Get me to watch your top musicals, but no promises

That's the best part and why I posted that! I didn't have too much to say I just wanted to post a video with Yvonne Craig Just to keep topical Yvonne was in another Elvis musical, Kissin' Cousins (1964) A short song with her and Elvis.

I didn't know she was in more than one Elvis movie!

(But that dress from World's Fair! OMG!)

But enough about that... all I'll say is that Yvonne could always rock a short hair cut!

I wish she made more movies, I've seen most of them.

I haven't seen Dames, but it's scheduled to air on Turner Classic Movies this Wednesday morning, and I already set my DVR to record it.

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I don't know the exact terms for each type of musical, but I found this article that explains some of the different types of musicals. (I think it's mainly about Broadway musicals, but it gives you an idea of the different types of musicals.)

https://www.superprof.co.uk/blog/types-of-musicals/

Book Musicals - Musicals with a strong narrative structure, where songs and dances are fully integrated into a story. ("Les Misérables", "The Phantom of the Opera", "West Side Story")

Revue Musicals - A collection of songs, dances, and sketches, often without a unifying plot, focusing on a theme or composer. ("Ain't Misbehavin'", "Fosse", "Smokey Joe's Cafe")

Jukebox Musicals - Musicals that use previously released popular songs from a particular artist or genre, woven into a narrative. ("Mamma Mia!", "Jersey Boys", "We Will Rock You")

Film Musicals - Musicals originally created for film, often adapted into stage productions later, or vice versa. ("The Lion King", "Hairspray", "The Producers")

Concept Musicals - Musicals where the show's message or theme is more important than the narrative, often experimental in nature. ("Cats", "A Chorus Line", "Company")

Pop/Rock Musicals - Musicals that feature contemporary pop or rock music, often appealing to a broader, younger audience. ("Rent", "American Idiot", "Hamilton")


They are all explained in much more detail in the article.

I think the answer to this might be different for everyone, but I would think that the minimum would be at least 4 or 5 musical numbers to consider a movie a "musical". (It's probably a higher number for people who like musicals than it is for people who dislike musicals.)

Yeah, I agree TTYD is a tricky one.
Is every film with music performed in it a musical? Is Roadhouse a musical because Jeff Healey performs a song in it? Are concert-films musicals? I know we all talked before in the big thread about what is and what isn't and there is no consensus but in the case of TTYD I personally, and this is just me, struggle to really even think of it as a musical at all. A movie about a band that has them performing just one song over and over again with no songs that occur spontaneously as part of the story or moment expressing thoughts or feelings of the characters... it's kinda way outside of Musical for me.

All of the Broadway Melody musical number is nicely staged, I especially loved the set design and color pallet used in that image above. But that image hardly does the dance segment justice. The woman is wearing a veil that's incredible long, 50 feet long! A wind machine is used to blow the veil sky high! It's really a thing of beauty and accentuates the already intrinsic feeling of a set design that seems to stretch to infinity.

The other segment of Broadway Melody that struck me was the jazz speak easy club number with that same woman decked out in a Louise Brooks style flapper outfit and hairdo. Her emerald green dress really pops against the deep red background of the set...Cyd Charisse is that woman. IMO she was the best female dancer to ever glide over the silver screen. Always a joy to see her dance and a good actress too.

My other favorite number was the duel dance with Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor at that start of the film. It's a good dance number and it's fun to compare their styles. Donald O'Connor is an underrated dancer, he's easily on par with Gene Kelly.

I liked Gene in this quite well, he's suited to the role of a big silent movie star who's been paired with a blonde beauty with a squeaky voice (Jean Hagen). Jean is funny here and so is Donald O'Connor as Cosmo. I must say I liked a young Debbie Reynolds and I didn't know she was such a skilled dancer herself and she sang too.

With all those strong points I do like Singin' In The Rain but it's not an all time favorite and I'm not sure why everyone seems to think it's the greatest musical of all time. The story of the silent film industry in Hollywood was interesting and the songs are good but the character's stories weren't that compelling, especially the romance between Kelly and Reynolds.

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I don't think it's the greatest musical of all time (as you know) but I do like it quite a lot. Some of the numbers are just so fun and so good and I enjoy the storyline very much and I thought Jean Hagen was great and Gene Kelly is my all-time favorite dancer except maybe for Cyd Charisse (here in my favorite dance of hers)... just a lot to like here for me.

I'm a big fan of Cyd Charisse, even when she's not dancing like in the color noir directed by Nicholas Ray Party Girl (1958). Singin' In The Rain will for sure make the countdown and I wouldn't be surprised if it's number one. Then again I suppose alot of people voting might not have seen it, so who knows where it will land on the countdown?

@Citizen Rules are you going to watch Brigadoon or Hans Christian Andersen?

Yup, I seen them both recently, liked both too.

Let me know what you thought of Dames when you watch it.

I agree with this 100%.

It airs tomorrow morning, and I should have time to watch it tomorrow night, so I'll let you know.

I just finished watching Dames (1934). It's a pretty good movie, but it has too many "dames" for those of us who don't "go to shows just to see the dames". Both Dick Powell and Joan Blondell are great in the movie, but while Joan Blondell is a great actress, she doesn't have a great voice.

I enjoyed the movie, but it won't make my list.

I always felt that Summer Stock was a very underrated movie. It seems to get lost behind some of the more popular Gene Kelly and/or Judy Garland movies.

When Dames was over I said to my wife I bet that was the last time they let Joan Blondell sing in a musical. But I liked her washer woman laundry number, that was fun.

I've seen three Gene Kelly movies in the last three nights, Singin In The Rain, Summer Stock and tonight I watched An American in Paris. All were good but Summer Stock is my favorite of the three.

Friendly Star is not the opening number on the tractor. The number on the tractor is called Happy Harvest