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"
Hellzapoppin' (1941)
7.6/10
Director: H C Potter
Starring: Ole Olsen, Chic Johnson
Absolutely mad, frame-busting comedy starring the infamous duo of Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson. Ole and Chic are a couple of stagehands who try to help... Read more
Sun Valley Serenade (1941)
7.3/10
Director: H Bruce Humberstone
Starring: Lynn Bari, Sonja Henie, John Payne, Milton Berle
Milton Berle, John Payne and Sonja Henie hit the slopes of Sun Valley in this lighthearted romance about a musician who adopts a beautiful Norwegian w... Read more
Birth of the Blues / Blue Skies (1941)
Director: Stuart Heisler, Victor Schertzinger
Starring: Bing Crosby, Mary Martin, Brian Donlevy, Fred Astaire, Joan Caulfield
A double dose of crooner Bing Crosby begins with 'Birth of the Blues' (1941) in which he's a clarinet player who wants to break out of the traditional... Read more
You'll Never Get Rich / You Were Never Lovelier (1941)
Director: Sidney Lanfield, William A Seiter
Starring: Rita Hayworth, Fred Astaire, John Hubbard, Adolphe Menjou
"You'll Never Get Rich" (1941) - An eccentric New York theater owner has his eye on the beautiful chorus girl Sheila Winthrop (Rita Hayworth). His wif... Read more
Pot O' Gold (1941)
6/10
Director: George Marshall
Starring: James Stewart, Paulette Goddard, Horace Heidt
James Stewart and Paulette Goddard star in this screwball comedy/musical about a down-and-out music lover who takes a job with a health food company o... Read more
Broadway Melody of 1940 (1940)
7.4/10
Director: Norman Taurog
Starring: Eleanor Powell, Fred Astaire
Top-flight entertainment highlighted by a marvelous Cole Porter score ("Begin the Beguine"), exciting Fred Astaire-Eleanor Powell dance numbers, and s... Read more
Let George Do It! (1940)
Director: Marcel Varnel
Starring: George Formby, Phyllis Calvert, Garry Marsh, Romney Brent, Bernard Lee, Coral Br...
One of British comedian George Formby's most successful films, in this war-time musical he plays ukelele-ist George Hepplewhite who gets on a boat thi... Read more
Down Argentine Way (1940)
6.6/10
Director: Irving Cummings
Starring: Don Ameche, Betty Grable, Carmen Miranda, Charlotte Greenwood, J Carrol Naish
Classic comedy in which Don Ameche stars as Ricardo Quintana, the charming son of a less charming Argentine horse breeder. Betty Grable is vacationing... Read more
Road to Rio (1947) / Road To Bali (1953) / Road To Morocco (1942) / Road To Utopia (1946) / Road To Zanzibar (1941) / Road To Singapore (1940)
Director: David Butler, Hal Walker, Norman Z McLeod, Victor Schertzinger
Starring: Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Dorothy Lamour
Six of the best 'Road To...' films starring Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour. 'Road To Singapore' - The one that started it all has Hope and... Read more
Astaire and Rogers: Roberta / Follow the Fleet / Flying Down to Rio / The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939)
7.9/10
Director: Mark Sandrich, Thornton Freeland, William A Seiter
Starring: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers
ROBERTA - John Kent (Randolph Scott), visiting Paris with his bandleader friend, Huck Haines (Fred Astaire), suddenly inherits his aunt's fashionable... Read more