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"
Beat Street (1984)
6.5/10
Director: Stan Lathan
Starring: Rae Dawn Chong
The Bronx is the hippest place in America, as breakdancers, graffiti artists, DJs and rap musicians converge for an exciting street scene. Grandmaster... Read more
Broken Bridges (2006)
6.2/10
Director: Steve Goldmann
Starring: Toby Keith, Kelly Preston, Tess Harper, Lindsey Haun, Katie Finneran, Anna Maria...
A fading country music singer returns to his hometown where he reunites with his childhood sweetheart and meets his teenage daughter for the first tim... Read more
Happy Go Lovely (1951)
6.5/10
Director: H Bruce Humberstone
Starring: David Niven, Vera-Ellen, Cesar Romero
A brisk and breezy musical comedy about an American theatre producer in Edinburgh who hires a young chorus girl in hopes that her millionaire boyfrien... Read more
Laurel & Hardy: Bogus Bandits ( aka The Devil's Brother ) (1933)
4.7/10
Director: Charles R Rogers, Hal Roach
Starring: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Thelma Todd, James Finlayson
Olio and Stanlio are a couple of incompetent bandits hired by Fra Davolio (the Devil's brother), a real-life bandit also known as Marquis de San Marco... Read more
Beauty And The Beast (1987)
7.1/10
Director: Eugene Marner
Starring: Rebecca De Mornay, John Savage
Rebecca De Mornay ('The Three Musketeers') stars in this live-action version of the classic fairy tale, about finding true love in the unlikeliest of... Read more
Fame ( Blu-ray ) (1980)
6.6/10
Director: Alan Parker
Starring: Barry Miller, Eddie Barth, Irene Cara, Laura Dean, Lee Curreri, Maureen Teefy, A...
Gritty urban reality blends with vibrant song-and-dance numbers in Alan Parker's Oscar-winning musical-drama set in New York's High School for the Per... Read more
The Jazz Singer (Special Edition) (1927)
6.7/10
Director: Alan Crosland
Starring: Al Jolson, May McAvoy, Warner Oland
It's more than a movie; it's history - this groundbreaking production is heralded as the first feature-length film with spoken dialogue ('talkie'). Ri... Read more
Double Trouble (1967)
5.2/10
Director: Norman Taurog
Starring: Elvis Presley, John Williams, Yvonne Romain
Elvis gets involved with jewel smuggling and helps rescue a beautiful heiress from somebody out to kill her. Songs include "Long Legged Girl" , "Blue... Read more
Change of Habit (1969)
5.9/10
Director: William A Graham
Starring: Barbara McNair, Jane Elliot, Elvis Presley, Mary Tyler Moore
An offbeat part for Elvis Presley, in his final acting role, finds him as a doctor practicing in a ghetto clinic who falls for co-worker Mary Tyler Mo... Read more
Stowaway (1936)
7.2/10
Director: William A Seiter
Starring: Shirley Temple, Robert Young, Alice Faye, Eugene Pallette, Helen Westley
In this musical adventure Shirley Temple stars as Ching-Ching an orphan on the streets of Shanghai who inadvertently finds herself aboard a ship to Am... Read more