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Top 25 MusicalsThis is a list of the best musicals ever put on film. The list was compiled by aggregating multiple best-of lists (see resources at bottom of page) along with films’ overall status in Dave’s Movie Database. 1. Singin’ in the Rain (1952) 2. West Side Story (1961) 3. The Sound of Music (1965) 4. The Wizard of Oz (1939) 5. Grease (1978)
6. Cabaret (1972)
11. La La Land (2016)
16. Top Hat (1935)
21. All That Jazz (1979) Resources:
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| The Sound of MusicReleased: April 1, 1965 Studio: 20th Century Fox Genre: musical/romance Box Office (numbers in millions): Domestic: 163.21 Worldwide: ? Adjusted for Inflation: Domestic: 1397.92 Worldwide: 2884.00 |
Directing: Robert Wise Screenwriting: Ernest Lehman Starring: Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Eleanor Parker, Peggy Wood Review:Music, comedy, romance, and drama “are woven perfectly into this beautiful film” VD “adaptation of the Rodgers and Hammerstein Broadway musical,” A7 which, in turn, was based on the true story of the von Trapp family. Maria (Andrews) is a restless nun prone to daydreaming and, as seen in the memorable opening, roaming the hills and belting out the title song. When it becomes clear the Abbey isn’t for her, she’s assigned as the governess to the von Trapp family. The seven children, ages 5 to 16, “have a well-deserved reputation for scaring off caretakers, but Maria wins them over” FS with their shared love of music through songs like “Do-Re-Mi” and “My Favorite Things,” which became iconic because of the movie. It takes a bit more effort, but she also warms the heart of their stern, widowed father, Captain von Trapp (Plummer). Their blossoming romance, however, is overshadowed by the impending threat of Nazi occupation in their native Austria. Maria and the von Trapps have to find a way to escape before their country is invaded. Sources:
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Oscars:Wins: 5 – including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Sound, Best Adapted Score, Best Film Editing Nominations: 10 – including Best Actress (Andrews), Best Supporting Actress (Wood), Best Color Cinematography, Best Color Art Direction/Set Decoration, Best Color Costume Design Awards:
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| My Fair LadyReleased: December 25, 1964 Studio: Warner Bros. Genre: musical/romance/comedy Box Office (numbers in millions):Domestic: 72.00 Worldwide: ? Adjusted for Inflation:Domestic: 589.27 Worldwide: 1015.95 |
Directing: George Cukor Screenwriting: Alan Jay Lerner, Frederick Loewe Starring: Rex Harrison, Audrey Hepburn, Stanley Holloway, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Gladys Cooper, Theodore Bikel Review:Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe crafted one of Broadway’s most successful musicals of all time out of George Bernard Shaw’s 1913 play Pygmalion and then adapted the screenplay to be one of Hollywood’s most successful films of all time. Rex Harrison repeated his Tony Award-winning Broadway performance of Henry Higgins, an arrogant linguistics professor, for the screen and was awarded again, this time with an Oscar for Best Actor. He bets he can transform Eliza Doolittle (Hepburn), “a lowly, unrefined flower girl into a sophisticated, elite woman,” VD “just by teaching her to speak properly.” A98 Higgins ends up falling for his street-urchin-pupil-turned-proper-lady by the end. The ”lushly produced” VD is marked by “terrific tunes” VD including “I Could Have Danced All Night,” and “Wouldn’t It Be Lovely,” and “The Rain in Spain.” Sources:
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Oscars:Wins: 8 – including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Harrison), Best Color Cinematography, Best Color Art Direction/Set Decoration, Best Sound, Best Score, Best Color Costume Design Nominations: 12 – including Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor (Holloway), Best Supporting Actress (Cooper), Best Film Editing Other Awards:
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| Singin’ in the RainReleased: March 27, 1952 Studio: MGM Genre: musical/comedy Box Office (numbers in millions): Domestic: 8.82 Worldwide: ? Adjusted for Inflation: Domestic: 27.20 Worldwide: ? |
Directing: Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly Screenwriting: Adolph Green, Betty Comden Starring: Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Jean Hagen, Cyd Charisse Review:Certainly “one of Hollywood's best-loved musical comedies,” MSN Singin’ in the Rain is “perhaps the greatest movie musical of all time.” LM Kelly stars and co-directs with Stanley Donen, a Lifetime Achievement Oscar-winner. The musical “boasts a terrific Arthur Freed/Nacio Herb Brown songbook [and] a very funny script by Adolph Green and Betty Comden.” TV The story is “a satire on the panic that gripped Tinseltown when the motion-picture industry changed from silent films to sound.” VD “Vaudeville, silent film actor/dancer Don Lockwood (Kelly) and co-star actress Lina Lamont (Hagen) are at the height of box-office popularity, but with the advent of sound, shrill-voiced Lina’s first talkie The Duelling Cavalier with swashbuckling Lockwood is laughable before studio preview audiences.” FS As “the silent-screen triple threat (‘She can’t act, she can’t sing and she can’t dance’)” TV “whose voice could shatter glass,” LM Hagen gives “the performance of a lifetime.” LM Lockwood’s “aspiring ingenue girlfriend Kathy Selden (Reynolds) is recruited to rescue their first film – remade as a musical re-titled The Dancing Cavalier, with Kathy secretly dubbing over Lina’s voice. The voice-dubbing deception is ultimately exposed, and love blossoms.” FS The movie features some of the best singing and dancing ever put to film, mostly through Kelly’s work, but also because of Reynolds and O’Connor. The title song with Kelly singing and dancing around light posts in the rain, is “one of the most famous scenes ever filmed.” VD “If there’s a stretch of celluloid more joyous than Gene Kelly’s triumphant splash through the title song, we haven’t seen it.” TV Kelly wasn’t feeling as joyful as the scene looks; he had a fever of 103 degrees. MSN In addition, “Donald O’Connor’s "Make ‘Em Laugh" is pure choreographed delirium,” TV but the original “footage had been accidentally destroyed and had to be reshot.” MSN Sources:
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