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"
What A Way To Go! (1964)
7/10
Director: J Lee Thompson
Starring: Shirley MacLaine, Dick Van Dyke, Gene Kelly, Paul Newman, Dean Martin, Robert Cu...
This exuberant '60s comedy stars Shirley MacLaine as Louisa May, a woman who, despite her best efforts to marry for love, always winds up with a man w... Read more
Mary Poppins (1964)
7.8/10
Director: Robert Stevenson
Starring: Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke, Glynis Johns
Beloved Disney film combines brilliant, animated sequences with a delightful story about Julie Andrews as a magical nanny who transforms the lives of... Read more
Kissin' Cousins (1964)
5.3/10
Director: Gene Nelson
Starring: Elvis Presley, Arthur O'Connell, Glenda Farrell
Elvis takes a double role, that of an Air Force officer and his hillbilly cousin, feudin' and fightin' over a missile base to be built on the latter's... Read more
My Fair Lady (1964)
7.9/10
Director: George Cukor
Starring: Rex Harrison, Audrey Hepburn, Stanley Holloway, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Gladys Coope...
Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe's musical variation of Shaw's 'Pygmalion' is an intellectual comedy of manners from expert director George Cukor.... Read more
Robin And The 7 Hoods (1964)
6.5/10
Director: Gordon Douglas
Starring: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Bing Crosby, Peter Falk, Sammy Davis Jr
The last of the "Rat Pack " films is set in Roaring Twenties Chicago, and Sinatra and crew play garrulous gangsters who rob from the rich and give to... Read more
Roustabout (1964)
6/10
Director: John Rich
Starring: Elvis Presley, Barbara Stanwyck, Joan Freeman
Elvis is a free-wheeling singer (and karate-chopping biker!) who joins Barbara Stanwyck's carnival, learns the meaning of hard work and true love. Son... Read more
Girl Happy (1964)
6.4/10
Director: Boris Sagal
Starring: Elvis Presley, Shelley Fabares, Gary Crosby
A nightclub owner hires Elvis as chaperone for his daughter on a Fort Lauderdale vacation. Songs include "She's Evil", "Wolf Call" and "Do the Clam". Read more
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)
7.8/10
Director: Jacques Demy
Starring: Catherine Deneuve, Nino Castelnuovo, Anne Vernon
A beautifully restored version of Jacques Demy's classic, bittersweet musical of two young lovers (a luminous Catherine Deneuve and handsome Nino Cast... Read more
Summer Holiday (1963)
6.1/10
Director: Peter Yates
Starring: Cliff Richard, David Kossoff, Ron Moody, The Shadows, Una Stubbs, Melvyn Hayes,...
Borrowing a double-decker bus for a mobile home, four young mechanics search for fun in the sun from London to Athens. Bachelor boy Cliff Richard dons... Read more
Viva Las Vegas ( Blu-ray ) (1963)
6.4/10
Director: George Sidney
Starring: Elvis Presley, Ann-Margret , Cesare Danova, William Demarest, Nicky Blair
In one of his biggest and best films, Elvis Presley is "just a devil with love to spare" as a race car driver looking to enter the Las Vegas Grand Pri... Read more