Listen, Darling (1938)

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Two of MGM's top juvenile stars, Judy Garland and Freddie Bartholomew, team up for the otherwise unremarkable Listen, Darling. The story gets rolling when widowed Dotty Wingate (Mary Astor) decides to remarry for the sake of her children Pinkie (Garland) and Billie (Scotty Beckett). To prevent her… More Two of MGM's top juvenile stars, Judy Garland and Freddie Bartholomew, team up for the otherwise unremarkable Listen, Darling. The story gets rolling when widowed Dotty Wingate (Mary Astor) decides to remarry for the sake of her children Pinkie (Garland) and Billie (Scotty Beckett). To prevent her mother from making this fateful move, Pinkie and her best pal Buzz (Bartholomew) conspire to "kidnap" Dotty by convincing her to take a cross-country motor trip. En route, the vacationers make the acquaintance of lawyer Richard Thurlow (Walter Pidgeon). Immediately altering her plan, Pinkie decides that Thurlow would make a perfect stepfather, and the rest of the film is devoted to the zany methods implemented by the kids to bring Thurlow and Dottie together. Early in the proceedings, Judy Garland sings "Zing Went the Strings of My Heart", easily the film's most memorable moment. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi