The Musicals List Discussion and Suggestions (Genre Project)

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tarpilot
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Re: The Musicals List Discussion and Suggestions (Genre Proj

#476 Post by tarpilot » Wed Dec 21, 2011 4:59 pm

So heartened to see Love Me Tonight place so high! I watched just under 30 films for this project, not enough to wipe out even a fifth of my initial to-see list, but I found a half-dozen I’d be comfortable calling all-time favourites regardless of genre and only a precious few out-and-out stinkers, and that’s a pretty good ratio in my book.

Top Ten:
1 Love Me Tonight (Rouben Mamoulian, 1932)
2 Good News (Charles Walters, 1947)
3 Cabin in the Sky (Vincente Minnelli, 1943)
4 Artists and Models (Frank Tashlin, 1955)
5 Singin’ in the Rain (Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly, 1952)
6 Top Hat (Mark Sandrich, 1935)
7 My Sister Eileen (Richard Quine, 1955)
8 Dames (Ray Enright & Busby Berkeley, 1934)
9 Broadway Melody of 1936 (Roy Del Ruth & W.S. Van Dyke, 1935)
10 Rock-A-Bye Baby (Frank Tashlin, 1957)

Orphans:
#10 ROCK-A-BYE BABY Frank Tashlin, 1958
One of my favourite sequences in my favourite Tashlin after Artists and Models.

#15 UP, DOWN, FRAGILE Jacques Rivette, 1995

#22 YOLANDA AND THE THIEF Vincente Minnelli, 1945
One in which the non-musical aspects are every bit as essential to me. There’s an early joke here that works ostensibly as a throwaway gag but seems one of the film's key moments: Lucille Bremer’s titular princess arrives at her newly-inherited estate on her 18th birthday, her aunt doling out introductions, attempting to loudly reminisce and locate someone in the vast crowd of mansion personnel who remembers sending Yolanda off for schooling when she was a child, but all she can find are either temporary workers or brand new ones, with this inability to find even a loosely tangible connection to the past instills a distinctly, enormously sad undercurrent and functions beautifully as a thematic extension of the already-mystical “Patria” (anything can happen, dontchaknow).

#25 SUNNYSIDE UP David Butler, 1929
An impressive visual spectacle that, if overlong and saddled with the inevitable difficulties associated with being a musical at the onset of the sound era, manages to coast by extraordinarily well on charm and chemistry. The film opens with a jaw-dropping 3-minute shot that takes us through the inhabitants of a NYC housing project (featuring a quintessentially pre-code joke about birth control!) and the second half features some gorgeously surreal passages that include a sequence in which a portrait of Janet Gaynor comes to life and urges Charles Farrell to go after her real-life counterpart.

#29 LA DOLOROSA Jean Gremillon, 1934

#30 SESAME STREET PRESENTS: FOLLOW THAT BIRD Ken Kwapis, 1985
Leftover childhood appreciation is of course a part of it, but this is one of the best examples of childrens’ entertainment made in the last 30 years and Big Bird's “I'm So Blue” (song w/o video, Nostalgia Critic appreciation w/ clip) is one of the undeniable high points of the entire Henson canon.

#31 ALICE IN WONDERLAND: AN X-RATED MUSICAL FANTASY Bud Townsend, 1976
Pre-defended it here. I swear I didn’t mean for having a porno after Sesame Street to be a smartass juxtaposition!

#32 THE AMERICAN ASTRONAUT Cory McAbee, 2001
Wish I had made more of an effort to promote this. A rock musical in the lovably smarmy Phantom of the Paradise tradition (also on my list), it's astoundingly inventive and resourceful in its visuals and would also probably make my sci-fi list without much deliberation. John Waters and Guy Maddin fans need apply.

#33 TRUE STORIES David Byrne, 1986
I suppose being a massive Byrne/Heads fan made it inevitable, but I actually deliberated with myself for quite a while before finally adding it. It comes very close to almost taking on the form of a revue, but there is a narrative, and a love story (kinda), and it’s so in love with music and performance that I couldn’t justify its exclusion. I’m firmly of the opinion that John Goodman is one of the finest comic actors we have (not to disregard his very strong dramatic roles), and if he had more consistently outstanding film work I think he could very well have filled the James Stewart void in American movies.

#36 HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH James Cameron Mitchell, 2001
Just a difference in taste thing? I guess I could see how Mitchell could grate on people but I think this is the rare case of something deserving of every morsel of its cult.

#37 THE 5000 FINGERS OF DR. T Roy Rowland, 1953

#40 MADAM SATAN Cecil B. DeMille, 1931
One of my first pre-code experiences; wonderfully unhinged.

#41 GOLD DIGGERS OF 1937 Lloyd Bacon & Busby Berkeley, 1936

#46 CAREFREE Mark Sandrich, 1938

#47 BROADWAY MELODY OF 1938 Roy Del Ruth, 1937

#48 YOU WERE NEVER LOVELIER George A. Seiter, 1942

#50 COLMA: THE MUSICAL David Wong, 2006
You would certainly be forgiven for being so put off by the premise -- an ethnically diverse cast of mallrats belting out cheap casio tunes about growing up and coming out -- to prematurely write off the entire thing as a proto-Glee-meets-Improv-Everywhere trainwreck, but Wong and actor/songwriter H.P. Mendoza display a genuine affection and affinity for the classical musical form as well as a welcome perspective on what has become the de facto coming-of-age framework. Wong’s attempts to dress up his sub-$20K budget with everything-but-the-kitchen-sink visual conceits include an ambitious use of split-screen that sees its inventive peak in a bit where the left panel stays on a close-up of a Polaroid drying on the fridge while the right depicts the picture’s female subject being chatted up by our male protagonist. The first half’s liberal use of ‘faggot’ and Araki-esque fuck-offs is fascinatingly confronted in a mid-film shift when Mendoza’s character is beaten bloody by his father after a closet-opening visit by his ex-boyfriend. A large number of the jokes are gracelessly DOA, but its generally amiable mix of ribaldry and sweetness and its handful of brilliant moments make it an ideal number 50 on my list.
Last edited by tarpilot on Wed Dec 21, 2011 7:59 pm, edited 3 times in total.

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Cold Bishop
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Re: The Musicals List Discussion and Suggestions (Genre Proj

#477 Post by Cold Bishop » Wed Dec 21, 2011 5:27 pm

Well, since no one wants to get this discussion rolling, I'll be the first (Edit: second)... and I won't let the fact that I didn't turn in a list stop me. :)

Top Hat OVER Swing Time!?... If you put the first two-thirds of each film against each other, I'd agree, but the last act of Top Hat is such a deflating bore of a farce that even the studio knew they had to edit down the big finale, lest they destroy all the good will built up before. Swing Time is the default Astaire-Rogers masterpiece, not because it does everything right, but unlike the other films (including The Gay Divorcee), it doesn't do anything wrong.

42nd Street OVER The Gold Diggers of 1933?!... This is where my hypothetical list may have helped. 42nd Street is a nice statement of purpose, but 1933 is where the vision is polished and pushed to its most startling and effecting.

With that said, it doesn't look like me adding a list would have changed much: it may have launched a few films out of orphan purgatory: At Long Last Love, Dance Girl Dance (whoever voted for this, I owe you a "swapsie" on any future list), La Dolorosa and Threepenny Opera (although the late 70s NYSF album remains the definitive cast recording) probably the likeliest.

It would have also shooken up the order... but probably not by much. Top Hat would have been pushed out of the top five, for sure, although the actual ten would have remained up there. Pennies from Heaven (!) would have been considerably higher. The same goes for I Love Melvin and Give a Girl a Break... you guys really dropped the ball on those two. As far as orphans go, the three obvious entries for me: Moon Over Harlem, Edgar Ulmer's no-budget all-black underworld musical, undoubtedly roughly made, but it has plenty of charm; New Snake Princess, a 1960s samurai-musical starring superstar Misora Hibari; Shanghai Blues, from when Tsui Hark could do no wrong.

The most successful surprise this cycle has to be the two Charles Walter films which, I have to admit, it pains me not to have seen yet.

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swo17
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Re: The Musicals List Discussion and Suggestions (Genre Proj

#478 Post by swo17 » Wed Dec 21, 2011 5:45 pm

I would have voted for La dolorosa and Threepenny Opera as well and, between the two of us, we might have put GD33 in the top 10. I feel mildly ashamed though to have only presently seen one of the eight '50s musicals appearing in the top 25. :oops:

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Re: The Musicals List Discussion and Suggestions (Genre Proj

#479 Post by JakeB » Wed Dec 21, 2011 6:06 pm

I only saw Carousel (1956) for the first time this week, and immediately did a forum search for mentions. Not only were there none in this thread, but the only mentions on the board are negative!
Are there any fans out of the people who didn't end up contributing lists? I particularly loved the "June Is Bustin' Out All Over" number, and "Soliloquy", where Billy shifts from narcissism to a naive form of selflessness that leads to his death. I also highly enjoyed Billy's fruitless return as a ghost, including the beautiful dream ballet-esque musical sequence where his daughter dances on a human carousel. The scope photography and choreography in general are stunning too.

I really wish I'd pushed on and got a list together now. I have no idea how many I watched, but I doubt I have seen enough I truly enjoyed to make a top 50 list.

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domino harvey
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Re: The Musicals List Discussion and Suggestions (Genre Proj

#480 Post by domino harvey » Wed Dec 21, 2011 6:11 pm

Cold Bishop wrote:The most successful surprise this cycle has to be the two Charles Walter films which, I have to admit, it pains me not to have seen yet.
Though there were a lot of crushing disappointments re: Orphans, the two huge successes of this list are the fantastic showings for two of my long-waxed prized pets on the board, Lili and My Sister Eileen. Lili's showing is of course especially notable since there's no DVD release anywhere (except maybe Spain?), so backchannels or TCM definitely aided, as this is a film you have to work to see and that many did and ranked it so highly makes me very happy indeed-- at one point it was the number one film on the dynamic list, and what a canon-blaster that would've been! As for My Sister Eileen, golly, I have been talking myself blue over this film and Quine for quite a while with seemingly no one listening, but it finally paid off in a big way, and this makes up for every failed swapsie and orphan ever encountered in one of these lists. Couldn't be prouder of "my" little film that could.

Top Ten + Orphans
01 the Band Wagon (Vincente Minnelli 1953)
02 My Sister Eileen (Richard Quine 1955)
03 Lili (Charles Walters 1953)
04 On the Town (Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly 1949)
05 Daddy Long Legs (Jean Negulesco 1955)
06 Calamity Jane (David Butler 1953)
07 Good News (Charles Walters 1947)
08 Singin in the Rain (Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly 1952)
09 Li'l Abner (Melvin Frank 1959)
10 At Long Last Love (Peter Bogdanovich 1975)
ALSO ORPHAN
21 the Girl Next Door (Richard Sale 1953)
22 Two Tickets to Broadway (James V Kern 1951)
If you only buy one musical from the Warner Archives, this is the one. C'mon.
24 Hollywood or Bust (Frank Tashlin 1955) I only voted for this and its sister film for my Tashlins, but I am sympathetic to the others to receive votes-- only so many spots, but how could I deny a place on my list for the wild and wooly west?
29 Best Foot Forward (Edward Buzzell 1943) I assume its scarcity led to its poor showing, but this is one of the best self-reflexive musicals around, with Lucille Ball playing herself and June Allyson and crew performing dazzling numbers around her.
34 Small Town Girl (László Kardos 1953) The best of the "small town" musicals, easily.
35 Godspell (David Greene 1973)
37 Merry Andrew (Michael Kidd 1958)
38 It Happened in Brooklyn (Richard Whorf 1947)
Perennial favorite-- a bit of a programmer, but its loose, low-budget construction and its grand talent on display make it a musical its always fun to revisit.
39 Paris Blues (Martin Ritt 1961) My favorite of the subset of jazz obsessed flicks coming out around this time, featuring the nth pairing of Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman alongside Hollywood's token black stars of the period, Sidney Poitier and Diahann Carroll, with wonderful location shooting, authentic tunes, and beautiful cinematography.
42 Lucky Me (Jack Donohue 1954)
43 Red Garters (George Marshall 1954)
44 the Girl Most Likely (Mitchell Leisen 1957)
47 Presenting Lily Mars (Norman Taurog 1943)
Proof that Taurog made a memorable film post-Skippy
48 Thousands Cheer (George Sidney 1943) The best of the war-era filmed USO show musicals.
49 Can-Can (Walter Lang 1960) Typical uber-lavish Fox musical with their man Lang at the helm, but one that fairs a little bit better than its brethren thanks to game performances by the reteamed Shirley MacLaine and Frank Sinatra.
50 Juke Box Rhythm (Arthur Dreifuss 1959)

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swo17
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Re: The Musicals List Discussion and Suggestions (Genre Proj

#481 Post by swo17 » Wed Dec 21, 2011 6:43 pm

I also would have voted for Best Foot Forward and Bambi. If only you guys would have given me a six-month window in which to fill in sufficient gaps in my viewing to be able to come up with a top 50 list or something.

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zedz
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Re: The Musicals List Discussion and Suggestions (Genre Proj

#482 Post by zedz » Wed Dec 21, 2011 6:55 pm

My top twenty, with orphans boldly stigmatized. As mentioned above, I tried to keep my top ten reserved for ‘pure’ (or ‘pure’-ish) musicals in the classical Hollywood mould, with 11 to 20 mainly being distinctly non-standard musicals or great films that I love which just happen to be musicals.

1. The Band Wagon (Minnelli, 1953)
2. Singing in the Rain (Donen / Kelly, 1952)
3. Nashville (Altman, 1975)
4. Les Demoiselles de Rochefort (Demy, 1967)
5. Meet Me in St Louis (Minnelli, 1944)
6. Top Hat (Sandrich, 1935)
7. It’s Always Fair Weather (Donen / Kelly, 1955)
8. The Girl Can’t Help It (Tashlin, 1956)
9. On the Town (Donen / Kelly, 1949)
10. Pennies from Heaven (Haggard, 1978)

11. The Hole (Tsai, 1999)
12. Distant Voices, Still Lives (Davies, 1988) – I’m sure I wasn’t the only person talking this up! How did it end up so lonely? Anyway, it’s a great film about how popular song functions in everyday life and a useful reminder that there was a time when ordinary people bursting into song wasn’t just something that happened in the movies.
13. O Lucky Man! (Anderson, 1973) – Well, this is an odd one. Like The Hole, it’s a film that’s been transformed into a musical by the addition of a character strand – though of course it’s an hour or so before you realise that it’s a character strand. I like Alan Price’s song score well enough, but the film is really on my list for its overall quality.
14. The Wicker Man (Hardy, 1973)
15. Red Psalm (Jansco, 1972)
16. Audition (Forman, 1964) – Another defiantly non-standard musical, that barely squeaks by timewise as a feature, being barely over three quarters of an hour in length, but having always been coupled with a half-hour ‘short’. But Forman is just terrific at weaving his fictional narrative through the documentary footage. I’d rather watch this fifteen times in a row that suffer through a series of X-Factor
17. Pinocchio (Hand, 1940) – I see Snow White and Dumbo got through, and I suppose they might be better musicals than Pinocchio, but this is a much better film, probably still the high-water mark for classical animation.
18. Whity (Fassbinder, 1971) – This is a rancid pot pourri of all sorts of different genres, so why not count it as a musical? It’s Hanna Schygulla who manages to make it qualify, performing five songs on screen, though there’s also the closing ‘dance’ and star Gunther Kaufman sings the (wonderful) theme song, ‘I Kill Them.’
19. A Mighty Wind (Guest, 2003) – Very surprised by this omission, since I thought Guest’s films were well-regarded around here. This works pretty well as a straight musical, as the songs are generally strong enough to transcend pastiche, but I confess that it would have made my list solely on the strength of Jennifer Coolidge’s few minutes of screen time.
20. Topsy-Turvy (Leigh, 1999) – I think this is easily Leigh’s best movie-movie, and it really makes smart use of its deconstructed found score.

My Other Orphans:

32. The Cloud-Capped Star (Ghatak, 1960) – I guess this is another musical-on-a-technicality, since it doesn’t play like a Hollywood (or even a Bollywood) musical, but there are enough musical numbers to put it over the edge for me. Most of these boil down to one character, but he does such musical-genre things as bursting into song as he walks along the road, and one of the numbers is a duet with the lead actress. Plus there are other musical numbers performed by tertiary or musical-number-only characters. But mainly it’s here because it’s a great, grim film and the music is generally superb.

33. Hellzapoppin (Potter, 1941) – Again, this exclusion is understandable because for the most part the musical numbers in this film are the dullest part of it all. But I had to rank it because of that one number which is among the greatest ever filmed.

42. New York, New York (Scorsese, 1977) – And here I was thinking this was a hot contender to be the most overpraised film on the list. Weird. I don’t think the film works that well as a whole, but I admire what Scorsese is trying to do, and bits and pieces of it are excellent. And since an awful lot of the films on my list are here because of ‘bits and pieces’, so is this.

43. No One Knows About Persian Cats (Ghobadi, 2009) – Another really good film that just happens to be a musical, even though a lot of the ‘musical numbers’ play more like inserted music videos. Though it’s hardly alone in that!

47. Broadway Melody of 1940 (Taurog, 1940) – Discussed upthread.

48. The Moon over the Alley (Despins, 1976) – Discussed upthread.

50. Velvet Goldmine (Haynes, 1998) – Sort of a perfect number 50, in that it’s a film I’m completely ambivalent about. I’ve seen it twice, both times on the big screen, and the first time it pretty much blew me away (biggest reservations – the framing plot was much less interesting and clever than it should have been; Shudder to Think’s glam pastiches are generally pathetic and drag the score down whenever they appear, whereas the period music and covers of same worked beautifully). The second time, in a much grander theatre with a much larger and more enthusiastic audience, it didn’t work at all. The big difference was the sound – not as good a system and, crucially, not loud enough. It’s thus become a salutary lesson in how important a good sound system is to appreciating a theatrical experience.

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tarpilot
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Re: The Musicals List Discussion and Suggestions (Genre Proj

#483 Post by tarpilot » Wed Dec 21, 2011 7:25 pm

On the subject of concert films, I'd also like to dole out an enthusiastic rec for Demme's seldom-discussed Storefront Hitchcock. It definitely falls into the you-have-to-be-a-fan category more than Stop Making Sense, but it's a small masterpiece of composition and I find it hard to imagine anyone not being at least somewhat endeared to Robyn during his many streams of non-sequiturs

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domino harvey
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Re: The Musicals List Discussion and Suggestions (Genre Proj

#484 Post by domino harvey » Wed Dec 21, 2011 7:29 pm

And on the same ineligible on the list concert designation, F.T.A. is a little-seen but fascinating look at the un-U.S.O. show with Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland doing political vaudeville during Vietnam interspersed with catchy protest numbers like Len Chandler's "My Ass is Mine"

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Re: The Musicals List Discussion and Suggestions (Genre Proj

#485 Post by zedz » Wed Dec 21, 2011 7:33 pm

Tarpilot: if I’d thought of True Stories, it probably would have made my list. I did think of The 5000 Finger of Dr T, but since I couldn’t remember any song from it, I thought it would be bad form to include it on a list of musicals.

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Re: The Musicals List Discussion and Suggestions (Genre Proj

#486 Post by Shrew » Wed Dec 21, 2011 7:47 pm

Top Ten:
1) Love Me Tonight
2) Lili
3) Singin’ in the Rain
4) Meet Me in St Louis
5) Pal Joey
- Sad to see this finish rather low (and almost orphaned I think). Great performances by all 3 principles, but what made me feel in love is Sinatra's rendition of Lady is a Tramp-- a great song, but the arrangement makes it a wonderful bait and switch and deconstruction of the relationship between chorus and verse.
6) The Love Parade- Again, far lower than I expected. Yeah, it might be a better comedy than a musical, but it's still pretty damn great, and I'd argue a musical sensibility leaks into all the sound design of the film, to justify my fancy for it.
7) The Pirate
8) Footlight Parade
9) The Young Girls of Rochefort
10) On the Town


Orphans
12) Street Angel- I've harped on this before. I probably rated this higher than it deserves as a musical (not it's strongest points), but I wanted to push up something more unconventional, and the film is absolutely charming. Just watch it.
26) Le Million
39) A Woman is a Woman
49) Hello Dolly
49) Monte Carlo
50) Cool As Ice- Honestly, the most thrilling cinematic experience I've seen this year.

Also, we totally blocked out Rodgers and Hammerstein didn't we?

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tarpilot
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Re: The Musicals List Discussion and Suggestions (Genre Proj

#487 Post by tarpilot » Wed Dec 21, 2011 7:51 pm

Just an orphaned State Fair from what I can see.

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domino harvey
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Re: The Musicals List Discussion and Suggestions (Genre Proj

#488 Post by domino harvey » Wed Dec 21, 2011 8:00 pm

And an Orphaned Sound of Music

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Cold Bishop
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Re: The Musicals List Discussion and Suggestions (Genre Proj

#489 Post by Cold Bishop » Thu Dec 22, 2011 2:38 am

Shrew wrote:6) The Love Parade- Again, far lower than I expected. Yeah, it might be a better comedy than a musical, but it's still pretty damn great, and I'd argue a musical sensibility leaks into all the sound design of the film, to justify my fancy for it.
I actually think this is the best of the Lubitsch musicals, as it's the one that works best as an actual musical. It's about twenty minutes too long (no film like this should pass 90 minutes unless it can earn it), but the songs are great: "Paris, Stay the Same", "Love Parade" and especially "Let's Be Common" are all lovely.

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the preacher
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Re: The Musicals List Discussion and Suggestions (Genre Proj

#490 Post by the preacher » Thu Dec 22, 2011 5:58 am

Cold Bishop wrote:Dance Girl Dance (whoever voted for this, I owe you a "swapsie" on any future list)
I did. :lol:

Domino, Malu tianshi=Street Angel. Then, not an orphan. :wink:

As I expected I was the only voter for "Paint Your Wagon". The film was a huge critical-commercial success in Spain, more than any other place in the world. :-"

Weimar's musical comedies deserved a better fate: "Three Good Friends", "The Congress Dances" or "I by Day, You by Night" are all comparable to the best Lubitsch or Mamoulian. :(

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Re: The Musicals List Discussion and Suggestions (Genre Proj

#491 Post by JakeB » Thu Dec 22, 2011 7:12 am

the preacher wrote:Weimar's musical comedies deserved a better fate: "Three Good Friends", "The Congress Dances" or "I by Day, You by Night" are all comparable to the best Lubitsch or Mamoulian.
Are there English friendly releases of these? 'Three Good Friends' and 'I by Day, You by Night' sound really interesting, being a fan of the Lubitsch and Mamoulian musical comedies.

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Re: The Musicals List Discussion and Suggestions (Genre Proj

#492 Post by the preacher » Fri Dec 23, 2011 5:14 am

If I remember well the "Three Good Friends" DVD has no English subtitles and "I by Day, You by Night" has not even been released. But you can find English fansubs out there.

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Shrew
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Re: The Musicals List Discussion and Suggestions (Genre Proj

#493 Post by Shrew » Thu Jan 19, 2012 1:14 am

It's too late for the list, but for anyone in the Boston area: Emerson is showing a bunch of Musicals on prints at the Paramount theatre Jan-Feb. The program includes the usual Singin' in the Rain, Broadway Melody, and Love Me Tonight, but also some rarities like the early Gaynor/Farrell musicals Sunnyside Up and Delicious, Lubitsch's The Merry Widow, Hearts in Dixie, Meyneux's Swing, and Moonlight and Pretzels.

There's no easy link to the program, but here's a link to their schedule ArtsEmerson

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Cold Bishop
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Re: The Musicals List Discussion and Suggestions (Genre Proj

#494 Post by Cold Bishop » Thu Jan 19, 2012 5:10 am

I actually saw Moonlight and Pretzels recently, and it has to be one of the strangest Hollywood musicals... and that's even before taking into account that it's directed by Karl Freund!

Hearts in Dixie, as well as being incredibly rare, sounds fascinating: it actually came out three months before King Vidor's Hallelujah.

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Re: The Musicals List Discussion and Suggestions (Genre Proj

#495 Post by Dr Amicus » Sun Jan 22, 2012 6:59 pm

Orphans:

14 - State Fair (1945, Lang) - Really? Does no one else love this? Maybe it's just because friends and family help organise our (rather smaller) equivalent here in Guernsey, but this just appealed to me. Although ademittedly I was much more interested in Pa's prize pig than in either of the kids' love stories...

20 - Beauty & the Beast (1991, Trousdale & Wise) - for my mind, the best of post Little Mermaid Disney, and one of their most successful musicals. The songs are great - Be Our Guest does what can only be done with animation, Belle is one of their more appealing leads, and Angela Lansbury is in it. What more can you ask for?

21 - The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993, Selick) - Did I put more animated films on my list than anyone else? Well, it's my list so tough. In many ways, Corpse Bride is the better film, but the songs here are the key - this probably would have made my list solely on Jack's What's This number near the beginniing.

25 - 8 Women (Ozon, 2003) - One I should have highlighted earlier really I guess. Ozon in camp fun mode - a man is murdered and 8 women (basically the top French actresses of the day) are the suspects and each gets to sing a song explaining themselves. The most purely enjoyable of Ozon's films I've managed to get to see.

33 - The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975, Sharman) - And this was the big surprise. No-one else? Really? Am I alone here? Oh well, I loved this long before I realised people dressed up and threw rice around when watching it. As a bisexual geeky teenager who loved old sci fi and horror films this was my ideal film. Still love it, even though it runs out of steam by the end.

37 - Shock Treatment (1981, Sharman) - I drew attention to this above - always thought this was a likely orphan and my bad for not pushing it earlier.

40 - Brigadoon (1954, Minnelli) - Far from Minnelli's best, but there is an underlying darkness to the tweeness elsewhere that makes this fascinating.

42 - Dilwale Dulhanie Le Jayenge (1995, Chopra) - One of the (too) few Bollywood films I've managed to catch, but a lot of fun. Fairly standard cross class meeting cute - but it is cute and copes with being 3 hours long by changing tack half way through. Apparently, one of the most successful Bollywood films ever.

45 - Aladdin (1992, Clements & Musker) - And yet more animation. Yes, Robin Williams' Genie is the star attraction here - and the songs Menken / Ashman songs are generally better than the Menken / Rice ones - but there's still much to enjoy here. What can I say, I've had a soft spot for Disney for too many years...

46 - Evita (Parker, 1996) - I'm not a Lloyd Webber fan, but this is easily the best film of his work. Parker's style is as overdone as usual, but it seems to fit here. Oh, and it's definitely one of Madonna's best performances.

47 - Chico & Rita (Errando & Mariscal, 2010) - I caught this the night before submitting my list, so it just snuck in. An animated Cuban love story over the decades - the story is less interesting than the style and the music, but they are good. Worth catching.

48 - Three Little Words (Thorpe, 1950) - Minor but fun biography which is carried by Astair and Skelton. Maybe it just caught me in the right mood, but this charmed me just enough to sneak in.

49 - Billy The Kid and the Green Baize Vampire (Clarke, 1987) - Another one I left too late in recommending! Possibly the only snooker horror musical around...

[Sorry folks - for some reason I'm not being allowed to format these, so no Bold titles I'm afraid for the moment!]

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zedz
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm

Re: The Musicals List Discussion and Suggestions (Genre Proj

#496 Post by zedz » Sun Jan 22, 2012 7:32 pm

I really like the 'real world' interlude in Brigadoon, which really does have a striking pungency, but dislike almost everything else.

I ordered the Clarke when you mentioned it before, since I didn't know it was a) available and b) a musical until then, but it arrived too late for the list (and is still in my K2 kevyip).

Also arrived too late for voting was Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench, which is a rather charming combination of the intimate pseudo-verite New York school (think Shadows, David Holzman's Diary) with the classic Hollywood musical. Unlike most contemporary musicals, the filmmakers here really seem to know their stuff and have enough confidence to transcend pastiche. The storyline is slender, but the music is generally great, and the climactic "Boy in the Park" number, set in the diner where Madeline works as a waitress, is a genuine delight. Trailer

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Matt
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:58 pm

Re: The Musicals List Discussion and Suggestions (Genre Proj

#497 Post by Matt » Mon Jan 23, 2012 1:20 pm

I finished my list in a hurry and neglected to put Dilwale Dulhanie Le Jayenge on it. It probably would have been in the mid-to-low-40s, so it may still not have made the final list.

My own orphans:

Alexander's Ragtime Band - It's really not that bad. Honest!

That Midnight Kiss - Mario Lanza's only watchable movie. I guess I can get why no one else would vote for it, but I find it a lot of fun.

Hairspray (Waters, 1988) - Really? Nobody else voted for this? #25 on my list.

Sleeping Beauty - My favorite Disney movie, bar none. The design is based on illuminated manuscripts but updated with 60s bright pastels - it looks like no other movie ever made. Plus, Maleficent is the best Disney villain of all time.

Panama Hattie - Fine. I like having this movie all to myself.

The Road to Morocco - Hope & Crosby's most absurdist movie. Everybody loves Ishtar now, but nobody likes the movie Ishtar was trying to be?

Holiday Inn - A musicals list created just before Christmas that doesn't include this film? It introduced "White Christmas" to the world! And then it goes and has a blackface number. Okay, point taken.

Flashdance - Well, it was worth a shot.

A Damsel in Distress - #42 on my list solely because of the amazing funhouse number and the Burns & Allen comedy bits. The rest of the movie stinks.

Lovely to Look At - #44 on my list solely because of the Marge & Gower Champion "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" number. Beautifully danced and shot.

Words and Music - I can see why people wouldn't vote for it since the film proper is a dog. But the numbers "Thou Swell" and "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" are among the best things MGM committed to film in the 1940s, and the two Lena Horne numbers are top notch.

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Dr Amicus
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Re: The Musicals List Discussion and Suggestions (Genre Proj

#498 Post by Dr Amicus » Fri Feb 10, 2012 5:29 pm

Matt wrote:Alexander's Ragtime Band - It's really not that bad. Honest!
I caught this a couple of days after the deadline - and it might just have sneaked into my list as well.

I also caught up with Funny Face (thanks to LoveFilm) - which would have been a solid 20 something listee. I loved the opening section (which was top 10 material), but was slightly disappointed after they got to Paris. Still, a huge amount of fun and a natural candidate for Blu-Ray.

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Daedalus
Joined: Thu May 30, 2013 1:05 pm

Re: The Musicals List Discussion and Suggestions (Genre Proj

#499 Post by Daedalus » Thu May 30, 2013 8:11 pm

Consider The Blues Brothers. I never recognized it as comedy why should you? While so many critics were belittling this ‘comedy’ they failed to explain its success. The Blues Brothers mixes farce and music for the production of a terrific show. It sustains the farce and satire for well over two hours through its skillful use of soul, r&b, the blues and other music which complement the storyline. Music is a vital part of the story’s development. It’s not by accident that Jake learns of his mission from God while listening to a little gospel by James Brown, or Aretha Franklin’s warning to Matt Murphy about leaving her through her rendition of “Think”. Whether this film was put together by accident or design it is both original and unique.

Wikipedia made an interesting remark about the film:
“The story is a tale of redemption for paroled convict Jake and his brother Elwood, who take on "a mission from God" to save from foreclosure the Catholic orphanage in which they grew up. To do so they must reunite their rhythm and blues band and organize a performance to earn $5,000 to pay the tax assessor. Along the way, they are targeted by a destructive "mystery woman," Neo-Nazis, and a country and western band—all while being relentlessly pursued by the police.”
But as the original theatrical poster notes ‘they’ll never get caught, they are on a mission from God’. Of course once they’ve finished they’ll get what’s coming to them.

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zedz
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm

Re: The Musicals List Discussion and Suggestions (Genre Proj

#500 Post by zedz » Fri May 31, 2013 5:02 pm

The musical cameos in The Blues Brothers are terrific (the music from Brothers themselves considerably less so), but to me this is yet another instance of the depressing 80s phenomenon of selling soul music to white audiences by ensuring that there are no black faces on the marketing collateral. See also The Big Chill soundtrack and The Commitments. And those various rereleases of classic singles tied to other movies (Stand By Me) or ad campaigns (My Baby Just Cares for Me).

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