Movies The 8 best Judy Garland movies to stream for her 100th birthday In honor of Judy Garland's centennial, we've rounded up the best titles you can stream right now. By Maureen Lee Lenker Maureen Lee Lenker Maureen Lee Lenker is a senior writer at Entertainment Weekly with over seven years of experience in the entertainment industry. An award-winning journalist, she's written for Turner Classic Movies, Ms. Magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, and more. She's worked at EW for six years covering film, TV, theater, music, and books. The author of EW's quarterly romance review column, "Hot Stuff," Maureen holds Master's degrees from both the University of Southern California and the University of Oxford. Her debut novel, It Happened One Fight, is now available. Follow her for all things related to classic Hollywood, musicals, the romance genre, and Bruce Springsteen. EW's editorial guidelines Published on June 10, 2022 10:00AM EDT Today, Judy Garland would have celebrated her 100th birthday. The silver-screen star, whose singular voice made her an icon, has been gone for more than 50 years, but she remains one of the most enduring movie legends to have lived. Despite her tragically young death at 47, Garland built a remarkable and hefty résumé that includes all-time classics, moving dramas, and backstage musicals. Silver Screen Collection/Hulton Archive/Getty Born Frances Ethel Gumm on June 10, 1922, Garland was a performer almost before she could walk, joining her vaudevillian family onstage for the first time at the age of two. As a teenager, she channeled that stage-trained ethos and her distinctive voice into a screen career, making an indelible mark as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. But Garland did so much more beyond that role. She's getting plenty of showcases this month in honor of her centennial (including being Turner Classic Movies' June star of the month). If you want to mark the occasion with a Garland film or two, here are the best titles to watch that are currently streaming. 01 of 08 Babes in Arms (1939) — The Criterion Channel Metro-Goldwyn-Metro/Getty Garland spent much of her teen years and early twenties starring opposite Mickey Rooney in light musicals and romances. Babes in Arms was their second film together, and the most memorable of the bunch: a classic tale of youngsters trying to put on a show. Directed by Busby Berkeley, it features Rooney and Garland singing a slew of standards, including "Good Morning," "You Are My Lucky Star," and "I'm Just Wild About Harry." Rooney is Mickey and Garland is Patsy, two kids with Broadway dreams determined to prove their parents wrong. Viewers should be aware this film contains a sequence that features Rooney and Garland in blackface. That racist segment aside, it's a showcase for all the ways Rooney and Garland made a memorable duo. 02 of 08 The Wizard of Oz (1939) – HBO Max MGM Studios/Getty Odds are you've probably seen this Technicolor marvel at least a dozen times (and if you've never seen it, get to it faster than you can click your heels together three times). There's no denying that it's Garland's most famous role — and with good reason. Already a rising ingenue, Garland became a true movie star as Dorothy Gale, a Kansas farm girl who yearns to go over the rainbow; she finds her life upended when a tornado lands her in the fantasy land of Oz. Garland lent Dorothy a vulnerability that remains the beating heart of the movie over 80 years later. Whether it's her subtle, lovely delivery of "Over the Rainbow" or the ache in her voice when she proclaims, "There's no place like home," it's clear that Garland's power is greater than any wizard's, good witch or bad. 03 of 08 For Me and My Gal (1942) — The Criterion Channel Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/Getty This marked Garland and Gene Kelly's debut as a screen duo (and his first film ever). They star as performers Jo Hayden and Harry Palmer. Tapping into Garland's own vaudeville roots, the film explores their complex relationship as they dream of making it big. When Harry gets drafted into World War I, he smashes his hand in an attempt to stay home and keep performing with Jo. But after learning the truth of what he's done, she wants nothing to do with him. This was the then 19-year-old Garland's first adult role, giving her scenes of juicy dramatic heft (which she worked on with famous acting coach Stella Adler), and it kickstarted a lifelong friendship and professional collaboration between Kelly and Garland. 04 of 08 Meet Me In St. Louis (1944) — HBO Max and The Criterion Channel Silver Screen Collection/Getty A holiday staple, Meet Me in St. Louis follows the Smith family at the turn of the 20th century as the World's Fair comes to St. Louis, promising adventure, innovation, and excitement. Made in the midst of World War II, the film is a thinly veiled allegory for the challenges of keeping the American family together in the face of great change. Garland cited this role as the first time she truly felt beautiful on screen (she even married director Vincente Minnelli after falling in love while making it). As Esther Smith, she's got a crush on the boy next door, John (Tom Drake), whose very presence makes her heartstrings go zing zing zing. Most famously, this was the origin of Christmas standard, "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." Garland's rendition is sterling and unmatchable. 05 of 08 The Clock (1945) — The Criterion Channel Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/Getty While the vast majority of Garland's most notable roles were musicals, we have a soft spot for this heartfelt wartime drama. Garland requested to make this picture, worn out from the grueling production schedules of singing and dancing on screen. She stars as Alice, a young woman who meets a soldier on leave when he breaks the heel of her shoe in New York City's Penn Station. Co-starring Robert Walker as Joe, the soldier, it's a heartfelt and melancholy little picture about fleeting moments of connection in an unfeeling world. The two end up spending the entire night together, falling in love over a course of misadventures — but Joe still has to go back to the war, and we're left wondering if they will ever see each other again. Garland showcases her dramatic chops here, reminding audiences that her voice wasn't the only powerful tool at her disposal. 06 of 08 The Pirate (1948) — HBO Max and The Criterion Channel Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/Getty This is arguably Garland's most polarizing film, with some disdaining her acting in it, and others eating it up. She stars as Manuela, an engaged young woman who nonetheless dreams of sailing away on adventures with notorious pirate Macoco. When traveling performer Serafin (Gene Kelly) comes to town and learns of her fantasy, he masquerades as Macoco, winning her hand. But what Manuela doesn't know is that her fiancé is the real dastardly pirate, long retired. Garland goes for full farce here, particularly letting loose in a scene where she first seduces Kelly and then hurls anything in the room she can get her hands on in his general direction. It's a moment of genius, employing a level of angst and hysteria that Garland used effectively in both dramas and comedies. Plus, she gets to share Cole Porter musical numbers with Kelly, notably "Be a Clown." 07 of 08 Summer Stock (1950) — The Criterion Channel John Springer Collection/Corbis via Getty Summer Stock was both Garland's last film for MGM and her final picture with Gene Kelly. Garland is Jane, a farm girl whose sister Abigail (Gloria DeHaven) brings her theater troupe home to rehearse. The actors offer to help out with chores to thank Jane for her hospitality, but she doesn't plan on falling for director Joe Ross (Kelly). Though production on this was a particularly challenging time for Garland, it features one of her most iconic numbers, "Get Happy," which she performs in a tuxedo jacket, black nylons, and a fedora in a stunning conclusion to the film. Garland would later make the song an integral part of her repertoire, most famously singing it in a duet mashed up with "Happy Days Are Here Again" with Barbra Streisand on her variety show. 08 of 08 A Star Is Born (1954) — HBO Max Bettmann Archive Many consider this one to be Garland's best performance (and still cite her Oscar loss to Grace Kelly for The Country Girl as one of the most infamous ceremony snubs). This marked Garland's comeback, four years after being let go from her contract at MGM in the midst of her struggles with alcohol and drug addiction. A remake of the 1937 drama transformed into a musical with a soundtrack predominantly featuring tracks by Harold Arlen and Ira Gershwin, A Star Is Born was designed as an acting tour de force for Garland, who'd often felt pigeon-holed in MGM musicals. As rising star Vicki Lester, whose career rises as that of her beloved, Norman Maine (James Mason), flounders, she infuses every ounce of heartache, loss, and trauma from her own life into the performance. The film also makes direct reference to the challenges she faced in Hollywood, including the exhaustive makeovers she was subjected to. If nothing else, put it on and queue up "The Man That Got Away" — perhaps Garland's most revelatory and moving three minutes on screen. Related content: 8 essential Judy Garland movies that aren't The Wizard of Oz Renée Zellweger on becoming Judy Garland and finding the woman inside the legend Meet Me in St. Louis star Margaret O'Brien on filming an iconic Christmas song with Judy Garland