Judy Garland had no better showcase of her formidable singing and acting talent than as the title “star” of this moving, memorable classic directed by George Cukor. As a band singer discovered and guided to heights of show-business success by an alcoholic ex-matinee idol (James Mason), she performs one superb song after another (most by Harold Arlen and Ira Gershwin) in a production that exhilarates with its craft and style even as its story moves toward a heartbreaking finale.