Musicals
As soon as sound was introduced to the movies, the movie musical was born. The musical was one of the most popular movie entertainments from the 1930s through to the 50s, before falling out of favour at the end of the 60s for audiences now being weened on Vietnam, race riots, political assassinations, flower power and psychedelia. The musical still continued onwards, albeit in a different form, with various efforts such as "Cabaret", "The Rocky Horror Picture Show", "Grease", "Hair", "All That Jazz" and "The Blues Brothers" appearing over the next decade. More recently, "Moulin Rouge" and particularly "Chicago" hark back to the glory days of the musical.
Right: Liza Minnelli does "Cabaret"
The King And I (1956)
7.5/10
Director: Walter Lang
Starring: Deborah Kerr, Yul Brynner, Rita Moreno
Walter Lang's remake of the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical is thematically buttressed by the daring choreography of Jerome Robbins ('West Sid... Read more
The Last Bus Home (1997)
5.4/10
Director: Johnny Gogan
Starring: Anthony Brophy, Brian O'Byrne, Annie Ryan, Gemma Craven
Though it is late in the punk rock movement, four Dublin youths get together in 1979 to form their own band. Accurately recounting the energy and rawn... Read more
The Last Five Years (2014)
5.9/10
Director: Richard LaGravenese
Starring: Anna Kendrick, Jeremy Jordan
"The Last Five Years" is a musical chronicling a love affair and marriage taking place over a five year period. Jamie Wellerstein (Jeremy Jordan) is a... Read more
The Last of the Blonde Bombshells (2000)
7.4/10
Director: Gillies MacKinnon
Starring: Judi Dench, Ian Holm, Leslie Caron, Olympia Dukakis, Cleo Laine, Joan Sims, Bill...
Recent widow, Elizabeth (Judi Dench), begins playing her tenor sax again, remembering back to when she was in an all-girl (almost) swing band back in... Read more
The Littlest Rebel (1935)
6.9/10
Director: David Butler
Starring: Shirley Temple, John Boles, Karen Morley, Jack Holt
Virgie Cary's (Shirley Temple) happy Southern plantation life is shattered when war breaks out and her dear dad (John Boles) must go fight, while her... Read more
The Lure (Blu-ray) (2015)
6.3/10
Director: Agnieszka Smoczynska
In Warsaw, a pair of mermaid sisters are adopted into a cabaret. While one seeks love with humans the other hungers to dine on the human population of... Read more
The Muppets (2011)
7.1/10
Director: James Bobin
Starring: Chris Cooper, Amy Adams, Jason Segel, Rashida Jones
With the famed puppet troupe's heyday behind them, it's up to young Muppet Walter, his human brother Gary (Jason Segel, who also co-wrote), and Gary's... Read more
The Music Man (1961)
7.7/10
Director: Morton DaCosta
Starring: Robert Preston, Shirley Jones, Buddy Hackett
If you are looking for a movie with 76 trombones and trouble in River City, have I got a musical for you. Robert Preston stars as the energetic Profes... Read more
The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band / Babes in Toyland (1961)
Director: Jack Donohue, Michael O'Herlihy
Starring: Ray Bolger, Walter Brennan, Buddy Ebsen, Annette Funicello, Tommy Sands, Lesley...
'The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band' - Fun-filled musical stars Walter Brennan as the patriarch of the Bower family, a Dakota clan who or... Read more
The Optimists (1973)
7/10
Director: Anthony Simmons
Starring: Peter Sellers
AKA: "The Optimists of Nine Elms." Peter Sellers shines in this charming family drama as a London street performer who befriends two downtrodden child... Read more