Musical film

The musical film is a film genre that features songs, sung by the actors, interwoven into the narrative. The songs are usually used to advance the plot or develop the film's characters. A sub-genre of the musical is the musical comedy, which includes a strong element of humour as well as the usual music, dancing and storyline.

Related Topics:
Film genre - Song - Sung - Actor - Musical comedy - Humour - Music - Dancing

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The musical is the genre associated with the transition from silent film to sound film in the development of the motion picture. The popularity of movies grew rapidly during the golden days of the silent film era, but the concept of "talking pictures" was considered a risky investment by the major Hollywood studios, until the Warner Bros. studio took the leap and produced The Jazz Singer, starring Al Jolson. Jolson's song "Mammy" in the picture forever changed the medium of film, and it jolted Hollywood into the era of sound. As Hollywood adapted to sound films, musicals were an important part of Hollywood's movie output, ranking alongside action movies (Westerns), dramas, and comedies.

Related Topics:
Silent film - Sound film - Motion picture - Warner Bros. - The Jazz Singer - Al Jolson - Hollywood - Western

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During the 1930s, director Busby Berkeley began to enhance the traditional dance number with inspiration he drew from the drill precision he had experienced as a soldier during the first world war. In films such as "42nd Street", Berkeley choreographed numbers that began as if on a stage but quickly exceeded this context in both space and time. By the end of the numbers we realize that his ingenius routines, involving human bodies forming patterns like a kaelidoscope, could never have fit onto a real stage. Berkeley often used women to form erotic sequences that many feminists today examine as exploitation.

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Meanwhile musical stars such as Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers were among the most popular and highly respected personalities in Hollywood during the thirties. Their coupling was tremendously successful in a number of films, such as "Top Hat", "Swing Time" and "Carefree". Many dramatic actors gladly participated in musicals as a way to break away from their typical typecast roles. For instance, James Cagney had originally risen to fame on the stage as a singer and dancer, and he was highly talented; but his repeated casting in "tough guy" roles and gangster movies gave him few chances to display these talents. Cagney's Oscar-winning role in Yankee Doodle Dandy allowed him to sing and dance, and he considered it to be one of his finest moments.

Related Topics:
Fred Astaire - Ginger Rogers - James Cagney - Oscar - Yankee Doodle Dandy

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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 Marx Brothers themselves to highlight their own musical talents.

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During the late 1940s and into the 1950s, a production unit at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer led by Arthur Freed made the transition from old-fashioned musicals, whose formula had become repetitive and boring to audiences, to something very modern. Recruiting his own workers, mostly from New York and Broadway, Freed was responsible for bringing the likes of director Vincente Minnelli to the world of film. Starting in 1944 with "Meet Me in St Louis", the Freed Unit at MGM worked independently to produce some of the most popular and well-known examples of the genre. The products of this unit include "An American in Paris", "On the Town", "Easter Parade", "Singin' in the Rain" and "The Band Wagon". This era allowed the greatest talents in movie musical history to flourish, including Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Ann Miller, Donald O'Connor, Cyd Charisse, Jane Powell, Howard Keel and Kathryn Grayson. Fred Astaire was also coaxed out of retirement for the film "Easter Parade" and made a permanent comeback.

Related Topics:
Vincente Minnelli - Judy Garland - Gene Kelly - Ann Miller - Donald O'Connor - Cyd Charisse - Jane Powell - Howard Keel - Kathryn Grayson

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The musical in film was a natural development from the stage musical. Typically the biggest difference between the movie musical and the musical theater is the use of lavish background scenery which would be impractical in a theater. Musical films would often chracteristically contain elements left over from theater, such as performers treating their song and dance numbers as if there is a live audience watching. In a sense the viewer becomes the diegetic audience, as the performer looks directly into the camera and performs to it. In the late 1950s, cinematic improvements in technology such as cinemascope were partly to blame for the sharp decline in popularity of the genre. Also responsible was the change in culture to "rock n'roll" and the freedom and youth associated with it. Elvis Presley made a few movies that people often equivalate with the old musicals in terms of form. Most of the musical films in the 50s and 60s, e.g. Oklahoma! and The Sound of Music, were straightforward adaptations or restagings of successful stage productions.

Related Topics:
Stage musical - Theater - Oklahoma! - The Sound of Music

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The trend in modern film-making after the 1960s has been not to make a "musical" as such, but to use a lot of background music by popular rock or pop bands in the hopes of selling the soundtrack album to fans. There are exceptions to this rule, and films about actors, dancers or singers have been made as successful modern-style musicals, with the music as an intrinsic part of the storyline. The other exception to the rule is children's animated movies. These almost always include traditional musical numbers, and some of them, such as Beauty and the Beast, have later become full live stage productions.

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Famous film musicals include:

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