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2 days ago · 100 Best Musical Movies of All Time. Holiday Inn turns 80, and Hairspray celebrates its 15th anniversary this year! If you’ve got a song in your heart, we’ve got a list for your eyes: The...
- Cabaret (1972) Like many of the greatest musicals, Cabaret is about show business, but its hands grasp out luridly beyond itself. In Bob Fosse’s sordid, magnetic, exhilarating depiction of a Weimar-era nightclub, the sexy and creepy entertainment onstage serves as a grotesque funhouse reflection of the darkening reality of Germany; the divinely decadent party of the Kit Kat Klub is on the verge of death, and the Nazi party—with its signature goose step, like a kick line gone bad—is waiting in the wings.
- Singin' in the Rain (1952) Is there a better rainy-day movie than this? Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly’s musical comedy about the birth pangs of “talking pictures” is a rush of pure, undiluted joy.
- West Side Story (2021) Film. Musical. Is it blasphemous to suggest the Steven Spielberg remake is better than the beloved 1961 original? It shouldn’t be. After all, it’s Spielberg, who applies every cinematic trick he knows to bring the old story of starred-crossed lovers and sing-fighting street gangs in 1950s New York roaring into the 21st century.
- The Wizard of Oz (1939) She sings wistfully, staring off toward an unseen horizon. Her dog looks too. And in less than three minutes of screen time, the whole of adolescent dreaminess is delivered to your wet eyes.
Mar 20, 2024 · 50 Best Musical Movies of All Time, From Timeless Classics to New Favorites. You won't be able to resist singing along to these melodic flicks! By Hannah Jeon and Adrianna Freedman Updated:...
- 30 'Mary Poppins'
- 29 'Fiddler on The Roof'
- 28 'The Lion King'
- 27 'My Fair Lady'
- 26 'Meet Me in St. Louis'
- 25 'A Star Is Born'
- 24 'Chicago'
- 23 'A Hard Day's Night'
- 22 'Hedwig and The Angry Inch'
- 21 'Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street'
Director: Robert Stevenson
As perhaps one of the most popular family-friendly musicals of all time (and one of the best movies of 1964), Mary Poppinsis one title that's likely familiar to many. It's a Disney classic in many ways, telling the unusual yet interesting story of a magical nanny caring for two children, with the trio going on all sorts of strange adventures, learning about the world around them. Get past the weirdly dark scenes and some annoying accents and there's a great deal to appreciate in Mary Poppins....
Director: Norman Jewison
A mammoth-length musical film that runs for approximately three hours, Fiddler on the Roof could well be considered a true epic, and quite a good one at that. It's a film adaptation of the beloved stage musical of the same name, and centers on a family dealing with love, loss, and the struggles of getting by in Czarist Russia during the early years of the 20th century. It's the rare time when what's put on screen does justice to what was already widely celebrated on stage, and as such, it's a...
Directors: Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff
Released in 1994, which was one of cinema's best-ever years, The Lion King is a phenomenal animated movie that manages to be a comedy, family film, drama, and musical all at once. It tells the story of a young lion prince who's banished by his evil uncle, Scar, and returns to his homeland as a young adult, looking to right the wrongs Scar's done during that time. The Lion King has so much going on at the same time, yet still feels coherent and equally satisfying to watch as both a kid and an...
Director: George Cukor
1964 was a big year for big, ambitious musicals, as not only did it see the release of the aforementioned Mary Poppins, but so too was 1964 the year that My Fair Ladycame out. It was also a monumentally successful movie, winning a total of eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture. It runs for almost three hours, and its narrative is centered around the unlikely romance that develops between an upper-class man who takes a working-class girl and attempts to transform her into a member of hi...
Director: Vincente Minnelli
A breezy movie that nonetheless has some subtly dark aspects to it, Meet Me in St. Louis is one of the most well-known musicals of the 1940s. It begins shortly before the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, and follows several daughters who all learn about life and love, singing their hearts out all the while. It's a very colorful movie, and is well-presented overall thanks to the direction of Vincente Minnelli, who was one of the most acclaimed musical directors of his time. It certainly feels like...
Director: George Cukor
Modern-day viewers might be most familiar with the 2018 version that stars Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga, but the 1954 version of A Star Is Born remains the best. That being said, it's not the original. Aside from the two aforementioned versions, A Star Is Born's storyhas also been told in 1937 and 1976 versions. The tragic romantic story about a young female singer experiencing a rise to power while her older partner endures a fall from grace seems to be a generation-crossing one that audienc...
Director: Rob Marshall
Not only is Chicago a great musical, but it's also a surprisingly great darkly comedic crime movie, too. It's a satirical look at the similarities between infamy and fame, following two women who find themselves on death row in the titular city during the 1920s and will stop at nothing to avoid execution. To some extent, traditional musicals went out of fashion in the 1980s and 1990s, with unabashedly bold and music-heavy films like Chicago ultimately helping the genre become trendy once more...
Director: Richard Lester
Of all the movies featuring the members of The Beatles during their short-lived but tremendously influential time together as a band, A Hard Day's Nightstands as their best. Narratively, it's exceedingly simple: it simply follows the band members around a comedically heightened version of England in the 1960s as they get into trouble and try to avoid crowds of obsessive fans. A Hard Day's Night succeeds thanks to its uniquely offbeat sense of humor, the natural chemistry of the band back when...
Director: John Cameron Mitchell
Hedwig and the Angry Inchis an explosive musical that blends comedy and drama, and focuses on a gender-queer punk/rock singer named Hedwig. She's a fictional character, but the film unfolds sort of like a biographical rock musical, with the story covering her turbulent life story that begins in East Berlin around the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall. It's an iconic LGBTQ movie, and though it failed to find an audience upon release in 2001, despite strong review (perhaps it was too out-ther...
Director: Tim Burton
There aren't too many musicals that combine crime and horror elements with a story that's told entirely through music, which makes Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Streetstand out from the crowd. The title character is a serial killer who murders his customers and gives the bodies to his partner-in-crime, Mrs. Lovett, who bakes their body parts into pies. Sweeney Todd is incredibly morbid, but might prove to have a very dark sense of humor for those who like their comedy pitch-black. T...
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- Feature Writer/Senior List Writer
- Dreamgirls (2006) Winner of two Oscars and three Golden Globes, director Bill Condon's vivid adaption of the Tony Award-winning 1981 stage musical—about a pop music group The Dreams and their struggles with fame and fortune—is uneven, but occasionally flat-out brilliant thanks to a star-making turn from Jennifer Hudson.
- The Color Purple (2023) Blitz Bazawule's adaptation of the Broadway musical based on the Alice Walker novel (which was previously adapted by Steven Spielberg into the 1985 film) is everything a movie musical should be.
- Fame (1980) Alan Parker‘s teen drama loosely inspired by A Chorus Line chronicles the life and times of students at New York City’s High School of Performing Arts.
- Tommy: The Movie (1975) That deaf, dumb and blind kid sure plays a mean pinball in an affably gonzo '70s acid trip.
The 57 best musical films of all time. 1. Singin' in the Rain (1952) G | 103 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance. A silent film star falls for a chorus girl just as he and his delusionally jealous screen partner are trying to make the difficult transition to talking pictures in 1920s Hollywood.
Mar 7, 2024 · With their unforgettable scores, stunning performances, and stories that resonate across generations, it's no wonder they've become benchmarks for what makes a great musical movie. Crafting a list of the best musical movies of all time is no small feat, but don't sweat it—we've got you covered.
