Posts Tagged ‘White Christmas’

It’s a question that’s plagued me for a while now: whatever happened to big Hollywood movie musicals?  Movie genres typically go through cycles of popularity and I think we’re due for another round of flashy, dance-filled musicals.

Busby Berkley's kaleidoscopic dance numbers, like this one in "Footlight Parade" (1933), helped make American musicals world famous

Musicals have been a long-enduring genre since the early days of film.  In fact, the very first sound film was a musical—1927’s The Jazz Singer.  When it became a runaway success, studios rushed to create more musicals, some of which became the beginnings of a series.  Warner Brothers’ triumph with The Gold Diggers of Broadway led to The Gold Diggers of 1933, which became one of the most celebrated musicals of all time thanks in large part to Busby Berkeley’s intricate choreography.  RKO Radio Pictures first paired dancers Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers—who danced together in nine films—in 1933 in Flying Down to Rio, creating arguably the most famous dancing couple in film history.  Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer released The Broadway Melody in 1929, which not only started a series but also won the Academy Award for Best Picture.  As time went on, production companies made more and more musicals until the genre reached its greatest popularity in the 1940’s and ‘50s.

Though many studios made musicals during that time, MGM arguably became the company most associated with producing expensive, opulent and immensely successful musicals.  They produced Easter Parade, Summer Stock, An American in Paris, Singin’ in the Rain, The Band Wagon, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and Guys and Dolls, as well as numerous others.  Those films were a mixture of song and dance and while they weren’t exactly realistic, they were always entertaining. MGM musicals have always been my favorites and when I think of the kind of musicals I’d love to see now, I imagine huge productions with the same glamour and spectacle as MGM’s greatest musicals.  I’m talking musicals with big, expensive set pieces and extended dance sequences with dancers wearing costumes of every conceivable color.  I’m talking great songs that not only convey exactly what the character feels, but are also catchy and make the audience want to sing along.

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Hopefully the holidays aren't as hard on you as they are on the Griswalds

Here at Movie-Thoughts we try to be as unbiased in our analysis as we can, but we also like to take your opinion into the equation as much as possible. Public opinion plays a huge roll in the cultural status of films, and such a value must (at least when most appropriate) be considered in a film’s long-term evaluation. Being that it is the Christmas season we would like to know which Christmas/holiday movies you consider to be the best of the best. Our only requirement is that the film you choose be of feature length (80mins or longer) – sorry, votes for A Charlie Brown Christmas or How the Grinch Stole Christmas (animated version) wont count. Some movies to mull over are listed below, in no particular order.

The Santa Clause

White Christmas

It’s a Wonderful Life

A Christmas Carol (you must identify a specific version, e.g. the one with George C. Scott, the one with the Muppets, etc.)

Christmas Vacation

A Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

The legitimacy of each vote will be judged on a case by case basis, as many films incorporate the holidays into their storylines (such as Die Hard, Sleepless in Seattle, Edward Scissorhands, and this year’s The Merry Gentleman). So in other words, candidates require only minimal justification. We can’t wait to hear what you think, so let us know by submitting your vote in this post’s comments section or our contact page!