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.

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

George M. Cohan's famous musical comedy of the early 1900's became Judy Garland's first young adult movie role after her role as pre-teenager Dorothy Gale in "The Wizard of Oz". It was also her best role and best performance, second to "Oz", prior to "Meet Me in St. Louis". The story tells of a feisty young Irish lass, Nellie Noonan, who falls in love with a handsome Irish cop, Jerry Kelly (George Murphy), then moves to America. Her pig-headed Irish father, Mike Noonan (Charles Winnger), follows, in spite of the fact that he hated seeing his beautiful little girl get married and leave him. When Nellie gives birth to a little girl, tragedy strikes, leaving Jerry and Mike to pick up the pieces and raise Little Nellie Kelly together. Little Nellie is equally as feisty as her mother, but is modernized and very American. She has the affection of many local boys, most especially Dennis Fogarty (Douglas MacPhail), a clean-cut young lad who has the approval of Jerry, but not Grandfather Mike who wants to keep Nellie all to himself. Nellie triumphs by singing in the St. Patrick's Day Parade, and later at a huge party.During her teenage years, perky Judy Garland appeared mostly opposite the sometimes too energetic Mickey Rooney; MGM always seemed to consider her not as glamorous as their other young stars, Ann Rutherford and Lana Turner, but in "Little Nellie Kelly", she is the epitome of confidence and youthful joy and happiness. There are no down-putting ballads here, like "In Between", "I'm Nobody's Baby", and "But Not For Me" from the Rooney films. For example, as the older Nellie Kelly, she delivers a very poignant "A Pretty Girl Milking Her Cow", later reprised by the younger Nellie in a swing version. In the St. Patrick's Day parade, she leads the chorus in the production number "It's a Great Day For the Irish!" with a confidence her characters lacked in the Rooney films. Then, at the party, she sings a swinging version of the decade old standard "Singin' in the Rain", with special introduction lyrics added just for Judy. Later, Judy herself is serenaded by her admirers in the George M. Cohan song from the original show, "Nellie Kelly, I Love You!". While it is obvious that the play's story was somewhat altered to modernize it for the early 40's, it still retains Cohan's charm. Judy also lost the nervous gestures she was forced to use in the Rooney films and acts with grace and confidence.Charles Winninger is amusing as the lovable but hard-hearted grandfather, especially in a sequence where he stirs up a union struggle when Little Nellie tries to get him to work at a construction site; George Murphy goes from young romantic hero to proud and loving father without blinking an eye; The future senator is totally at ease here, and is quite likable. Douglas MacPhail went from second lead in "Babes in Arms" to Garland's love interest, singing "Nellie Kelly, I Love You" with his surprisingly mature deep voice. The rest of the cast is fine too, in much smaller roles, most notably familiar character actress Almira Sessions in the brief role of baby Nellie's nurse.

"Little Nellie Kelly" is a huge burst of Irish pride, filmed in glorious black and white. Judy Garland plays the double role of Nellie Kelly Sr. and Nellie Kelly Jr. Nelly Kelly and her husband, whom she married against her father's wishes, decide to move to America, despite their deep love for Ireland. Nellie's father follows them over, though he hardly says a word to Jerry (the husband), he lives off of them. Not long after settling in New York, Nelly has a child but dies soon after the labor. After a tear jerking performance, we see a charming montage of the baby Nellie growing up into a pretty seventeen year old.Though husband and father never stop their fighting, with both Nellies acting as referee, the family is fine until Nellie becomes interested in boys. The incidents that take place after that are mostly centered around getting the grandpa to grow up and forget his stubborness. This was Judy's first true "grown-up" role -- she plays it to the hilt, giving two incredibly sweet renditions of an old Irish folk song, "A Pretty Girl Milking her Cow," once as the original Nellie, and again as the young Nellie -- with lots of Garland swing. There are so many fantastic performances here.It's an absolutely delightful film -- a real joy to see young Judy in what most consider her prime. The rest of the cast, despite a few sketchy versions of Irish accents, positively shines. The plot itself is better than most musicals -- much thought is given to the immigrant experience -- more than you'd expect from a musical.Though the movie is out-of-print, it's well worth a rental -- happy hunting!