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"
Bye Bye Birdie (1963)
6.7/10
Director: George Sidney
Starring: Janet Leigh, Dick Van Dyke, Ann-Margret , Maureen Stapleton
Some of Broadway's most memorable songs come from this satire of Elvis Presley's army induction. Conrad Birdie, the teenage idol, is drafted and agree... Read more
It Happened at the World's Fair (1963)
6.1/10
Director: Norman Taurog
Starring: Elvis Presley, Joan O'Brien, Gary Lockwood, Vicky Tiu, Edith Atwater, Yvonne Cra...
Fun, music and Elvis all happen in this romp boasting one of the best backdrops of any Elvis Presley movie: the 1962 Seattle World's Fair, with its sh... Read more
Fun In Acapulco (1963)
5.8/10
Director: Richard Thorpe
Starring: Elvis Presley, Ursula Andress, Paul Lukas
After a big top accident leaves him with a fear of heights, trapeze performer Elvis Presley heads South and gets a job as a lifeguard/singer at an Aca... Read more
Viva Las Vegas (1963)
6.4/10
Director: George Sidney
Starring: Cesare Danova, Elvis Presley, Ann-Margret , William Demarest
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
A Bing Crosby Christmas (1962)
6.8/10
Starring: Bing Crosby, Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, David Bowie, Jackie Gleason, Michael Land...
This compilation includes a collection of the greatest moments from fifteen of Crosby's annual televised Christmas Specials (from 1962 to 1977). Hoste... Read more
Don't Knock the Twist (1962)
5/10
Director: Oscar Rudolph
Starring: Lang Jeffries, Mari Blanchard, Chubby Checker, Gene Chandler, The Dovells, Georg...
TV executive Ted Haver (Lang Jeffries) has one month to come up with the best musical line-up he can get for a special on the newest dance craze, the... Read more
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Billy Rose's Jumbo (1962)
6.3/10
Director: Charles Walters
Starring: Doris Day, Stephen Boyd, Jimmy Durante, Martha Raye, Dean Jagger
This Rodgers and Hart musical was nominated for an Oscar for its score, and stars Doris Day and Jimmy Durante as circus owners who are going down the... Read more
Gypsy (1962)
7.2/10
Director: Mervyn LeRoy
Starring: Rosalind Russell, Natalie Wood, Karl Malden
Smash musical about the life of Gypsy Rose Lee. Natalie Wood plays the vaudeville singer-turned-burlesque star, with Rosalind Russell as her abrasive... Read more
Girls! Girls! Girls! (1962)
5.6/10
Director: Norman Taurog
Starring: Elvis Presley, Stella Stevens, Laurel Goodwin
Elvis plays a charter boat pilot chased by a mass of girls who can't decide which one he prefers. Along the way he sings "Return to Sender" and "Song... Read more
West Side Story ( Blu-ray ) (1961)
7.6/10
Director: Jerome Robbins, Robert Wise
Starring: George Chakiris, Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Rita Moreno, Russ Tamblyn
Leonard Bernstein's classic musical updating of "Romeo and Juliet" stars Richard Beymer and Natalie Wood as Tony and Maria, the doomed lovers caught u... Read more