Films which everybody agrees is a musical

I guarantee if he's running a tally for musicals, I haven't seen 95% of them. There is a silm few I like but the majority of them, NO!

What about Fred Astaire films?
If we say ones that at least someone on here has seen?

Top Hat (1935)
Swing Time (1936)
The Band Wagon (1953)
The Gay Divorcee (1934)
Broadway Melody of 1940 (1940)
Shall We Dance (1937)
Silk Stockings (1957)
Holiday Inn (1942)
Follow the Fleet (1936)
The Barkleys of Broadway (1949)
Funny Face (1957)
Roberta (1935)
You'll Never Get Rich (1941)
A Damsel in Distress (1937)
Easter Parade (1948)
Flying Down to Rio (1933)
Finian's Rainbow (1968)

Someone seen these?

What about Rita Hayworth?

My Gal Sal (1942)
You Were Never Lovelier (1942)
Cover Girl (1944)
Gilda (1946)
The Loves of Carmen (1948)
Pal Joey (1957)

Grace Kelly
Calamity Jane (1953)
Love Me or Leave Me (1955)

Even if we change it to musicals that:
-at least someone has seen
-everyone agrees is a musical
?

I know what you mean. I don't usually think of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) as a musical.

And Gene Wilder's bits of "singing" seem more like an eccentric quirk of character rather than "musical numbers" for the film.

But it's the Oompa Loompas who make it a musical - they do the spontaneous breaking into song and even use the songs as part of the narrative.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) - it's got musical bits:

Daffy vs Donald Duck (instrumental stage performance)
Jessica's song (stage performance)
Eddie's song & dance to confuse the weasels (incidental?)
Singing Frank Sinatra sword (incidental?)
One legitimate musical number performed by the cartoon characters at the end of the film.

Yet, not considered a "musical".

I personally struggle with the idea of animations as musicals.
I mean, so many cartoons have musical sequences.
What differentiates a musical for me is that you suddenly see someone stop a conversation to have a bit of a sing to the camera.
If that happens in a cartoon, that's just a pretty standard cartoon!

Top Gun

The only film here that isn’t a musical is Gilda

You can have an animated bear walking through the woods singing a song about how he feels or something that has happened...that's the same as Gene Kelly strolling down the street sidewalk singing about the rain.

I agree with you. I don't know why I mean, two or three songs just emerge from the narrative but for whatever reason, maybe so few songs or whatever, I never really think of it as a musical.

I agree.

In my opinion, to be a musical, the songs have to be interwoven with the story in some extent. The characters don't necessarily need to stop in the middle of a conversation and sing, but the songs have to be more than incidental. They have to matter.


For this reason, I don't consider the Beatles' Hard Days Night or Help to be musicals.


BUT I do consider Yellow Submarine to be a musical.


I agree that Who Framed Roger Rabbit is not a musical, but here's a weird thought: is Dick Tracy a musical?

The songs or the musical numbers? I can think of many musicals where the songs take place on stage and don't have a connection to the narrative but the musical numbers do. An example would be many of the Busby Berkeley musicals like Gold Diggers of 1933. That movie is about a group of show people trying to put on a big show during the depression. The songs themselves aren't really about the movie or the people but the musical numbers are about the narrative as the movie is about putting on a Broadway show.

Many of the golden era Hollywood musicals fit that bill. It wasn't always the case that people broke out in song for no reason, often the singing was done in a nightclub or Broadway show or during rehearsals.

By songs I mean musical numbers. It doesn't matter if the songs just 'happen' in the middle of the action, or is performed on stage. What matters is how important the musical numbers are to the story, which I admit is subjective.


But if you could remove the musical numbers, and replace them with similar alternate scenes, and still have the Movie be as good, then I don't think it's a musical.

Yup, I agree.

Isn't there a song for each child (excepting maybe Charlie) from the Oompa Loompas?
So that's what? Four songs? (Correct me if I'm wrong - it's been quite a while.)

I might not think 'musical' when I hear Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory (1971) being mentioned, but as Captain Steel has said, it solidly is. The Oompa Loompas are like a Greek Chorus. Wonka (Gene Wilder) sings two songs. The full list:

• The Candy Man
  • (uncredited)
    Lyrics and Music by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley
    Performed by Aubrey Woods
• Cheer Up, Charlie
  • (uncredited)
    Lyrics and Music by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley
    Performed by Diana Lee
• (I've Got a) Golden Ticket
  • (uncredited)
    Lyrics and Music by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley
    Performed by Jack Albertson and Peter Ostrum
• The Marriage of Figaro (Overture)
  • (uncredited)
    Version for organ
    Written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Pure Imagination
  • (uncredited)
    Lyrics and Music by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley
    Performed by Gene Wilder
• Oompa-Loompa-Doompa-De-Do
  • (uncredited)
    Lyrics and Music by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley
    Performed by the Oompa Loompas and additional uncredited vocalists
• Wondrous Boat Ride
  • (uncredited)
    Lyrics by Roald Dahl
    Music by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley
    Performed by Gene Wilder
• I Want It Now!
  • (uncredited)
    Lyrics and Music by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley
    Performed by Julie Dawn Cole

Wow! I didn't even remember a song by Charlie's mother or even "Pure Imagination" - but that was Wilder's big solo song of the movie!

That and Wilder's Wondrous Boat Ride song, which always crept me out properly.

Dick Tracy is not a musical