Stanley Kramer directed and produced the 1961 American epic courtroom drama film Judgment at Nuremberg, which starred Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Maximilian Schell, Werner Klemperer, Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland, William Shatner, and Montgomery Clift. The film is set in Nuremberg, Germany, in 1948, and shows a dramatized version of the Judges' Trial of 1947, one of the 12 US Nuremberg Military Tribunals held before the US military.

Although Judgment at Nuremberg is not the most memorable Garland picture or performance, the 1961 Stanley Kramer courtroom drama would not have been nearly as good without Garland's Oscar-nominated supporting performance as Irene Hoffmann. Her testimony becomes one of the most significant in the film, which is partially based on true events. It's an excellent supporting performance and an intriguing look at Garland's career trajectory by the 1960s. It may not be the definitive Garland picture, but it is undeniably one of her greatest.

Detailed information:

Directed by: Stanley Kramer

Release date: December 14, 1961

Link to watch: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055031

The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film directed by Frank Capra and produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The film is an adaptation of L. Frank Baum's 1900 children's fantasy novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and stars Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley, Billie Burke, and Margaret Hamilton. It was primarily directed by Victor Fleming (who left the production to take over the troubled Gone with the Wind), and it stars Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley, Billie Burke, and The script was written by Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, and Edgar Allan Woolf, while others contributed uncredited. Harold Arlen composed the songs, which were penned by Edgar "Yip" Harburg. Herbert Stothart wrote the musical score and incidental music.

While she is never greater than in Meet Me in St. Louis, it's difficult to picture a period when Garland's most renowned part was not The Wizard of Oz. Her breakthrough performance was as Dorothy Gale in one of the most iconic films of all time. It's difficult to imagine someone not immediately conjuring up images of her from classic fantasy. It's also for good cause. Dorothy was a natural fit for Garland, who offered sweetness and innocence to the part, as well as a feeling of care and adventure. Not to add that her rendition of "Over the Rainbow" is widely regarded as the Oscars' most celebrated Best Original Song winner.

Detailed information:

Directed by: Victor Fleming

Release date: August 25, 1939

Link to watch: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032138

Metro-Goldwyn-1944 Mayer's American Christmas musical film Meet Me in St. Louis. It tells the tale of a year in the lives of the Smith family in St. Louis leading up to the opening of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition (better widely known as the World's Fair) in the spring of 1904. It is divided into a series of seasonal vignettes, beginning with Summer 1903. Judy Garland, Margaret O'Brien, Mary Astor, Lucille Bremer, Tom Drake, Leon Ames, Marjorie Main, June Lockhart, and Joan Carroll feature in the picture.

One of the most iconic musicals of all time is Garland's debut film with Minnelli. Meet Me in St. Louis narrates the narrative of one year in the Smiths' lives through a sequence of vignettes that correspond to each season, and the story is riveting and emotional, to say the least. Garland gives one of her greatest performances as Esther Smith, a figure who effortlessly switches between heartbreaking and fun-loving. "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", perhaps one of the most iconic numbers in musical history and an all-time favorite holiday song, would be enough to propel this film to the top three of the list.

Detailed information:

Directed by: Vincente Minnelli

Release date: November 22, 1944

Link to watch: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037059

A Star Is Born is a 2018 American musical romantic drama film directed and produced by Bradley Cooper (in his directorial debut), with a screenplay written by Cooper, Eric Roth, and Will Fetters. It stars Cooper, Lady Gaga, Dave Chappelle, Andrew Dice Clay, and Sam Elliott and tells the story of an alcoholic artist (Cooper) who meets and falls in love with a young vocalist (Gaga). After the original 1937 American musical, the 1954 American musical, and the 1976 American musical, this is the fourth cinematic adaptation of the plot. In April 2017, principal photography started at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

The narrative of A Star Is Born has been told many times in Hollywood, but the 1954 version is certainly one of Garland's defining roles. She played Esther against James Mason's Norman in this rendition. The rest of Hollywood history is well-known. Garland's first collaboration with Warner Brothers was flavored with longing, determination, and redemption. It resulted in her receiving a Golden Globe award and an Oscar nomination, both of which she richly deserved.

Detailed information:

Directed by: Bradley Cooper

Release date: August 31, 2018

Link to watch: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1517451

Easter Parade is a 1948 American Technicolor musical film starring Judy Garland, Fred Astaire, Peter Lawford and Ann Miller. The music by Irving Berlin includes some of Astaire and Garland's best-known songs, including "Easter Parade", "Steppin' Out with My Baby", and "We're a Couple of Swells".

Judy Garland will always be remembered for her work in musicals. In 1948, for example, one of her best parts was in Easter Parade, directed by Charles Walters. Garland is enthralling as Hannah Brown in the pastel, beautiful affair. Easter Parade, which included Garland, Fred Astaire, and lyricist Irving Berlin, was one of the 1940s' biggest hits. Obviously, the title song is wonderful, but Garland's delivery of "I Want to Go Back to Michigan" is one of the film's more underappreciated moments.

Detailed information:

Directed by: Charles Walters

Release date: June 30, 1948

Link to watch: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040308

The Clock (UK title Under the Clock) is a 1945 American romantic drama film starring Judy Garland and Robert Walker and directed by Garland's future husband, Vincente Minnelli. This was Garland's first dramatic role, as well as her first starring vehicle in which she did not sing.

Only Vincente Minnelli, the musical genius who would become Garland's husband in 1945, was a more prolific director than Busby Berkeley. Was it also in 1945? The Clock is the couple's second film together. Garland played Alice Mayberry in The Clock, a relatively passive figure in Garland's repertoire who alternated between being down on her luck and greatly sought after. It's a fairly decent picture that helped propel Garland's career beyond the realm of pure musicality.

Detailed information:

Directed by: Vincente Minnelli

Release date: May 25, 1945

Link to watch: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2008009

Summer Stock is a 1950 American Technicolor musical film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed by Charles Walters, stars Judy Garland and Gene Kelly, and features Eddie Bracken, Gloria DeHaven, Marjorie Main, and Phil Silvers. Nicholas Castle Sr. was the choreographer.

Garland re-teamed with Gene Kelly for the lavish and plain magnificent musical Summer Stock in 1950, her final picture for MGM. The production was difficult, but the end effect is deep. Garland played Jane Falbury, a farm owner who is forced to put her hospitality abilities to the test when an entire theatrical team requires a venue for performance rehearsals. The picture is wonderful and entertaining, but the most breathtaking scene is when Garland sings "Friendly Star" while the camera pans to Gene Kelly's Joe Ross, who is secretly listening with fondness.

Detailed information:

Directed by: Charles Walters

Release date: August 31, 1950

Link to watch: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043012

Abby Mann's 1963 American drama picture A Child Is Waiting is based on his 1957 Westinghouse Studio One teleplay of the same name. Stanley Kramer produced the picture, which was directed by John Cassavetes. Burt Lancaster plays the head of a governmental facility for mentally ill and emotionally troubled youngsters, while Judy Garland plays a new teacher who questions his methods.

Garland, no matter what century she worked in, always understood how to collaborate with outstanding filmmakers. She found her way to John Cassavetes for the last film role of her career, Jean Hansen in 1963's A Child Is Waiting, after making an on-screen return. Garland had aged nicely into the part by that time in her career. There was almost an agonizing, ironic, "what could have been" tone to the picture as a teacher whose heartfelt approaches affect the course of many lives.

Detailed information:

Directed by: John Cassavetes

Release date: January 11, 1963

Link to watch: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056930

Robert Z. Leonard directed the 1949 American Technicolor musical film In the Good Old Summertime. Judy Garland, Van Johnson, and S.Z. Sakall star. The film is a musical remake of Ernst Lubitsch's 1940 film The Shop Around the Corner, which starred James Stewart, Margaret Sullavan, and Frank Morgan and was scripted by Miklós László, based on his 1937 play Parfumerie. The setting has been altered from 1930s Budapest to turn-of-the-century Chicago in In the Good Old Summertime, but the storyline remains the same. The concept was also reprised in Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan's 1998 film You've Got Mail.

Garland was linked to MGM for the majority of her career, and another Technicolor musical from that era paired her with Van Johnson for 1949's In the Good Old Summertime. The general story of the film is also best known as being based on The Shop Around the Corner and the half-century-later film, You've Got Mail. Garland and Johnson have adequate chemistry together, even though the fact that she is the clear star of Veronica Fisher. Notably, Liza Minnelli, Garland's three-year-old daughter, made her cinematic debut in this picture.

Detailed information:

Directed by: Robert Z. Leonard

Release date: July 29, 1949

Link to watch: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041507

For Me and My Gal is a 1942 American musical film directed by Busby Berkeley and starring Judy Garland, Gene Kelly (in his film debut), George Murphy, Martha Eggerth, and Ben Blue. The screenplay was written by Richard Sherman, Fred F. Finklehoffe, and Sid Silvers, based on Howard Emmett Rogers' narrative, which was inspired by a true story of vaudeville actors Harry Palmer and Jo Hayden after Palmer was enlisted into World War I. The picture was produced by MGM's Arthur Freed team.

Garland worked frequently with Busby Berkeley, the bombastic, visual language-defining director from MGM's old generation, and Gene Kelly, a song-and-dance guy like no other. In 1942, the trio teamed up for a terrific picture, For Me and My Gal, even if it wasn't the best of any coupling.

For Me and My Gal, released in the midst of World War II, looked to how vaudeville worked during World War I for a then-contemporary connection between entertainment and world battles. As Jo Hayden, Garland performed admirably as the film's protagonist.

Detailed information:

Directed by: Busby Berkeley

Release date: October 21, 1942

Link to watch: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034746