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The musical film is a film genre in which several songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative. In Film theory, genre refers to the primary method of film categorization based on similarities in the narrative elements from which films are constructed A song is a Musical composition. Songs contain vocal parts that are performed 'sung' and generally feature Words ( Lyrics) commonly followed The songs are used to advance the plot or develop the film's characters. A subgenre of the musical film is the musical comedy, which includes a strong element of humour as well as the usual music, dancing and storyline. Musical theatre is a form of Theatre combining Music, Songs spoken Dialogue and Dance. Humour or humor (see spelling differences) is the tendency of particular cognitive experiences to provoke Laughter and provide Amusement Music is an Art form in which the medium is Sound organized in Time. Dance (from French danser, perhaps from Frankish) is an Art form that generally refers to movement of the body usually rhythmic

The musical film was a natural development of the stage musical. Musical theatre is a form of Theatre combining Music, Songs spoken Dialogue and Dance. Typically, the biggest difference between film and stage musicals is the use of lavish background scenery which would be impractical in a theater. Theatre (or theater, see spelling differences) is the branch of the Performing arts defined by Bernard Beckerman as what "occurs when one Musical films characteristically contain elements reminiscent of theater; performers often treat their song and dance numbers as if there is a live audience watching. In a sense, the viewer becomes the deictic audience, as the performer looks directly into the camera and performs to it.

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Western musical films

Musical films of the classical sound era

The 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s are often considered the golden age of the musical film, when the genre's popularity was at its height in the Western world. The term Western world, the West or the Occident ( Latin: occidens -sunset -west as distinct from the Orient) can have multiple meanings

The first musicals

In 1928, Warner Brothers released the first all-talking feature Lights of New York (1928) which included a musical sequence in a night club. Warner Bros Entertainment Inc (or Warner Bros, Warner Bros Pictures) is one of the world's largest producers of Film and This article is for the 1928 film For the 1916 film see Lights of New York (1916 film. The enthusiasm of audiences was so great that in less than a year all the major studios were making sound pictures exclusively. The first movie that could be said to be a musical was The Broadway Melody, it was a smash hit and won the Academy Award for Best Picture for 1929. The Broadway Melody is a 1929 musical Motion picture and the first Sound film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture The Academy Award for Best Motion Picture is one of the Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS to artists working There was a rush by the studios to hire talent from the stage to star in lavishly filmed version of Broadway hits.

Warner Brothers produced the first screen operetta, The Desert Song in 1929. The Desert Song is an Operetta with Music by Sigmund Romberg and Book and Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and They spared no expense and photographed a large percentage of the film in Technicolor. Technicolor is the trademark for a series of color film processes pioneered by Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation This was followed by the first all color all talking musical feature which was entitled On with the Show (1929). On with the Show! ( 1929) is historically important in cinema history as the first modern Sound film photographed The most popular film of 1929 was in fact the second all-color all-talking feature which was entitled Gold Diggers of Broadway (1929). Gold Diggers of Broadway ( 1929) is a Warner Bros comedy/musical film which is historically important as the second Talkie (a term used early This film broke all box office records and remained the highest grossing film ever produced until 1939. Suddenly the market became saturated with musicals, revues and operettas.

The following all-color musicals were produced in 1929 and 1930 alone: 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 the Flame (1930), Song of the West (1930), Sweet Kitty Bellairs (1930), Under A Texas Moon (1930), The Bride of the Regiment (1930), Whoopee! (1930), The King of Jazz (1930), Viennese Nights (1930), Kiss Me Again (1930). The Show of Shows was a 1929 lavish Revue film which cost $850000 and featured most of the contemporary Warner Bros Sally is the third sound feature photographed in Technicolor released in 1929 (the first was On with the Show 1929 This article is about the operetta for the films see The Vagabond King (1930 film and The Vagabond King (1956 film The Vagabond King For the 1929 Broadway musical see Follow Thru (musical. Follow Thru is a 1930 musical comedy film photographed entirely in Bright Lights is a 1930 musical comedy film photographed entirely in Technicolor. Golden Dawn is a 1930 musical operetta film photographed entirely in Technicolor. Hold Everything ( 1930) is an All-Talking musical comedy that was photographed entirely in Technicolor. The Rogue Song ( 1930) is a romantic Musical film which tells the story of a Russian Bandit who falls in love with a Princess Song of the Flame is a 1930 musical operetta film photographed entirely in Technicolor. Song of the West is a 1930 musical operetta film photographed entirely in Technicolor. Sweet Kitty Bellairs is a 1930 musical comedy film photographed entirely in Technicolor. Under A Texas Moon is a 1930 musical western film photographed entirely in Technicolor. The Bride of the Regiment is a 1930 musical operetta film photographed entirely in Technicolor. Whoopee! was a Broadway Musical comedy which debuted on 4 December, 1928. King of Jazz ( 1930) is a motion picture starring Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra Viennese Nights is a 1930 musical operetta film photographed entirely in Technicolor. In addition, there were scores of musical features released with color sequences. By late 1930, audiences had been oversaturated with musicals and studios were forced to cut 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. The Life of the Party is a 1930 musical comedy film photographed entirely in Technicolor. 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. Fifty Million Frenchmen is a musical comedy written by Cole Porter and produced by Warner Bros Manhattan Parade is a 1931 musical comedy film photographed entirely in Technicolor. Technicolor is the trademark for a series of color film processes pioneered by Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation The public had quickly come to associate color with musicals and thus the decline in their popularity also resulted in a decline in the use of color.

Busby Berkeley

The taste in musicals was finally revived once again in 1933. Director Busby Berkeley began to enhance the traditional dance number with ideas drawn from the drill precision he had experienced as a soldier during the First World War. Busby Berkeley ( November 29, 1895 – March 14, 1976) born William Berkeley Enos in Los Angeles California, was a highly A military parade is a formation of soldiers whose movement is restricted World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All In films such as Gold Diggers of 1933, 42nd Street (1933), Berkeley choreographed a number of films in his unique style. 42nd Street is a Warner Bros Musical film directed by Lloyd Bacon with choreography by Busby Berkeley. 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 is viewing from straight above.

Musical stars

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 Carefree (1938). Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz; May 10, 1899 &ndash June 22, 1987) was an American Academy Award Ginger Rogers ( July 16, 1911 &ndash April 25, 1995) was an Academy Award -winning American film and stage actress For the item of clothing see Top hat. For the fictional TUGS character see Top Hat (TUGS. Carefree is a Musical film starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

Many dramatic actors gladly participated in musicals as a way to break away from their typical 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 gangster movies gave him few chances to display these talents. James Francis Cagney Jr ( July 17, 1899 &ndash March 30, 1986) was an Academy Award -winning American Film 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. "The Oscar" redirects here for the film see The Oscar (film. Yankee Doodle Dandy ( is a biographical film about George M Cohan, the actor-singer-dancer-playwright-songwriter-producer-theatre owner-director-choreographer

Many comedies (and a few dramas) included their own musical numbers. The Marx Brothers' movies included a musical number in nearly every film, allowing the Brothers to highlight their musical talents. The Marx Brothers were a popular team of sibling Comedians who appeared in Vaudeville, stage plays film and television 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. Love Happy ( 1950) was the 14th (including Humor Risk) and virtually the last Marx Brothers Movie (they would return to the Vera-Ellen ( February 16, 1921 - August 30, 1981) was an American actress and stage and Film

Vera Ellen danced opposite Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire in the 1940's into the 1950's, with her biggest hit film the classic White Christmas, starring opposite Bing Crosby. Eugene Curran “Gene” Kelly ( August 23, &ndash February 2,) was an American Dancer, Actor, Singer, director Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz; May 10, 1899 &ndash June 22, 1987) was an American Academy Award A white Christmas, to most people in the Northern Hemisphere, refers to Snowy weather on Christmas Day. Harry Lillis “Bing” Crosby ( May 3, 1903 &ndash October 14, 1977) was an Academy Award winning American Popular Her potential rise to fame was obscured by the decline of the musical genre at the latter part of the 1940's. During the 1950s, she was reputed to have the "smallest waist in Hollywood". Her lithe frame and perfectionsistic work ethic gave the illusion of her dance being spontaneous and effortless. Timing of her career prevented her from the same acclaim film star dancers like Ginger Rogers enjoyed in their legacies. Ginger Rogers ( July 16, 1911 &ndash April 25, 1995) was an Academy Award -winning American film and stage actress Vera Ellen also suffered from anorexia nervosa a speculated cause for her early retirement in 1957, when she was only 36. Anorexia Nervosa is a psychiatric Diagnosis that describes an Eating disorder characterized by low Body weight and Body image distortion A very private person on and off set, she further hindered herself to be one of the unknown greats for the public to discover in the archives of film.

The Freed Unit

During the late 1940s and into the 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. Arthur Freed ( September 9, 1894 - April 12, 1973) was born Arthur Grossman In 1939, Freed was hired as associate producer of The Wizard of Oz, and rescued the film's signature song, Over the Rainbow, from the editor's scissors. The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical - Fantasy film mainly directed by Victor Fleming and based on the 1900 children’s " Over the Rainbow " (sometimes mistakenly known as "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" is a Song with music by Harold Arlen and lyrics by E Recruiting his own workers, mostly from Broadway and the New York stage, Freed was responsible for bringing such talents as director Vincente Minnelli to the world of film. Broadway theater, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 39 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located New York ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous Vincente Minnelli ( February 28, 1903 &ndash July 25, 1986) was a famous Academy Award -winning Hollywood director Starting in 1944 with Meet Me in St. Louis, the Freed Unit worked independently of its own studio to produce some of the most popular and well-known examples of the genre. Meet Me in St Louis is a 1944 romantic Musical film from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer which tells the story of four sisters living in The products of this unit include Easter Parade (1948), On the Town (1949), An American in Paris (1951), Singin' in the Rain (1952) and The Band Wagon (1953). Easter Parade is a 1948 Musical film starring Fred Astaire and Judy Garland. On the Town is a 1949 movie musical with music by Leonard Bernstein and Roger Edens and book and Lyrics by Betty An American in Paris is a MGM Musical film inspired by the 1928 orchestral composition by George Gershwin. Singin' in the Rain is a 1952 Comedy Musical film starring Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, and Debbie Reynolds For the musical see The Band Wagon (musical. The Band Wagon ( 1953) is a Musical comedy film that many critics rank (along This era allowed the greatest talents in movie musical history to flourish, including Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Ann Miller, Donald O'Connor, Cyd Charisse, Mickey Rooney, Vera Ellen, Jane Powell, Howard Keel, and Kathryn Grayson. Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10 1922 – June 22 1969 was an American actress and singer Eugene Curran “Gene” Kelly ( August 23, &ndash February 2,) was an American Dancer, Actor, Singer, director Ann Miller (April 12 1923 – January 22 2004 was an American dancer singer and actress Donald David Dixon Ronald O’Connor ( August 28, 1925 &ndash September 27, 2003) was an American Dancer, Singer Cyd Charisse ( March 8, 1922 &ndash June 17, 2008) was an American Dancer and actress. Mickey Rooney (born Joseph Yule Jr; September 23, 1920) is an American Film Actor and Entertainer whose Vera-Ellen ( February 16, 1921 - August 30, 1981) was an American actress and stage and Film Jane Powell (born April 1 1929) is an American Singer, dancer and actress. Howard Keel, born Harold Clifford Keel ( April 13, 1919 &ndash November 7, 2004) was an American Actor WikipediaWikiProject_Opera#Infoboxes --> Kathryn Grayson (born February 9, 1922) is an American actress Fred Astaire was also coaxed out of retirement for Easter Parade and made a permanent comeback.

The post-classical musical films

The 1950s musical

Since the 1950s, the musical film has declined in popularity. One reason was the change in culture to rock n' roll and the freedom and youth associated with it. Rock and roll (also known as rock 'n' roll) is a form of Music that evolved in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s with roots in mostly African Elvis Presley made a few movies that have been equated with the old musicals in terms of form. Most of the musical films of the 50s and 60s, e. g. Oklahoma! and The Sound of Music, were straightforward adaptations or restagings of successful stage productions. The 1943 musical play Oklahoma!, written by Composer Richard Rodgers and Lyricist / Librettist Oscar Hammerstein II Rodgers and Hammerstein 's The Sound of Music is a Musical film directed by Robert Wise and starring Julie Andrews in the lead role

The musical film today

After the 1960s, filmmakers tended to avoid "musical films" in favour of using music by popular rock or pop bands as background music, in the hope of selling a soundtrack album to fans. A soundtrack album is any Album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular Feature film. However, there are exceptions to this rule. Films about actors, dancers or singers have been made as successful modern-style musical films, with the music as a diegetic part of the storyline. Diegesis is the (fictional world in which the situations and events narrated occur and telling recounting as opposed to showing enacting Many animated movies also include traditional musical numbers; some of these movies later became live stage productions, such as Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King. An animated cartoon is a short hand-drawn (or made with computers to look similar to something hand-drawn Film for the cinema, Television or computer BATB redirects here If you were looking for Back at the Barnyard which is abbreviated as BATB see here. The Lion King is a 1994 American animated feature film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation, released in theaters on June 15 1994

In the early 2000s, the musical film began to rise in popularity once more, with new works such as Moulin Rouge!, Across the Universe, and Enchanted ; film remakes of stage shows, such as Chicago, The Phantom of the Opera, Rent, Dreamgirls, Sweeney Todd, and Mamma Mia!; and even film versions of stage shows that were themselves based on non-musical films, such as The Producers, Hairspray and Reefer Madness. This article is about the 2001 Motion picture. For other uses see Moulin Rouge (disambiguation Moulin Rouge! is a 2001 Musical film Across the Universe is a 2007 Musical film directed by Julie Taymor, produced by Revolution Studios, and distributed by Columbia Pictures Enchanted is a 2007 Musical film, directed by Kevin Lima and produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Chicago is a Musical film adaptation of the satirical stage musical Chicago, the film explores the themes of The Phantom of the Opera is a 2004 film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Charles Hart 's 1986 stage musical, which is based Rent is a 2005 film adaptation of the Broadway musical of the same name. Dreamgirls is a 2006 American Musical film, directed by Bill Condon and jointly produced and released by DreamWorks Pictures Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a 2007 musical thriller and the Film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim and The Producers is a 2005 comedy - Musical film starring Uma Thurman and The Lion King 's Nathan Lane and Hairspray is a 2007 Musical film produced by Zadan / Meron Productions and distributed by New Line Cinema. Under the mainstream radar, there have been acclaimed independent musical films, such as Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Dancer in the Dark; and foreign musical films, such as 8 Femmes, The Other Side of the Bed, Yes Nurse, No Nurse and Clear Blue Tuesday. Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a Rock musical about a fictional Rock and roll band fronted by an East German Transgender singer Dancer in the Dark is an award-winning Musical film Drama released in 2000. In 2004, the New York Musical Theatre Festival presented a week-long festival of modern movie musicals that included 10 independent features made since 1996, as well as several programs of short movie musicals. Each year during a three-week fall Festival the New York Musical Theatre Festival presents more than thirty new musicals at venues in New York City's midtown theater district

Indian musical films

Main article: Bollywood

Another exception to the decline of the musical film is the Indian film industry, especially Bollywood, where the vast majority of films have been and still are musicals. Bollywood (बॉलीवूड بالی وڈ is the informal term popularly used for the Mumbai -based Hindi-language Film industry in India The Indian film industry is the largest in the world in terms of ticket sales and number of films produced annually (877 feature films and 1177 short films were released in the year 2003 Bollywood (बॉलीवूड بالی وڈ is the informal term popularly used for the Mumbai -based Hindi-language Film industry in India Thanks to the incumbent Bollywood formula of the often garish and unrealistic "song and dance" routine, and the lack of an independent Indian popular music scene until the late nineties, the Indian film and popular music industries have been intertwined since virtually the beginning of film production in the country. Bollywood (बॉलीवूड بالی وڈ is the informal term popularly used for the Mumbai -based Hindi-language Film industry in India Popular music is Music belonging to any of a number of musical styles that are accessible to the general public and are disseminated by one or more Some top playback singers are celebrities in India due to the demand for so-called filmi singles and albums. A playback singer is a Singer whose singing is prerecorded for use in movies A celebrity is a widely-recognized or famous person who commands a high degree of public and media attention Filmi (or Filmy used as an adjective is a colloquial term which refers to anything relating to the Bollywood film industry This trend continues even to date, although a few of the newer Bollywood films (usually in the English language or art genres) are breaking the mold by releasing films with no songs (such as Black, Matrubhoomi and 15, Park Avenue). Black ( Hindi: ब्लैक Urdu: بلیک) is a Hindi and Indian English film released in 2005 and directed by Matrubhoomi ( Bhojpuri / Hindi: मातृभूमी Translation: Motherland) is an Indian Film

Lists of musical films

See also

This is a list of feature films based on stage plays or musicals
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