Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but in some cases, they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate "production numbers".
99-626: Hot Rhythm is a 1944 American musical comedy film directed by William Beaudine and starring Robert Lowery , Dona Drake , and the radio and vaudeville team of Tim and Irene ( Tim Ryan and Irene Ryan ). J. P. O'Hara owns the Beacon Recording Company, with studio and distribution facilities. His biggest attraction is singer-bandleader Tommy Taylor, who is managed by "Honest Herman" Strohbach. Two staff members, Jimmy and Sammy, are aspiring songwriters who make their living writing radio jingles. They meet singer Mary Adams, and Jimmy
198-625: A Bollywood-style song-and-dance number during the film's end credits, Tallika (2022) was the first movie with Maximum Genres of Music Composed by Maharaja and registered as a World Record Holder in Music, Spain has a history and tradition of musical films that were made independent of Hollywood influence. The first films arise during the Second Spanish Republic of the 1930s and the advent of sound films . A few zarzuelas (Spanish operetta ) were even adapted as screenplays during
297-467: A Sixpence , The Happiest Millionaire , Star! , Darling Lili , Goodbye, Mr. Chips , Paint Your Wagon , Song of Norway , On a Clear Day You Can See Forever , 1776 , Man of La Mancha , Lost Horizon , and Mame . Collectively and individually these failures affected the financial viability of several major studios. In the 1970s, film culture and the changing demographics of filmgoers placed greater emphasis on gritty realism, while
396-556: A book by George S. Kaufman and starring Fred Astaire and his sister Adele . The movie's dances and musical numbers were staged by Michael Kidd . The song " That's Entertainment! ", which Schwartz and Dietz wrote specifically for the film, was a hit and has become a standard in popular music. Another song orchestrated by Conrad Salinger , " Dancing in the Dark ", is considered part of the Great American Songbook and
495-479: A few dramas) included their own musical numbers. The Marx Brothers ' films included a musical number in nearly every film, allowing the Brothers to highlight their musical talents. Their final film, entitled Love Happy (1949), featured Vera-Ellen , considered to be the best dancer among her colleagues and professionals in the half century. Similarly, the vaudevillian comedian W. C. Fields joined forces with
594-408: A few well-received films, but even their popularity waned by 1932. The public had quickly come to associate color with musicals and thus the decline in their popularity also resulted in a decline in color productions. The taste in musicals revived again in 1933 when director Busby Berkeley began to enhance the traditional dance number with ideas drawn from the drill precision he had experienced as
693-526: A musical and India producing the most movies in the world (formed in 1913), the first Bollywood film to be a complete musical, Dev D (directed by Anurag Kashyap ), came in 2009. The second musical film to follow was Jagga Jasoos (directed by Anurag Basu ), in 2017. Bollywood musicals have their roots in the traditional musical theatre of India , such as classical Indian musical theatre , Sanskrit drama , and Parsi theatre . Early Bombay filmmakers combined these Indian musical theatre traditions with
792-725: A renaissance of the genre. The Guru and The 40-Year-Old Virgin also feature Indian-style song-and-dance sequences; the Bollywood musical Lagaan (2001) was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film ; two other Bollywood films Devdas (2002) and Rang De Basanti (2006) were nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language ; and Danny Boyle 's Academy Award winning Slumdog Millionaire (2008) also features
891-519: A show-biz plot about two sisters competing for a charming song-and-dance man. Advertised by MGM as the first "All-Talking, All-Singing, All-Dancing" feature film, it was a hit and won the Academy Award for Best Picture for 1929. There was a rush by the studios to hire talent from the stage to star in lavishly filmed versions of Broadway hits. The Love Parade (Paramount 1929) starred Maurice Chevalier and newcomer Jeanette MacDonald , written by Broadway veteran Guy Bolton . Warner Brothers produced
990-418: A soldier during World War I . In films such as 42nd Street and Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933), Berkeley choreographed a number of films in his unique style. Berkeley's numbers typically begin on a stage but gradually transcend the limitations of theatrical space: his ingenious routines, involving human bodies forming patterns like a kaleidoscope, could never fit onto a real stage and the intended perspective
1089-533: A string of successes with live action fantasy adaptations of several of their animated features , Disney produced a live action version of Beauty and the Beast , the first of this live action fantasy adaptation pack to be an all-out musical, and features new songs as well as new lyrics to both the Gaston number and the reprise of the title song. Bill Condon , who directed Dreamgirls , directed Beauty and
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#17327805484421188-411: A theater. Musical films characteristically contain elements reminiscent of theater; performers often treat their song and dance numbers as if a live audience were watching. In a sense, the viewer becomes the diegetic audience, as the performer looks directly into the camera and performs to it. With the advent of sound in the late 1920s, musicals gained popularity with the public and are exemplified by
1287-498: A way to break away from their typecasting. For instance, the multi-talented James Cagney had originally risen to fame as a stage singer and dancer, but his repeated casting in "tough guy" roles and mob films gave him few chances to display these talents. Cagney's Oscar -winning role in Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) allowed him to sing and dance, and he considered it to be one of his finest moments. Many comedies (and
1386-443: Is O'Hara's new secretary, Polly Kane, who makes her own recording and is thus mistaken for mystery vocalist Mary. Mary's stormy romance with Jimmy is finally smoothed over when Jimmy tells O'Hara the truth about his finagling to promote Mary. Mary joins Tommy Taylor's band as his new singing star. Monogram was a "budget" studio that made feature films for a fraction of what the big studios spent. Its hourlong Charlie Chan mysteries of
1485-432: Is considered the first African American A-list film star. Celebrated director Howard Hawks also ventured into the genre with Gentlemen Prefer Blondes . In the 1960s, 1970s, and continuing up to today, the musical film became less of a bankable genre that could be relied upon for sure-fire hits. Audiences for them lessened and fewer musical films were produced as the genre became less mainstream and more specialized. In
1584-415: Is greeted enthusiastically by his good friends Lester and Lily Marton, and they tell him they have written a stage show, a light musical comedy, that will be a perfect comeback for Tony. They will also act in it, and they already have caught the interest of Jeffrey Cordova, who they say can do anything: Currently he is starring in, as well as directing, a new adaptation of Oedipus Rex that he wrote based on
1683-399: Is pleased to stay and work with Tony. After some weeks on tour to perfect the new lighthearted musical numbers, the revised show proves to be a hit on its Broadway opening. Gaby professes her love to Tony. Uncredited Source: One musical number shot for the film, but dropped from the final release, was a seductive dance routine featuring Charisse performing "Two-Faced Woman". As with
1782-506: Is so taken with her that he resolves to advance her career by any means possible. He records Mary singing along to an instrumental played by Taylor's orchestra, hoping to interest O'Hara in Mary. When Mary's demonstration record is released to the public accidentally, Taylor's manager threatens to sue O'Hara. O'Hara goes around town buying back copies of Mary's record and smashing them in the stores, which lands him in jail. Confusing matters further
1881-535: Is viewing from straight above. Musical stars such as Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers were among the most popular and highly respected personalities in Hollywood during the classical era; the Fred and Ginger pairing was particularly successful, resulting in a number of classic films such as Top Hat (1935), Swing Time (1936), and Shall We Dance (1937). Many dramatic actors gladly participated in musicals as
1980-568: The Academy Award for Best Original Song (1938), the film earned an ASCAP Film and Television Award (1989) for Bob Hope's signature song " Thanks for the Memory ". During the late 1940s and into the early 1950s, a production unit at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer headed by Arthur Freed made the transition from old-fashioned musical films, whose formula had become repetitive, to something new. (However, they also produced technicolor remakes of such musicals as Show Boat , which had previously been filmed in
2079-475: The American Film Institute 's list of best musicals . Tony Hunter, once a famous star of musical comedies on stage and later on screen, is largely forgotten after three years without appearing in a film. He returns from Hollywood to New York. At Grand Central Terminal , he is recognized but almost ignored by reporters who are there by chance as Ava Gardner is on the same train. However, he
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#17327805484422178-676: The Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy in their respective years, while such films as The Phantom of the Opera , Hairspray , Mamma Mia! , Nine , Into the Woods , The Greatest Showman , Mary Poppins Returns , Rocketman , Cyrano , Tick, Tick... Boom! , Elvis , and The Color Purple were only nominated. Chicago was also the first musical since Oliver! to win Best Picture at
2277-659: The Sherman Brothers . Starting with 1989's The Little Mermaid , the Disney Renaissance gave new life to the musical film. Other successful animated musicals included Aladdin , The Hunchback of Notre Dame , and Pocahontas from Disney proper, The Nightmare Before Christmas from Disney division Touchstone Pictures, The Prince of Egypt from DreamWorks, Anastasia from Fox and Don Bluth, Eight Crazy Nights from Columbia, and South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut from Paramount. Beauty and
2376-600: The "Golden Age" of Hindi cinema . Some of the most critically acclaimed Hindi films of all time were produced during this period. Examples include Pyaasa (1957) and Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959), directed by Guru Dutt and written by Abrar Alvi , Awaara (1951) and Shree 420 (1955), directed by Raj Kapoor and written by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas , and Aan (1952), directed by Mehboob Khan and starring Dilip Kumar . These films expressed social themes mainly dealing with working-class life in India , particularly urban life in
2475-478: The 1930s it was clear that if the Soviet cinema was to compete with its Western counterparts, it would have to give audiences what they wanted: the glamour and fantasy they got from Hollywood. The musical film, which emerged at that time, embodied the ideal combination of entertainment and official ideology. A struggle between laughter for laughter's sake and entertainment with a clear ideological message would define
2574-666: The 1930s.) In 1939, Freed was hired as associate producer for the film Babes in Arms . Starting in 1944 with Meet Me in St. Louis , the Freed Unit worked somewhat independently of its own studio to produce some of the most popular and well-known examples of the genre. The products of this unit include Easter Parade (1948), On the Town (1949), An American in Paris (1951), Singin' in
2673-511: The 1940s typically cost about $ 90,000 each, compared to the Twentieth Century-Fox Chan films of the 1930s, which cost between $ 200,000 and $ 300,000 each. Monogram's Chan films were instrumental in getting other Monogram features shown in more theaters, resulting in a period of ambitious expansion for the studio. Hot Rhythm was Monogram's biggest production of 1944, with an unusually long running time of 79 minutes, and with
2772-639: The 1960s created specifically for film were Mary Poppins and The Jungle Book , two of Disney's biggest hits of all time. The phenomenal box-office performance of The Sound of Music gave the major Hollywood studios more confidence to produce lengthy, large-budget musicals. Despite the resounding success of some of these films, Hollywood also produced a large number of musical flops in the late 1960s and early 1970s which appeared to seriously misjudge public taste. The commercially and/or critically unsuccessful films included Camelot , Finian's Rainbow , Hello Dolly! , Sweet Charity , Doctor Dolittle , Half
2871-672: The 1960s, films based on stage musicals continued to be critical and box-office successes. These films included, West Side Story (1961), Gypsy (1962), The Music Man (1962), Bye Bye Birdie (1963), My Fair Lady , Mary Poppins (both 1964), The Sound of Music (1965), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum , How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying , Thoroughly Modern Millie (all 1967), Oliver! , and Funny Girl (both 1968). In
2970-631: The 1960s, the critical and box-office success of the films West Side Story , Gypsy , The Music Man , Bye Bye Birdie , My Fair Lady , Mary Poppins , The Sound of Music , A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum , The Jungle Book , Thoroughly Modern Millie , Oliver! , and Funny Girl suggested that the traditional musical was in good health, while French filmmaker Jacques Demy 's jazz musicals The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and The Young Girls of Rochefort were popular with international critics. However popular musical tastes were being heavily affected by rock and roll and
3069-750: The 1970s, film culture and the changing demographics of filmgoers placed greater emphasis on gritty realism, while the pure entertainment and theatricality of classical-era Hollywood musicals was seen as old-fashioned. Despite this, Scrooge (1970), Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971), Fiddler on the Roof (1971), Cabaret (1972), 1776 (1972), Disney's Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971), and Pete's Dragon (1977), as well as Grease and The Wiz (both 1978), were more traditional musicals closely adapted from stage shows and were strong successes with critics and audiences. Throughout
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3168-520: The 1980s and 1990s, musicals tended to be mainly coming from the Disney animated films of the period, from composers and lyricists, Howard Ashman , Alan Menken , and Stephen Schwartz . The Disney Renaissance started with 1989's The Little Mermaid , then followed by Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), The Lion King (1994), Pocahontas (1995), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), Hercules (1997), and Mulan (1998). In
3267-557: The 1990s, the three biggest Bollywood movie stars have been the " Three Khans ": Aamir Khan , Shah Rukh Khan , and Salman Khan . Combined, they have starred in most of the top ten highest-grossing Bollywood films . The three Khans have had successful careers since the late 1980s, and have dominated the Indian box office since the 1990s, across three decades. Baz Luhrmann stated that his successful musical film Moulin Rouge! (2001)
3366-561: The 21st century, the musical genre has been rejuvenated with darker musicals, musical biopics, musical remakes, epic drama musicals and comedy drama musicals such as Moulin Rouge! (2001), Chicago (2002), The Phantom of the Opera (2004), Rent (2005), Dreamgirls (2006), Across the Universe , Enchanted , Hairspray , Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (all 2007), Mamma Mia! (2008), Nine (2009), The Muppets (2011), Les Misérables (2012), Into
3465-564: The Academy Awards. Joshua Oppenheimer 's Academy Award-nominated documentary The Act of Killing may be considered a nonfiction musical. One specific musical trend was the rising number of jukebox musicals based on music from various pop/rock artists on the big screen, some of which based on Broadway shows. Examples of Broadway-based jukebox musical films included Mamma Mia ! ( ABBA ), Rock of Ages , and Sunshine on Leith ( The Proclaimers ). Original ones included Across
3564-576: The American public. These films included, Top Hat (1935), Follow the Fleet , Swing Time (both 1936), and Shall We Dance (1937). Victor Fleming's The Wizard of Oz (1939) would become a landmark film for movie musical as it experimented with new technology such as Technicolor . During the 1940s and 1950s, musical films from MGM musicals regularly premiered. These works included: Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), Easter Parade (1948), On
3663-525: The Beast , The Lion King , and others were adapted for the stage after their blockbuster success. In the 21st century, movie musicals were reborn with darker musicals, musical biopics, epic drama musicals and comedy drama musicals such as O Brother, Where Art Thou? , Moulin Rouge! , Chicago , Walk the Line , Dreamgirls , Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street , Les Misérables , La La Land , and West Side Story ; all of which won
3762-488: The Beast . The second film of this live action fantasy adaptation pack to be an all-out musical was Aladdin and features new songs. The third film of this live action fantasy adaptation pack to be an all-out musical was The Lion King and features new songs. The fourth film of this live action fantasy adaptation pack to be an all-out musical was The Little Mermaid and features new songs with lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda , replacing Ashman. Pixar also produced Coco ,
3861-412: The Bollywood blockbuster format. Yaadon Ki Baarat (1973), directed by Hussain and written by Salim-Javed, has been identified as the first masala film and the "first" quintessentially "Bollywood" film. Salim-Javed went on to write more successful masala films in the 1970s and 1980s. Masala films launched Amitabh Bachchan into the biggest Bollywood movie star of the 1970s and 1980s. A landmark for
3960-829: The Chocolate Factory , Pete's Dragon , and Disney's Bedknobs and Broomsticks were also released in the 1970s, the latter winning the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects . By the 1980s, financiers grew increasingly confident in the musical genre, partly buoyed by the relative health of the musical on Broadway and London's West End . Productions of the 1980s and 1990s included The Apple , Xanadu , The Blues Brothers , Annie , Monty Python's The Meaning of Life , The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas , Victor/Victoria , Footloose , Fast Forward , A Chorus Line , Little Shop of Horrors , Forbidden Zone , Absolute Beginners , Labyrinth , Newsies , Evita , and Everyone Says I Love You . However, Can't Stop
4059-663: The Flame (1930), Song of the West (1930), Sweet Kitty Bellairs (1930), Under a Texas Moon (1930), Bride of the Regiment (1930), Whoopee! (1930), King of Jazz (1930), Viennese Nights (1930), and Kiss Me Again (1930). In addition, there were scores of musical features released with color sequences. Hollywood released more than 100 musical films in 1930, but only 14 in 1931. By late 1930, audiences had been oversaturated with musicals and studios were forced to cut
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4158-470: The Gershwins, respectively. Warner Bros. produced Calamity Jane and A Star Is Born ; the former film was a vehicle for Doris Day , while the latter provided a big-screen comeback for Judy Garland, who had been out of the spotlight since 1950. Meanwhile, director Otto Preminger , better known for "message pictures", made Carmen Jones and Porgy and Bess , both starring Dorothy Dandridge , who
4257-692: The Music , starring the Village People , was a calamitous attempt to resurrect the old-style musical and was released to audience indifference in 1980. Little Shop of Horrors was based on an off-Broadway musical adaptation of a 1960 Roger Corman film, a precursor of later film-to-stage-to-film adaptations, including The Producers . Many animated films of the period – predominately from Disney – included traditional musical numbers. Howard Ashman , Alan Menken , and Stephen Schwartz had previous musical theater experience and wrote songs for animated films during this time, supplanting Disney workhorses
4356-509: The Musical (all 2022), The Little Mermaid , Wonka , The Color Purple (all 2023), Mean Girls , Wicked , Mufasa: The Lion King , Joker: Folie à Deux , A Complete Unknown (all 2024). The 1930s through the early 1950s are considered to be the golden age of the musical film, when the genre's popularity was at its highest in the Western world . Disney 's Snow White and
4455-547: The Rain (1952), The Band Wagon (1953) and Gigi (1958). Non-Freed musicals from the studio included Seven Brides for Seven Brothers in 1954 and High Society in 1956, and the studio distributed Samuel Goldwyn 's Guys and Dolls in 1955. This era saw musical stars become household names, including Judy Garland , Gene Kelly , Ann Miller , Donald O'Connor , Cyd Charisse , Mickey Rooney , Vera-Ellen , Jane Powell , Howard Keel , and Kathryn Grayson . Fred Astaire
4554-520: The Seven Dwarfs , the earliest Disney animated feature film, was a musical which won an honorary Oscar for Walt Disney at the 11th Academy Awards . Musical short films were made by Lee de Forest in 1923–24. Beginning in 1926, thousands of Vitaphone shorts were made, many featuring bands, vocalists, and dancers. The earliest feature-length films with synchronized sound had only a soundtrack of music and occasional sound effects that played while
4653-487: The Soviet musical was first and foremost a form of propaganda. Vladimir Lenin said that cinema was "the most important of the arts". His successor, Joseph Stalin , also recognized the power of cinema in efficiently spreading Communist Party doctrine. Films were widely popular in the 1920s, but it was foreign cinema that dominated the Soviet filmgoing market. Films from Germany and the U.S. proved more entertaining than Soviet director Sergei Eisenstein 's historical dramas. By
4752-487: The Town (1949), An American in Paris (1951), Singin' in the Rain (1952), The Band Wagon (1953), High Society (1956), and Gigi (1958). During this time, films outside the Arthur Freed unit at MGM included Holiday Inn (1942), White Christmas (1954), and Funny Face (1957) as well as Oklahoma! (1955), The King and I (1956), Carousel , and South Pacific (1958). These films of
4851-929: The Unicorn , and Spellbound . Biopics about music artists and showmen were also big in the 21st century. Examples include 8 Mile ( Eminem ), Ray ( Ray Charles ), Walk the Line ( Johnny Cash and June Carter ), La Vie en Rose ( Édith Piaf ), Notorious ( Biggie Smalls ), Jersey Boys ( The Four Seasons ) Love & Mercy ( Brian Wilson ), CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story ( TLC ), Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B ( Aaliyah ), Get on Up ( James Brown ), Whitney and I Wanna Dance With Somebody ( Whitney Houston ), Straight Outta Compton ( N.W.A ), The Greatest Showman ( P. T. Barnum ), Bohemian Rhapsody ( Freddie Mercury ), The Dirt ( Mötley Crüe ), Judy ( Judy Garland ), Rocketman ( Elton John ), Respect ( Aretha Franklin ) and Elvis ( Elvis Presley ). Grossing over $ 900 million at
4950-590: The Universe ( The Beatles ), Moulin Rouge! (various pop hits), Idlewild ( Outkast ) and Yesterday ( The Beatles ). Disney also returned to musicals with Enchanted , The Princess and the Frog , Tangled , Winnie the Pooh , The Muppets , Frozen , Muppets Most Wanted , Into the Woods , Moana , Mary Poppins Returns , Frozen II , Encanto , Better Nate Than Ever , Disenchanted , Wish , Moana 2 and Mufasa: The Lion King . Following
5049-542: The Woods (2014), La La Land (2016), Beauty and the Beast , The Greatest Showman (both 2017), Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again! , A Star Is Born , Mary Poppins Returns , Bohemian Rhapsody (all 2018), Aladdin , Rocketman , The Lion King (all 2019), In the Heights , Respect , Dear Evan Hansen , Cyrano , Everybody's Talking About Jamie , Tick, Tick… Boom! , West Side Story (all 2021), Elvis , Spirited , Disenchanted , Matilda
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#17327805484425148-496: The actors portrayed their characters just as they did in silent films: without audible dialogue. The Jazz Singer , released in 1927 by Warner Brothers , was the first to include an audio track including non- diegetic music and diegetic music, but it had only a short sequence of spoken dialogue. This feature-length film was also a musical, featuring Al Jolson singing "Dirty Hands, Dirty Face", "Toot, Toot, Tootsie", " Blue Skies ", and " My Mammy ". Historian Scott Eyman wrote, "As
5247-1096: The big screen. It set a new template for Bollywood musical romance films that defined Hindi cinema in the 1990s. The period of Hindi cinema from the 1990s onwards is referred to as "New Bollywood" cinema, linked to economic liberalisation in India during the early 1990s. By the early 1990s, the pendulum had swung back toward family-centric romantic musicals. Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak was followed by blockbusters such as Maine Pyar Kiya (1989), Chandni (1989), Hum Aapke Hain Kaun (1994), Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995), Raja Hindustani (1996), Dil To Pagal Hai (1997), Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha (1998) and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998). A new generation of popular actors emerged, such as Aamir Khan, Aditya Pancholi , Ajay Devgan , Akshay Kumar , Salman Khan ( Salim Khan's son ), and Shahrukh Khan , and actresses such as Madhuri Dixit , Sridevi , Juhi Chawla , Meenakshi Seshadri , Manisha Koirala , Kajol , and Karisma Kapoor . Since
5346-470: The box office Bohemian Rhapsody is the most commercially successful musical biopic. Director Damien Chazelle created a musical film called La La Land , starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone . It was meant to reintroduce the traditional jazz style of song numbers with influences from the Golden Age of Hollywood and Jacques Demy 's French musicals while incorporating a contemporary/modern take on
5445-425: The box-office. Marisol , Joselito , Pili & Mili , and Rocío Dúrcal were the major figures of musical films from the 1960s to 1970s. Due to Spanish transition to democracy and the rise of " Movida culture ", the musical genre fell in production and box-office, only saved by Carlos Saura and his flamenco musical films. Unlike the musical films of Hollywood and Bollywood, popularly identified with escapism,
5544-687: The comic actress Martha Raye and the young comedian Bob Hope in Paramount Pictures musical anthology The Big Broadcast of 1938 . The film also showcased the talents of several internationally recognized musical artists including: Kirsten Flagstad (Norwegian operatic soprano), Wilfred Pelletier (Canadian conductor of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra ), Tito Guizar (Mexican tenor), Shep Fields conducting his Rippling Rhythm Jazz Orchestra and John Serry Sr. (Italian-American concert accordionist). In addition to
5643-404: The conventions of Hindi cinema for decades. In the 1960s and early 1970s, the industry was dominated by musical romance films with "romantic hero" leads, the most popular being Rajesh Khanna . Other actors during this period include Shammi Kapoor , Jeetendra , Sanjeev Kumar , and Shashi Kapoor , and actresses like Sharmila Tagore , Mumtaz , Saira Banu , Helen and Asha Parekh . By
5742-972: The decline of the musical film is Indian cinema , especially the Bollywood film industry based in Mumbai (formerly Bombay), where most of films have been, and still are, musicals. The majority of films produced in the Tamil industry , based in Chennai (formerly Madras), the Sandalwood industry , based in Bangalore , the Telugu industry , based in Hyderabad , and the Malayalam industry are also musicals. Despite this exception of almost every Indian movie being
5841-484: The era typically relied on the star power of such film stars as Fred Astaire , Gene Kelly , Bing Crosby , Frank Sinatra , Judy Garland , Ann Miller , Kathryn Grayson , and Howard Keel . They also relied on film directors such as Stanley Donen and Vincente Minnelli as well as songwriters Comden and Green , Rodgers and Hammerstein , Irving Berlin , Cole Porter , and the Gershwin Brothers . During
5940-614: The fictional characters were a married couple, and Comden and Green were not romantically involved. The character of an overachieving impresario was developed with the successful producer-director-actor José Ferrer in mind. In 1995, The Band Wagon was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". In 2006, this film ranked number 17 on
6039-474: The film ended and applause grew with the houselights, Sam Goldwyn 's wife Frances looked around at the celebrities in the crowd. She saw 'terror in all their faces', she said, as if they knew that 'the game they had been playing for years was finally over'." Still, only isolated sequences featured "live" sound; most of the film had only a synchronous musical score. In 1928, Warner Brothers followed this up with another Jolson part-talkie, The Singing Fool , which
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#17327805484426138-438: The film grossed $ 1,044,000, one of the higher grossing films at the theater. According to MGM records, the film earned them distributor rentals of $ 2.3 million in the U.S. and Canada and $ 1,202,000 in other countries, resulting in a loss of $ 1,185,000. In a 1999 Guardian article about the importance of the film, Derek Desmond wrote: "But the whole point about The Band Wagon, and one which sometimes makes people underrate it,
6237-402: The films of Busby Berkeley , a choreographer known for his distinctive and elaborate set pieces featuring multiple showgirls. These lavish production numbers are typified by his choreographic work in 42nd Street , Gold Diggers of 1933 , Footlight Parade (all from 1933). During the 1930s, the musical films of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers became massive cultural fixtures in the eyes of
6336-516: The first computer-animated musical film by the company. Other animated musical films include Rio , Dr. Seuss' The Lorax , Rio 2 , The Book of Life , Trolls , Sing , My Little Pony: The Movie , Smallfoot , UglyDolls , Trolls World Tour , Over the Moon , Vivo , Sing 2 , The Bob's Burgers Movie , Under the Boardwalk , Trolls Band Together , Leo , Thelma
6435-455: The first colour film in Hindi , Kisan Kanya . The next year, he made another colour film, a version of Mother India . However, colour did not become a popular feature until the late 1950s. At this time, lavish romantic musicals and melodramas were the staple fare at the cinema. Following India's independence , the period from the late 1940s to the early 1960s is regarded by film historians as
6534-556: The first screen operetta, The Desert Song in 1929. They spared no expense and photographed a large percentage of the film in Technicolor . This was followed by the first all-color, all-talking musical feature which was entitled On with the Show (1929). The most popular film of 1929 was the second all-color, all-talking feature which was entitled Gold Diggers of Broadway (1929). This film broke all box office records and remained
6633-411: The former two examples; Awaara presented the city as both a nightmare and a dream, while Pyaasa critiqued the unreality of city life. Mehboob Khan 's Mother India (1957), a remake of his earlier Aurat (1940), was the first Indian film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film , which it lost by a single vote. Mother India was also an important film that defined
6732-489: The freedom and youth associated with it, and indeed Elvis Presley made a few films that have been equated with the old musicals in terms of form. A Hard Day's Night and Help! , starring the Beatles , were audacious. Most of the musical films of the 1950s and 1960s such as Oklahoma! and The Sound of Music were straightforward adaptations or restagings of successful stage productions. The most successful musicals of
6831-431: The golden age of the Soviet musical of the 1930s and 1940s. Then-head of the film industry Boris Shumyatsky sought to emulate Hollywood's conveyor belt method of production, going so far as to suggest the establishment of a Soviet Hollywood. The Band Wagon The Band Wagon is a 1953 American musical romantic comedy film directed by Vincente Minnelli , starring Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse . It tells
6930-453: The highest-grossing film ever produced until 1939. Suddenly, the market became flooded with musicals, revues, and operettas. The following all-color musicals were produced in 1929 and 1930 alone: The Hollywood Revue of 1929 (1929), The Show of Shows (1929), Sally (1929), The Vagabond King (1930), Follow Thru (1930), Bright Lights (1930), Golden Dawn (1930), Hold Everything (1930), The Rogue Song (1930), Song of
7029-641: The late 1980s, Hindi cinema experienced another period of stagnation, with a decline in box office turnout, due to increasing violence, decline in musical melodic quality, and rise in video piracy, leading to middle-class family audiences abandoning theaters. The turning point came with Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988), directed by Mansoor Khan , written and produced by his father Nasir Hussain , and starring his cousin Aamir Khan with Juhi Chawla . Its blend of youthfulness, wholesome entertainment, emotional quotients and strong melodies lured family audiences back to
7128-643: The masala film genre was Amar Akbar Anthony (1977), directed by Manmohan Desai and written by Kader Khan . Manmohan Desai went on to successfully exploit the genre in the 1970s and 1980s. Along with Bachchan, other popular actors of this era included Feroz Khan , Mithun Chakraborty , Naseeruddin Shah , Jackie Shroff , Sanjay Dutt , Anil Kapoor and Sunny Deol . Actresses from this era included Hema Malini , Jaya Bachchan , Raakhee , Shabana Azmi , Zeenat Aman , Parveen Babi , Rekha , Dimple Kapadia , Smita Patil , Jaya Prada and Padmini Kolhapure . In
7227-508: The music from films that were then being released. For example, Life of the Party (1930) was originally produced as an all-color, all-talking musical comedy. Before it was released, however, the songs were cut out. The same thing happened to Fifty Million Frenchmen (1931) and Manhattan Parade (1932) both of which had been filmed entirely in Technicolor . Marlene Dietrich sang songs successfully in her films, and Rodgers and Hart wrote
7326-529: The musical film format that emerged from early Hollywood sound films. Other early influences on Bombay filmmakers included Urdu literature and the Arabian Nights . The first Indian sound film, Ardeshir Irani 's Alam Ara (1931), was a major commercial success. There was clearly a huge market for talkies and musicals; Bollywood and all the regional film industries quickly switched to sound filming. In 1937, Ardeshir Irani, of Alam Ara fame, made
7425-566: The musical's heyday. They include 1776 , The Wiz , At Long Last Love , Mame , Man of La Mancha , Lost Horizon , Godspell , Phantom of the Paradise , Funny Lady ( Barbra Streisand 's sequel to Funny Girl ), A Little Night Music , and Hair amongst others. The critical wrath against At Long Last Love , in particular, was so strong that it was never released on home video. Fantasy musical films Scrooge , The Blue Bird , The Little Prince , Willy Wonka &
7524-564: The original Greek story. As soon as Jeffrey hears Lily outline the play, he declares it to be a brilliant reinterpretation of the Faust legend, which should star Tony and himself as the characters corresponding to Faust and the Devil. The Martons are delighted that he will be acting as well as directing, but Tony is dubious about the Faust idea. Jeffrey declares that the boundaries between genres in
7623-558: The other Charisse songs, her singing was dubbed by India Adams . Adams' recording of the song was reused for Torch Song (1953) for a musical number featuring Joan Crawford . The MGM retrospective That's Entertainment! III (1994) released the Charisse version to the public for the first time. This footage was included with the 2005 DVD release of The Band Wagon . In seven weeks at Radio City Music Hall in New York City,
7722-536: The paintings by famous artists on the wall are better reproductions than usual in a hotel; he says they are his own property, and are originals. She recognizes a painting of ballerinas as an early Degas . Tony and Gaby put their troubles aside, go for a horse-drawn carriage ride, dance together, and realize they can work together after all. They also begin to fall in love. When the first out-of-town tryout in New Haven proves disastrous, Tony demands that Jeffrey convert
7821-511: The premiere of the R&;B band Bloodstone 's movie Train Ride to Hollywood , but problems in distribution rendered it barely getting token theatrical release. The year 1976 saw the release of the low-budget comic musical, The First Nudie Musical , released by Paramount. The 1978 film version of Grease was a smash hit; its songs were original compositions done in a 1950s pop style. However,
7920-464: The production back into the light comedy that the Martons had envisioned. Jeffrey says that while they will have to find new backers because the original ones have walked out, he will be happy to appear in that show—if Tony is in charge of it. Tony accepts, using his art collection to finance the production. Paul says the show is no longer suitable for Gaby and walks out, expecting her to follow, but she
8019-473: The production, along with Paul Byrd, who is her boyfriend, choreographer, and manager—even though he always insisted that a musical play would be beneath her. When Tony and Gaby meet, they become sarcastic and hostile to each other, but this is actually because they are insecure: Each of them feels much less talented than the other. Eventually, it all proves too much for Tony, and he walks out. Gaby follows to meet him privately. In his hotel room, she comments that
8118-540: The pure entertainment and theatricality of classical-era Hollywood musicals was seen as old-fashioned. Despite this, Fiddler on the Roof and Cabaret were more traditional musicals closely adapted from stage shows and were strong successes with critics and audiences. Changing cultural mores and the abandonment of the Hays Code in 1968 also contributed to changing tastes in film audiences. The 1973 film of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice 's Jesus Christ Superstar
8217-730: The sequel Grease 2 (released in 1982) bombed at the box-office. Films about performers which incorporated gritty drama and musical numbers interwoven as a diegetic part of the storyline were produced, such as Lady Sings the Blues , All That Jazz , and New York, New York . Some musicals made in Britain experimented with the form, such as Richard Attenborough 's Oh! What a Lovely War (released in 1969), Alan Parker 's Bugsy Malone and Ken Russell 's Tommy and Lisztomania . A number of film musicals were still being made that were financially and/or critically less successful than in
8316-592: The show to Broadway. Gary Griffin directed, with a book by Douglas Carter Beane and choreography by Warren Carlyle. The cast included Patrick Page as the "deliciously pretentious" director-actor-producer Jeffrey Cordova, Mara Davi playing Gabrielle Gerard, and Scott Bakula as "song-and-dance man" Tony Hunter. In the Variety review of the musical, Bob Verini wrote: "There's no reason this reconstituted Band Wagon can't soar once it jettisons its extraneous and self-contradictory elements." A revised version of
8415-685: The silent era. The beginnings of the Spanish musical were focused on romantic Spanish archetypes: Andalusian villages and landscapes, gypsies, "bandoleros", and copla and other popular folk songs included in story development. These films had even more box-office success than Hollywood premieres in Spain. The first Spanish film stars came from the musical genre: Imperio Argentina , Estrellita Castro , Florián Rey (director) and, later, Lola Flores , Sara Montiel and Carmen Sevilla . The Spanish musical started to expand and grow. Juvenile stars appear and top
8514-430: The start of the 1970s, Hindi cinema was experiencing thematic stagnation, dominated by musical romance films . The arrival of screenwriter duo Salim–Javed , consisting of Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar , marked a paradigm shift, revitalizing the industry. They began the genre of gritty, violent, Bombay underworld crime films in the early 1970s, with films such as Zanjeer (1973) and Deewaar (1975). The 1970s
8613-974: The story and characters with balances in fantasy numbers and grounded reality. It received 14 nominations at the 89th Academy Awards , tying the record for most nominations with All About Eve (1950) and Titanic (1997), and won the awards for Best Director , Best Actress , Best Cinematography , Best Original Score , Best Original Song , and Best Production Design . In 2013, NBC produced The Sound of Music Live! as part of their effort for expanded live entertainment events, which became an annual tradition of adaptations of stage musicals, created specifically as live television events. The following years featured Peter Pan Live! , The Wiz Live! , Hairspray Live! , Jesus Christ Superstar Live! , Dr. Seuss' The Grinch Musical Live! , and Annie Live! . ABC and Fox also produced similar events, including Grease Live! , A Christmas Story Live! , Rent: Live , and The Little Mermaid Live! . An exception to
8712-453: The story of an aging musical star who hopes a Broadway show will revive his career. However, the play's director wants to make it a pretentious retelling of the Faust legend and brings in a prima ballerina who clashes with the star. Along with An American in Paris (1951) and Singin' in the Rain (1952), it is regarded as one of the finest Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musicals, although it
8811-442: The studio's top cameraman Ira H. Morgan and director William Beaudine joining forces to make the economically staged scenes look more elaborate. Musical comedy film The musical film was a natural development of the stage musical after the emergence of sound film technology. Typically, the biggest difference between film and stage musicals is the use of lavish background scenery and locations that would be impractical in
8910-429: The theater are artificial, and " Bill Shakespeare " and Bill Robinson are all parts of the same whole. Tony agrees, and Jeffrey has the Martons rewrite the play as a dark, pretentious musical drama (when Lester also becomes dubious, Lily insists that one person must be in charge and Jeffrey can succeed at anything). Jeffrey does succeed in arranging for the beautiful and talented ballerina Gabrielle "Gaby" Gerard to join
9009-461: Was Adolph Deutsch and the production was designed by Oliver Smith working for the first time in motion pictures. The film was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Costume Design, Color , Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture and Best Writing, Story and Screenplay . Screenwriters Betty Comden and Adolph Green , who received the nomination for the screenplay, patterned the film's characters Lester and Lily Marton after themselves; however,
9108-408: Was a blockbuster hit. Theaters scrambled to install the new sound equipment and to hire Broadway composers to write musicals for the screen. The first all-talking feature, Lights of New York , included a musical sequence in a night club. The enthusiasm of audiences was so great that in less than a year all the major studios were making sound pictures exclusively. The Broadway Melody (1929) had
9207-456: Was a box-office disappointment on first release. The songs were written by the team of composer Arthur Schwartz and lyricist Howard Dietz . Schwartz was a prolific Hollywood composer who teamed with numerous lyricists over the years, while Dietz, a studio publicist, generally collaborated with Schwartz. Some of the songs in the film had been created for the original 1931 Broadway musical by Schwartz and Dietz, also titled The Band Wagon , with
9306-500: Was also coaxed out of retirement for Easter Parade and made a permanent comeback. The other Hollywood studios proved themselves equally adept at tackling the genre at this time, particularly in the 1950s. Four adaptations of Rodgers and Hammerstein shows - Oklahoma! , The King and I , Carousel , and South Pacific - were all successes, while Paramount Pictures released White Christmas and Funny Face , two films which used previously written music by Irving Berlin and
9405-435: Was also when the name "Bollywood" was coined, and when the quintessential conventions of commercial Bollywood films were established. Key to this was the emergence of the masala film genre, which combines elements of multiple genres ( action , comedy , romance , drama , melodrama , musical). The masala film was pioneered in the early 1970s by filmmaker Nasir Hussain , along with screenwriter duo Salim-Javed, pioneering
9504-448: Was directly inspired by Bollywood musicals. The film pays homage to India, incorporating an Indian-themed play and a Bollywood-style dance sequence with a song from the film China Gate . The critical and financial success of Moulin Rouge! renewed interest in the then-moribund Western live action musical genre, and subsequently films such as Chicago , The Producers , Rent , Dreamgirls , and Hairspray were produced, fueling
9603-477: Was from the original Broadway production. Astaire's early number in the film, "A Shine on Your Shoes", was written for a 1932 Broadway revue with music and lyrics by Dietz and Schwartz titled Flying Colors . (It was originally performed by the dancing team of Buddy and Vilma Ebsen ). In the film version of The Band Wagon , the song was reworked as a specialty number by jazz arranger Skip Martin to showcase all of Astaire's musical talents. The musical director
9702-448: Was met with some criticism by religious groups but was well received. By the mid-1970s, filmmakers avoided the genre in favor of using music by popular rock or pop bands as background music, partly in hope of selling a soundtrack album to fans. The Rocky Horror Picture Show was originally released in 1975 and was a critical failure until it started midnight screenings in the 1980s where it achieved cult status. That same year also saw
9801-553: Was the way everything seems to mesh so seamlessly--almost effortlessly, in fact. That was due to Minnelli, whose flair and imagination, admittedly aided by the huge array of MGM talent both behind and in front of the cameras, was matched by his almost perfect control." A musical stage adaptation, titled Dancing in the Dark , ran at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego from March 4 to April 20, 2008, with plans to bring
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