The woman who nearly got away returned in this musical remake of William Wellman’s 1937 melodrama. Garland’s off-screen troubles cost her four years of screentime.

Here, she executed a comeback as keen as Katharine Hepburn’s in The Philadelphia Story, one that seems fittingly cut through by the emotional scars incurred by drug problems and suicide attempts.

Pouring wounded body and soul into Lester, she made melodrama look meaty – proving herself, in David Thomson’s words, “as the actress with the surest intuition of the drama in musicals.”

Greatest Moment: “Suddenly you’re older...” Belting out ‘The Man That Got Away’ like she means it.

Also See: Dorothy (The Wizard Of Oz), Esther Smith (Meet Me In St Louis).