else fails, he fakes a heart attack to get his way. His "redemption" in the finale is unbelievable and unsatisfying. Try watching this one without screaming DIE, DIE at the screen.
Co-stars include Arthur Shields, Rita Page, James Burker, Forrester Harvey, Charles Halton, Almira Sessions, Barbara Bedford, George Watts, and the back of John Raitt's head for about 2 seconds (intern in the hospital).
Along with Winninger's irk, we also get the smirk of icky Douglas McPhail as the singing boyfriend.
Co-stars include Arthur Shields, Rita Page, James Burker, Forrester Harvey, Charles Halton, Almira Sessions, Barbara Bedford, George Watts, and the back of John Raitt's head for about 2 seconds (intern in the hospital).
Along with Winninger's irk, we also get the smirk of icky Douglas McPhail as the singing boyfriend.