Whenever I do a music thread or movie thread or something like that, lots of people in the comments say they’d like to see more such threads because it’s such a depressing time politically.
I thought I’d do one on movie musicals. I saw La La Land last night and it’s already one of my favorite movies of all time. It’s my second favorite movie musical, after Singin’ in the Rain, and I think I might like it even better than Singin’ in the Rain. I have to see it again before I decide. My wife and I might see it again tomorrow or the day after. This is a great review of it, though if you know all the movies that the review refers to, you can infer spoilers.
What are your favorite movie musicals of all time?
Villago Delenda Est
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Steve Holmes
Movie musicals: Singing in the Rain
Musicals in general: How To Suceed in Business, I love Frank Leosser’s lyrics
Mnemosyne
I have so many favorites. Just a select sampling:
Gold Diggers of 1933
Top Hat
Swing Time
Singin’ in the Rain
Auntie Mame (the Rosalind Russell version)
Cabaret
Chicago
All That Jazz
Little Shop of Horrors
Beauty and the Beast
Moana
And I could probably name more if we weren’t on our way out the door for Christmas dinner.
DougJ
@Villago Delenda Est:
Love that one too
RobertDSC-Mac Mini
Moulin Rouge works for me.
Yutsano
Mulan.
GregB
The Blues Brothers.
Mnemosyne
Sorry, I forgot to give my standard warning with Swing Time: it does have the now-infamous “Bojangles” dance number with Fred Astaire in light blackface. It’s clearly meant to be a genuine tribute but, um ….
Mnemosyne
@Yutsano:
You need to see Moana. Get off the internet and go now. You will love it.
dmsilev
@RobertDSC-Mac Mini: @Yutsano: Now I’m visualizing a mashup of the two called Mulan Rouge, and I think my head hurts.
Iowa Old Lady
@GregB: Oh god yes
pip
But the songs in LaLaLand are so boring! As are the dances. The cinematography looks like a TV commercial. I kept seeing it alternately try to be like Umbrellas of Cherbourg, like a Gene Kelly fantasy dance sequence, like Moulin Rouge – and always failing. Sorry to disagree. Aside from Umbrellas and Moulin, “Chansons d’Amour” is a great indie musical. And of course “The Music Man,” “My Fair Lady,” “Swing Time” and “Fiddler on the Roof.”
Yutsano
@Mnemosyne: A legacy of its age. I don’t see the need to censor the art just because our sensibilities have changed. I think we learn more by seeing the past in all its ugliness.
Ask me how I feel about school districts censoring Huckleberry Finn.
@dmsilev: It would definitely change the nature of “Honour To Us All”…
Louise B.
The Music Man. So many great songs, and a wonderfully smarmy performance by Robert Preston.
Iowa Old Lady
Also re Disney movies, this is an interesting account of how the first version of Frozen was completely reworked because it looked like a failure waiting to happen.
Josie
@GregB: One of my favorite movies of any kind.
Mustang Bobby
@Mnemosyne: Auntie Mame is great but it’s not a musical. However, the movie version of Mame (the musical) with Lucille Ball is so horrendous that Rosalind Russell’s version wins by default.
My list:
Singin’ in the Rain
Meet Me In St. Louis
Gigi
Show Boat
The Music Man
Cabaret
Fiddler on the Roof
Oklahoma!
Hal
The elephant medley from Moulin Rouge is still one of my faves.
frosty
Two come immediately to mind: Hairspray and Mamma Mia. The first because it’s Baltimore and John Waters and the second because, dammit, as much as I don’t like to admit it, ABBA’s music is really infectious.
hitchhiker
When I was a kid we watched Carousel over and over — just a couple of days ago one of the songs from that show popped into my head while I was in the shower. I heard myself singing those terrible abusive husband lyrics
(What’s the use of wonderin’ if he’s good or if he’s bad, and now’s the time to break and run away? Somethin’ made him the way that he is, whether he’s false or true — and somethin’ gave him the things that are his … one of those things is you.)
It creeps me out beyond description that I can still sing the whole thing with feeling! So, Carousel belongs on the anti-list.
burnspbesq
Does “S.O.B.” count? It’s about making a movie musical.
If not, then “All That Jazz.”
Schlemazel
@dmsilev:
Red Chinese? That movie wouldn’t fly!
I am not a fan of the musical theater but I do like Paint Your Wagon and Cabaret. Being in band in high school I had to sit through dozens of rehearsals & performances of Music Man, Sound of Music and Bye-Bye Birdy. I can almost tolerate Birdy but absolutely hate the other two, familiarity bred contempt.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@GregB: Heh, Cab Calloway and Aretha are so good it’s worth watching Belushi and Ackroyd try to be musical.
Though their Stand By Your Man is pretty good.
MomSense
Have to add An American in Paris for the dream sequence alone.
BGinCHI
The Big Lebowski.
My second favorite musical is Taxi Driver.
ms_canadada
A Mighty Wind
Wizard of Oz
Gigi
Little Shop of horrors
Mama Mia
…way too many to list
(All of them, Katie)
Ninedragonspot
Les Parapluies de Cherbourg.
MomSense
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
My oldest saw the movie when he was a teen and when he saw John Lee Hooker decided he had to be a blues man.
Tehanu
The Band Wagon: Fred Astaire & Cyd Charisse “Dancing in the Dark;” “Triplets” with the glorious Jack Buchanan and Nanette Fabray
A Hard Day’s Night
The Court Jester
Everyone Says I Love You
Yutsano
Also A Chorus Line was a really decent movie adaptation.
Ken Pidcock
I guess A Clockwork Orange doesn’t count.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Mnemosyne: Your list needs more Disney films
Baud
@Iowa Old Lady: Thanks. That was interesting.
trollhattan
First “Producers”
NotMax
In no particular order (not necessarily all stellar movies, focus on memorable musical numbers):
The Wizard of Oz
Fantasia
On the Town
The Gang’s All Here
The Pirates of Penzance
Head
Bells Are Ringing
The Harvey Girls
Oh! What A Lovely War
Reveille With Beverly
1776
Damn Yankees
Call Me Madam
Dames
The First Nudie Musical
Mike G
This is Spinal Tap
Van Buren
Nobody else likes West Side Story?
Chris
“West Side Story.”
The song “America” is probably my all time favorite America-themed song, just for the endless repartee of “look, there’s a LOT of bad” and “look, there’s a lot of good.”
Chris
@Van Buren:
And there it is!
Mike E
@Van Buren: that score is unmatched, in my book. So great, in fact, that a movie version with 2 mediocre leads still soars and brings tears to my eyes each time I watch it.
DougJ
@Ninedragonspot:
La La Land is very similar
Ajabu
I’d go with Bye Bye Birdie (for “Ed Sullivan” alone) and, as a lyricist, I actually appreciate “Put On A Happy Face”. The music from West Side Story is astonishingly good (although Natalie Wood as a Puerto Rican was some weird ass casting) and The Wiz (ditto for Diana Ross as a young teen).
And just to show you how my industry has deteriorated over the years, the Academy Award winning song in 1936 was “The Way You Look Tonight”. In 2006, it was “It’s Hard Out There For A Pimp”. QEmuthafuckinD…
cynthia ackerman
I didn’t get a harumph yet
Lizzy L
Sweeney Todd (The Broadway production)
Into the Woods (with Bernadette Peters)
Rocky Horror Picture Show
Guys and Dolls
Cabaret
Kiss Me Kate
Oklahoma
West Side Story
Patricia Kayden
The Sound of Music
schrodingers_cat
@RobertDSC-Mac Mini: I couldn’t bear to watch it for more than half an hour. I had rather see a Hindi movie than a pale initiation.
Jay Noble
Preparing to duck but “Xanadu”.
When it came out, no-one had done a big movie musical in a while that wasn’t a “Broadway Hit finally comes to the big screen!”
And Gene Kelly.
schrodingers_cat
My Fair Lady and Sound of Music are two of my favorites.
Lizzy L
And one more: Porgy and Bess. (Again, the Broadway production, not the movie.)
NotMax
@schrodingers_cat
The first approximately 20 minutes are practically unbearable. After that, it gets a lot better.
@Jay Noble
Fame was released about the same time.
Bruuuuce
1776
The Court Jester (featuring Hollywood’s greatest sword duel ever)
Victor Victoria
Kiss Me Kate (the London revival captured on stage)
Oklahoma! (with Hugh Jackman, also on stage)
Little Shop of Horrors (best cast of a musical ever — except maybe Victor Victoria?(
Yellow Submarine
Doctor Horrible’s Sing-a-Long Blog
Rocky Horror [Picture] Show
There are two musical shows I would put on the list, if there were any decent versions of them to watch:
Fiddler on the Roof (I’m spoiled. I got to see it on stage with Zero Mostel several times, and the movie both has Topol, who’s okay but not great, and takes liberties I dislike)
Guys and Dolls (Marlon Brando? Hindsight is 20/20, but Robert Alda would have NAILED it, I feel sure. Plus, then they could have left in “My Time of Day”, the best song in the piece.)
Greenergood
Not in any order (and completely disregarding political correctness) but:
Rocky Horror
How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying (esp ‘A Secretary is Not a Toy’) (I know, I’m old ..)
West Side Story
Swing Time
Footlight Parade (esp ‘Honeymoon Hotel’ and ‘Shanghai Lil’)
Cabaret
South Pacific
Sunshine on Leith, cause I’m in the west of Scotland and love the Proclaimers
Happy holidays, folks. Hope your holiday weather is better than here …
Dolly Llama
@GregB: Greg beat me to it. The only music musical I can watch.
Bruuuuce
@Lizzy L: I have and like both versions of Into the Woods, remembering that each was meant for a different medium. Bernadette Peters rocks on stage, but the movie takes advantage of being a film (compare it with the new version of The Producers), using sets and locations and effects to help tell the story. The cast in the new version is excellent, and I always laugh out loud at the poor, poor princes singing “Agony” in the pool.
Bruuuuce
Oof! Forgot Singing in the Rain. Make ’em laugh!
schrodingers_cat
Katyar Kaljat Ghusli (Dagger Pierces the Heart)
Indian movies use music and dance far more liberally than their western counterparts. In fact movies without songs are the exception.
So I will classify those movie as musicals, where music forms an essential part of the story arc/
The Marathi movie, on the rivalry between musical gharanas (houses) based on a Marathi musical by the same name was nothing short of awesome. An excellent introduction to Hindustani Classical music if you are so inclined.
It has the same number, sung in 3 different styles by three different people. Its score includes Marathi, Hindi and Urdu numbers. A prayer to Ganesha as well as a Qawwali dedicated to IIahi (Allah). Its all works and is pretty unselfconscious and not look at me, I ar diverse.
Audio Jukeboxfor Katyar
Florida Frog
A Little Night Music
Into the Woods
1776
Brigadoon
NotMax
Put it on the list, took it off the list, put it back on, took it off again.
Feeling generous, so shall append Li’l Abner to my selections above.
EBT
@Lizzy L: I have a copy of the Lansbury / Hearn production from the early 80s, it’s quite good.
Roger Moore
Oh Brother Where Art Thou
hilts
My favorite show tunes
Comedy Tonight
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtLm9aZZ7yg
Make ‘Em Laugh
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TklrBmHo7Do
Dan
I was recently delighted by Hello, Dolly despite Barbra Streisand being too young for the role.
NotMax
@EBT
It is marvelous. Only downsides are that they didn’t get the actress who originated the role of Johanna and cut the judge’s self-flagellation song..
EBT
It’s not my favorite but several of my friends love Repo! The Genetic Opera.
patrick II
Made in 1968 and starring Fred Astaire and Petula Clark, Finian’s Rainbow is not on anyone’s favorite list that I have heard of — but it is on mine. Perhaps because I was stationed overseas and in need of some cheer, but the movie really brightened my day. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, Finian (Fred Astaire) was an Irishman visiting America carrying a magic gold piece. Music and dancing ensues.
schrodingers_cat
@NotMax: Perhaps I will give it another go on your recommendation.
hilts
@Patricia Kayden:
Nice to see someone else who likes this one.
Of all the movie musicals I’ve, SOM has my favorite opening scene. The visual backdrop for this opening song is simply stunning.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4R462Ro5fqU
My favorite cover version of a show tune:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWG2dsXV5HI
NotMax
@schrodingers_cat
Yeah, Baz Luhrmann too often can be like one of those cymbal-playing monkeys, if it had no off switch.
FlyingToaster (Tablet)
Camelot (I was in the pit on a hs production); for a filmed version check out the HBO Signature version with Richard Harris.
Chess
Sweeney Todd
Suzanne
Goddamnit. Spawn the Elder’s hamster died. On Christmas.
Fuck. This. Year.
khead
Singin’ in the Rain
Grease
The Wiz
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
lollipopguild
@NotMax: Past my Prime=Jubilation T. Cornpone= The country is in the very best of Hands. 1776 has some great songs as well as Bye Bye Birdie.
Emma
Finian’s Rainbow (first music I learned in English was Look to the Rainbow)
Pippin (first live musical)
Jesus Christ Superstar
Anything with Fred and Ginger
A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum
An American in Paris
Damn Yankees
Victor Victoria
And so on and so on….
p.a.
Not really my thing, but Moulin Rouge I did like. My others are ‘musicals’: O Brother, Tommy (isn’t over-the-top production a musical hallmark?), The Producers (musical in a movie). Probably just haven’t forced myself to watch enough of them.
Shell
Been wondering why thats the reason no ones showing ‘Holiday Inn’ this yuletide. The Lincoln’s Birthday segment where everybody is in blackface, performers and waitstaff. Its just jaw dropping unbelievable.
schrodingers_cat
@NotMax: OMG, I had a Teddy Bear that played drums, it made a lot of noise and was battery operated, I loved it but I suspect that my parents would hide it from time to time because it would mysteriously disappear and then reappear.
Shell
Cant really add to the musical list. Im partial to the cast albums my parents had when I was a kid; Camelot, Flower drum song, Cabaret, Gigi.
One unmentioned. The Hollywood version of “Pennies from Heaven” If only for Christopher Walkens dancing. Oh, and Steve Martin kissing a banker when he’s trying to get a loan. (My Baby Said Yes, Yes!)
donnah
Grease
Sound of Music
Singin’ in the Rain
I actually saw the Sound of Music when it first came to theaters, And yes, I’m old. It was such a big deal at the local movie house that they had a big painted wooden sign of Julie Andrews from the opening scene. I was about eight at the time. I just watched it the other night on network TV, but I have a lovely deluxe dvd set.
John Revolta
@Greenergood: Cool story about “Secretary”…………it was originally written as a waltz. Bob Fosse said, “I’ve got an idea for this. Give me (dancer) Gwen Verdon and a piano player and a studio for a couple days”. When they showed Frank Loesser what they’d come up with he said “Crap, it’s brilliant. Now I’m gonna have to rewrite the whole number”.
John Revolta
@FlyingToaster (Tablet): Got to see Richard Fucking Burton in Camelot in about 1980. The guy couldn’t sing much but Lord have mercy.
When he said “For one brief, shiiining moment……” it just about broke yer goddamn heart.
SFBayAreaGal
Gigi
Singin in the Rain
Mary Poppins
Camelot
Showboat
White Christmas
Grease
Sound of Music
South Pacific
Hello Dolly
The Music Man
SFBayAreaGal
@John Revolta: I saw Richard Burton also in Camelot when it was playing in San Francisco. When he first stepped out of the tent and started telling the story of Camelot, goose bumps and chills. He had such a presence on the stage. I am so glad I got to see him as King Arthur. Also Sergio Franco was Lancelot in this production.
germy
La Bamba was a fine musical, with Los Lobos recreating perfectly the music of Ritchie Valens.
germy
@Shell: I preferred the original TV version of Pennies From Heaven, starring Bob Hoskins. I liked the movie version, but there was something magical and tragic about the TV version.
Also made me a fan of Al Bowlly and British dance bands of that period in general.
germy
Hard Day’s Night
(It was called the “Citizen Kane” of juke box musicals)
Florida Frog
@John Revolta: just watched the wonderful video of that number. It is set about 10 years before I entered the engineering workforce and I was shocked at how many secretaries there were. Mr. Frog is a few years older and confirmed that in the 60’s and 70’s there were huge numbers of secretarial jobs most of which no longer exist. Where is the hue and cry for all the poor former secretaries? What presidential candidate is going to promise to bring back typing and filing jobs? I guess women just adjusted better.
germy
Horse Feathers. All four Marx Brothers get to do their version of “Everyone Says I Love You.”
Groucho sings and plays guitar, Zeppo croons it to a college widow (Thelma Todd), Harpo whistles it to a horse, and Chico of course sings and does a rousing piano version.
And who can beat “Whatever it is, I’m against it” (Groucho’s opening number as the new college president)?
Songs and screenplay by the incomparable Kalmar and Ruby.
EBT
https://twitter.com/guypbenson/status/813080419813965824/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Thoroughly Pizzled
South Park: Bigger Longer and Uncut is better than South Pacific.
JJ
Hedwig
satby
Not really a musicals fan, but any of the Rogers/Astaire flicks, Oh Brother, Chicago, Victor/Victoria, White Christmas, Meet Me in St.Louis…
JJ
Quadrophenia
John Revolta
@SFBayAreaGal: “Presence” is indeed the word. It gets used a lot but this guy had it, bigly.
@Florida Frog: I suspect all those jobs have morphed into crappy fast food and retail jobs, at correspondingly crappy salaries. Did secretaries and stenos and typists have unions?
Brachiator
Pennies From Heaven
Grease
All That Jazz
O Brother, Where Art Though
Topsy-Turvy
Flashdance
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
Hard Day’s Night
The Wiz
Caberet
John Revolta
@germy: I love Groucho’s version:
Everyone says I love you
But just what they say it for I never knew
It’s just inviting trouble for the poor sucker who
Says I love you
Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)
George Michael dead at 53: https://t.co/kBI7ScE575
An understated song from back then: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6DxGeEnNYn0
Adrift
@Brachiator: Wanted to reply to your earlier comment to me (and the cat) from a thread below. We are not in the UK we’re in NYC/NJ. We just enjoy the Queen’s Christmas message each year and BBC radio as well. Thank you, internet!
It’s an escape from what’s transpiring here, especially this year. We can pretend we’re an ocean away without leaving the house!
Villago Delenda Est
@Bruuuuce: A good list..Victor Victoria stands out for my primarily for two things: Leslie Ann Warren stealing scenes from good actors, and the absolute hilarity of the “Cockroach” scene.
Villago Delenda Est
@John Revolta: I saw Richard Harris in Camelot in London in 1982. Pretty damn good, but probably not as memorable as Richard Burton belting out tunes.
Brachiator
@Mnemosyne: I still have not seen “Moana.” Is it really that good?
I’ve heard more about the girl power aspects than the overall quality of the film. This is not always a good thing. “Brave,” for my money was tedious and inert despite all the positive messages.
germy
@John Revolta: And Chico’s version about “Christopher Columbo”
A movie was made about Kalmar and Ruby (“Three Little Words”) but I’ve never seen it. They wrote some great songs.
Brachiator
Reports that singer George Michael has died.
2016 tragedies just won’t stop
Florida Frog
@John Revolta: regarding what happened to all the women who used to be secretaries – this might be just my personal bias but I think they looked around at the men they were doing the typing for and thought ” I can do what they do” and off they went. I seem to know quite a few women a few years older than I who started out as secretaries and saw the technological writing on the wall. They bumped their skills up and transitioned into better jobs. I know that isn’t universally true but I don’t think secretaries clung to the idea that they were entitled to keep their exact same job and were more willing to adapt.
Cpl. Cam
South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut.
Adrift
@Brachiator: I just got a Guardian news alert reporting that. Will this horrendous year never end??
Shell
Heavens, what about “Hairspray” The John Waters original movie.
Brachiator
@Adrift:
Very cool.
I listen to BBC news and sometimes BBC Radio 4, but I didn’t know which station carried the speech.
scottinnj
The original animated vesion of “Beauty & The Beast” is an excellent overall musical. Not sure how I feel about the upcoming live version.
Adrift
@Brachiator: We watched it on TV on CBC’s YouTube channel. For radio broadcasts we use TuneIn on the television. Streaming/Internet TV is the new sliced bread as far as we are concerned. Odd that Radio1 hasn’t reported George Michael’s passing yet.
Brachiator
@Greenergood:
Really like that song and “Coffee Break”
I did not see How to Succeed as a movie, but as a musical put on by my junior high school, in the ancient days when there was substantial arts funding. But even for school kids, I remember that it was a hell of a production.
Brachiator
@Iowa Old Lady:
Zootopia was also extensively reworked and emerged a better film.
Hmm. I realize that I never saw Frozen. Might put it on my New Year’s Eve movie list.
John Revolta
@Villago Delenda Est: Well, “belting” isn’t exactly what I’d call it…………..he was more doing that “speak-singing” thing like Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady. He could carry a tune well enough though. I remember him doing a good job on “Simple Folk” among others.
OzarkHillbilly
Let me just put in my much belated vote for Paint Your Wagon. And Mary Poppins (Dick Van Dyke rules!)
mai naem mobile
Oliver,Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club,Purple Rain and if Flashdance counts then how about Footloose?
Villago Delenda Est
@OzarkHillbilly: Gonna paint your wagon
Gonna paint it fine
Gonna used oil based paint
Because the wood is pine!
Elroy's Lunch
Starstruck
Strictly Ballroom
Not an Aussie but those were great musicals from the Land Down Under. A bit dated, yes…
J R in WV
We saw South Pacific at the Lincoln Center Theater our last trip to NYC, and it was great, 5th row in a great small house. The whole point of the show is based on race, the French planter’s kids were born to a native woman, and the (southern?) American nurse in love with him had to first realize that, and then deal with it. Not a HappyHappy musical at all.
After that Blues Brothers, both a great (although bizare) plot And great music. But I love the blues…
schrodingers_cat
@mai naem mobile: Young Kevin Bacon was dishy!
Bonnie
I still love all those old Broadway musicals that were made into movies; and, it’s hard to pick a favorite there were so many–West Side Story, The Sound of Music, Oliver!, South Pacific (an early discussion on race), My Fair Lady, Camelot, and, of course, The Music Man. Still, Singin’ in the Rain is tops, along with many of the Fred and Ginger movies. Jean Hagen was brilliant in Singin’ the Rain. And, don’t forget Meet Me in St. Louis and The Wizard of Oz. I miss musicals and coming out the theater singing.
burnspbesq
@Mike E:
Have you heard the San Francisco Symphony recording of “west side story?’
To. Die. For.
Greenergood
@John Revolta: Wow! Thank you for this detail – it’s delightful! and makes me like How to Succeed even more. I loved it as a young person because it was basically the story of my dad, who was a Madison Avenue man, but How to Succeed was not as grim as Madmen. I couldn’t watch Madmen when it was broadcast – it was too close to the bone in terms of married men and their wives, children (me) etc And I don’t think my mom has ever watched it.
burnspbesq
No love for “Funny Girl?”
If for nothing else, then for the two great songs, “Who Are You Now” and “The Music That Makes Me Dance.”
Forget the movie. Go back to the Broadway cast album.
Martha
@SFBayAreaGal: I saw that production as well! I ushered too, so I saw it more than once. Goose bumps. Such presence.
ThresherK
If you really want something you can’t imagine came out of Hollywood: Madam Satan, the Pre-codiest thing Cecil B. DeMille ever made, and his only musical.
randy khan
@Jay Noble:
Xanadu! I saw that! And I’ve seen the stage version, too (which is done in extremely high camp). When I saw the stage version, I looked around the theater and realized there was a very good chance I was the only person who had seen the movie in its theatrical release.
But, really, it wasn’t very good. Can’t Stop the Music (the Village People musical) came out around the same time and I liked it much better.
Elie
Westside Story, Moulin Rouge, Flashdance…..All very different from each other but all resonated for me —
randy khan
Movie musicals top 3 (no order, well, maybe actually they are in order):
Singing in the Rain (to be clear, the Gene Kelly version)
Cabaret
Wizard of Oz
Did anyone see the Parade article on movies musicals (springing off, no surprise, La La Land)? It had a sidebar of what I presume are Leonard Maltin’s top 10. 2 starred Judy Garland, 1 was directed by Vincente Minelli, and it also had Cabaret – so one family had a big role in 4 of his top 10. That was fascinating.
I’ve seen a ton more stage musicals than movie musicals. When I lived in New York, I spent a fair number of Saturday mornings at the TKTS booth waiting to get half-price seats, and my wife and I see a lot of shows in D.C. (and sometimes NY) now. I’d have a hard time coming up with a top anything list – there are just too many.
randy khan
@randy khan:
Forgot to mention that Xanadu was Gene Kelly’s last movie. (He did TV after that, but no more movies.)
Oldgold
I prefer Fred Astaire’s Puttin’ On the Ritz routine in Blue Skies to Gene Kelly’s Singin’ In the Rain dance performance.
zhena gogolia
1936 Show Boat
randy khan
@patrick II:
They showed Finian’s Rainbow to a school assembly or took our class to see it (I don’t remember). I feel like I was a little too young for it. I should see it again.
ThresherK
@zhena gogolia: I also prefer it over the 1951 version. I think the 1936 only has “Life Upon the Wicked Stage”.
@randy khan: It was supposed to be something of a retelling of Cover Girl. I have a soft spot for it; songs have good bones and advance the story. If it were made ten years earlier would there have been enough of the old Hollywood pros around to make it better?
Mnemosyne
@Yutsano:
Sorry, just got back from dinner so I couldn’t do the argument, but I don’t generally tell people to stay away from a movie or say it should have the problematic parts deleted. It’s more akin to a trigger warning, so someone isn’t surprised to have this weird sequence suddenly interrupt the flow of the movie. Everyone here is an adult and can make their own choices, but I think it’s best for people to know stuff like that ahead of time.
To use the Huck Finn analogy, you can’t just hand that book to an 8th-grader without mentioning the language. It’s used to very deliberate effect, so you want them to be prepared to encounter it and deal with it and not be so surprised that they can’t get past it.
Mnemosyne
@ThresherK:
1936 also has Paul Robeson’s version of “Old Man River.”
ThresherK
@Mnemosyne: If the wiki is right, I’m wrong about “Llife upon the wicked stage” for this film; it’s only as an instrumental (and therefore misses some great fun in the lyric).
randy khan
@ThresherK:
Maybe. Ten years before puts you in the time frame of Mary Poppins, Sound of Music, Cabaret, Hello Dolly.
There were some musicals being made all the way through – All That Jazz came out the year before Xanadu, for instance – but there definitely was a drop-off.
zhena gogolia
@ThresherK:
Right, but it has beautiful singing, especially Helen Morgan, Paul Robeson, Hattie MacDaniel, and Irene Dunne doing “Can’t Help Lovin’ That Man of Mine,” and Helen Morgan’s heart-wrenching version of “Bill.”
zhena gogolia
@zhena gogolia:
And it’s directed by James Whale, so how can you go wrong?
NotMax
@randy khan
Dr. Doolittle pretty much killed big budget movie musicals. Took some years to dip a toe into those waters again.
Cowgirl in the Sandi
Love all the ones that have been mentioned, but Jeez – is no one going to mention Hamilton??
Not throwing away my shot!
Mnemosyne
@Brachiator:
This thread may be dead but, yes, IMO Moana really is that good as a movie and a musical. The people who keep talking about “girl power” are vastly underselling it. I’ve linked to this clip before (there are no plot spoilers in it) because I think it gives a very good idea of what the scope of the film is.
Some people can’t get over a fairy tale without a romance in it, but that’s their loss.
(Personally, I loved Brave, but it was so specifically about mothers and daughters that I think some people (mostly guys) just didn’t get it. That may be a flaw in a family-oriented film since you end up cutting out half of your audience.)
Mnemosyne
@Cowgirl in the Sandi:
If you follow the link above from Moana, you will recognize the voice of the guy singing in English. ;-)
randy khan
@Cowgirl in the Sandi:
I think the original topic was movie musicals.
I haven’t seen Hamilton yet, but really am looking forward to when I get to see it.
Ang
@JJ:
Yes Hedwig.
J
@Tehanu: joining this thread late, but so glad to see the Band Wagon and mention of Jack Buchanan here.
Zinsky
My favorite movie musicals would have to be Les Miserables and the original Jesus Christ Superstar with Ted Neely. I just saw La La Land yesterday with my family and I have to say that I wasn’t all that impressed. None of the songs were particularly memorable and I didn’t like the characters all that much. Ryan Gosling does not have an impressive voice and Emma Stone’s was just so-so. Sorry, Doug, but La La Land left me with an overwhelming sense of – Meh….
Emily68
My favorite is Nashville. The first time I saw it, I sat through it twice. You could do that in those days. I went back the next day to see it again. I’ve rented it a time or two in the last few years and it still just blows me away.
moderateindy
If we’re defining O brother, and Blues Brother’s as musicals, then I’d have to add “That Thing You Do”. Also, really enjoyed the musical episode of “Buffy THe Vampire Slayer.”
Lastly, as a child I enjoyed “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”. In retrospect the title is ripe for a porn knock off.
Graham
Mine have already been mentioned, but the question is ‘What are your favorite movie musicals of all time?’.
Lebowski
Blues Brothers
Oh Brother
The Producers
Spinal Tap
Crosby
I’m going to name an individual number from a film rather than a film itself, and that number is the Fred Astaire/Eleanor Powell tap dance to Cole Porter’s Begin The Beguine in Broadway Melody Of 1940. The whole dance from start to finish is technically as close to perfection as you can get, and the two dancers look so joyous and exuberant performing it that it is infectious. I always want to applaud at the end, even when I’m watching it by myself, and it never fails to lift my spirits. In addition, the set decoration looks amazing, and black-and-white never shone as bright as it does here.