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"
On Moonlight Bay (1951)
7.1/10
Director: Roy Del Ruth
Starring: Doris Day, Gordon McRae, Mary Wickes, Billy Gray
Booth Tarkington's Penrod stories make charming material for this Doris Day musical in which the bubbly blonde plays tomboy Marjie Wilson who moves to... Read more
Show Boat (1951)
7/10
Director: George Sidney
Starring: Kathryn Grayson, Ava Gardner, Howard Keel
George Sidney supplies movement and grace to the great Jerome Kern score that colours the lives of misfits and losers in a musical that deftly moves f... Read more
The West Point Story (1950)
6.2/10
Director: Roy Del Ruth
Starring: Doris Day, Gene Nelson, Gordon MacRae, James Cagney, Virginia Mayo
Brassy musical stars James Cagney as a down-on-his-luck stage director who is hired to put on a show at the title military academy. Frustrated by the... Read more
Young Man With A Horn (1950)
7.2/10
Director: Michael Curtiz
Starring: Kirk Douglas, Lauren Bacall, Doris Day, Hoagy Carmichael, Juano Hernandez
Based on the life of jazz trumpeter Bix Biederbecke and adapted from the novel by Dorothy Baker, Kirk Douglas is the Bix character, Rick Martin, one o... Read more
Doris Day Collection: The Pajama Game (1957) / Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1960) / The Glass Bottom Boat (1966) / Love Me Or Leave Me (1955) / Billy Rose's Jumbo (1962) / Young Man With A Horn (1950)
Director: Charles Vidor, Charles Walters, Frank Tashlin, George Abbott, Michael Curtiz
Starring: Doris Day, David Niven, Rod Taylor, Kirk Douglas, James Cagney, Jimmy Durante, L...
This collection of classics featuring America's sweetheart Doris Day includes: 'Please Don't Eat The Daisies' - Doris in a house of 4 boys and drama-c... Read more
Annie Get Your Gun (1950)
7/10
Director: George Sidney
Starring: Betty Hutton, Howard Keel, Louis Calhern
This long awaited, much-loved musical about sharpshooting Annie Oakley and her romance with Wild Bill Hickock stars Betty Hutton and Howard Keel. Read more
The Barkleys of Broadway (1949)
7.1/10
Director: Charles Walters
Starring: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Oscar Levant, Billie Burke
After 10 years apart, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers re-team for their final film, written by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and directed by Charles Wa... Read more
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court / The Emperor Waltz (1949)
Director: Billy Wilder, Tay Garnett
Starring: Bing Crosby, Rhonda Fleming, Cedric Hardwicke, William Bendix, Joan Fontaine, Ro...
This classic Bing Crosby Double Feature begins with 'A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court' (1949). Adapted from Mark Twain's story, Bing is a... Read more
On The Town (1949)
7.6/10
Director: Gene Kelly, Stanley Donen
Starring: Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Vera-Ellen
The wacky musical-comedy exploits of a trio of sailors on 24-hour leave in New York City, as they search for fun and romance. Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatr... Read more
Take Me Out To The Ball Game (1949)
6.8/10
Director: Busby Berkeley
Starring: Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, Esther Williams
Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Esther Williams star in this turn-of-the-century Busby Berkeley musical. Read more