_________ARCHANGEL Presents_________
_____The History of Musicals in Film_____



http://www.filmsite.org/
http://www.musicals101.com/musical.htm

What Is A Musical?

musical (noun) – a stage, television or film production utilizing popular-style songs and dialogue to either tell a story (book musicals) and/or showcase the talents of varied performers (revues).

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Over the next week leading up to the Oscars (Next Sunday), we'll be taking a look at some of the popular or famous musicals that have graced the big screen over the past 50 years...

Most of the comments following were taken from two of the links listed above, great sources for Musicals and Films in general, do take a look.

:razz:

1950s MUSICALS in FIlm

http://www.musicals101.com/1950film.htm

The 1950’s were both the brightest and the saddest years for the Hollywood musical. The form reached its zenith, with two musicals winning the Academy Award for Best Picture. At the same time, television drew customers away from movie theatres. How sharp was the change? In the mid-1940s, 90 million Americans went to the movies each week – by the late 1950s, the figure had dwindled to 16 million. This coincided with the U.S. courts forcing the studios to sell off their theater chains. Unable to adapt to these changes, a once profitable system descended into chaos with amazing speed.

The once powerful studios became little more than distribution companies with production facilities available for lease. By the decade's end, the major Hollywood studios disbanded most of their fulltime employees and either hired on a project by project basis or left the actual film making to independent producers. This gave low budget film makers greater creative freedom, but the experienced production teams needed to develop original screen musicals were a thing of the past. That's why the few producers still filming big musicals relied on adapting works from the Broadway stage.

In a business where profit margins are everything, big musicals were dinosaurs. Why invest time and money in a quality musical when a quick, low-budget "Beach Party" movie could rake in millions? And if an even quicker and cheaper teen comedy or drama would make the same profit, who bother with musicals at all?

An American in Paris (1951)

Box Office = $4,500,000 (3rd highest grossing film that year)



An American in Paris (1951) is one of the greatest, most elegant, and most celebrated of MGM's 50's musicals, with Gershwin lyrics and musical score (lyrics by Ira and music by composer George from some of their compositions of the 20s and 30s), lavish sets and costumes, tremendous Technicolor cinematography, and a romantic love story set to music and dance. Gene Kelly served as the film's principal star, singer, athletically-exuberant dancer and energetic choreographer - he even directed the sequence surrounding "Embraceable You." The entire film glorifies the joie de vivre of Paris, but it was shot on MGM's sound stages in California, except for a few opening, establishing shots of the scenic city. Nonetheless, it remains one of the most optimistic American films of the post-war period - with Paris at its center.

It is an integrated musical, meaning that the songs and dances blend perfectly with the story. As in many musicals, the plot of this film is not its most important element. One of the film's highlights is its impressive finale - an ambitious, colorful, imaginative, 13 minute avante-garde "dream ballet" costing a half million dollars to produce. The pretentious sequence, featuring an Impressionistic period daydream in the style of various painters, is one of the longest uninterrupted dance sequences of any Hollywood film, and features the music of George Gershwin.



Like the Impressionist and post-Impressionist canvases from which it drew its inspiration, the superb ballet that climaxed An American In Paris was full of light and movement. . .it was 18 minutes of screen magic, unsurpassed in the boldness of its design and the dazzle of its execution." - Clive Hirschhorn, The Hollywood Musical

"Count a bewitching French lassie by the name of Leslie Caron and a whoop-de-do ballet number, one of the finest ever put upon the screen, as the most commendable enchantments of this big, lavish musical." - Bosley Crowther, The New York Times

"Too fancy and overblown. . .but the two dancing lovers have infectious grins and the Gershwin music keeps everything good-spirited." - Pauline Kael, 5001 Nights At The Movies

An American in Paris (1951)



1952 Academy Awards: 8 Nominations – 6 Wins
WON - Best Picture
WON - Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color
WON - Best Cinematography, Color
WON - Best Costume Design, Color
WON - Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture
WON - Best Writing, Story and Screenplay

NOM - Best Director - Vincente Minnelli
NOM - Best Film Editing

1952 Golden Globes: 3 Nominations – 1 Win
WON - Best Motion Picture - Musical/Comedy

NOM - Best Director - Vincente Minnelli
NOM - Best Motion Picture Actor - Comedy/Musical - Gene Kelly

1963 BAFTA Awards - 1 Nomination - 0 Wins
NOM - Best Film from any Source - USA

1962 Guild Awards of America
WON – Writers Guild of America (WGA) - Best Written American Musical

NOM – Directors Guild of America (DGA) - Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures

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An American in Paris - and Gigi (1958), were among Minnelli's most successful films, and two rare nuggets of gold among MGM's Golden Age of Musicals. It was one of the few musicals ever voted Best Picture in Oscar history, and one of only a few Best Picture winners with no acting nominations.

Although Vincente Minnelli didn’t win Best Director, the film won for Best Picture, beating out other classics such as A Streetcar Name Desire and Quo Vadis. Gene Kelly’s Golden Globe nomination for Musical/Comedy didn’t make the cut; in a hot field which included Humphrey Bogart (WON – The African Queen), Arthur Kennedy, Clift Montgomery, Marlon Brando and Fredric March.

In an era where there are separate categories for black/white and color achievements, An American in Paris (color) split the techies with A Street Car Named Desire (black and white).

Singin’ in The Rain (1952)

Box Office = $3,600,000 (10th highest grossing film that year)
2002 Reissue = $120,420



Singin' in the Rain (1952) is one of the most-loved and celebrated film musicals of all time from MGM, before a mass exodus to filmed adaptations of Broadway plays emerged as a standard pattern. The joyous film, co-directed by Stanley Donen and acrobatic dancer-star-choreographer Gene Kelly, is a charming, up-beat, graceful and thoroughly enjoyable experience with great songs, lots of flashbacks, wonderful dances (including the spectacular Broadway Melody Ballet with leggy guest star Cyd Charisse), casting and story. This was another extraordinary example of the organic, 'integrated musical' in which the story's characters naturally express their emotions in the midst of their lives. Song and dance replace the dialogue, usually during moments of high spirits or passionate romance. And over half of the film - a 'let's put on a play' type of film, is composed of musical numbers.

This superb film, called "MGM's TECHNICOLOR Musical Treasure," was produced during MGM studios' creative pinnacle. Because the colorful, witty film is set in 1927, it humorously satirizes and parodies the panic surrounding the troubling transitional period from silents to talkies in the dream factory of Hollywood of the late 1920s as the sound revolution swept through. The film's screenplay, suggested by the song Singin' in the Rain that was written by Freed and Brown, was scripted by Betty Comden and Adolph Green (who also wrote On the Town (1949)).



". . .Singin' In The Rain. . .remains an undoubted masterpiece and the finest, most durable musical ever to come out of Hollywood. If the test of a great musical is that you can see it over and over again without longing for the dialogue to end and the musical numbers to begin, then Singin' In The Rain passes cum laude." - Clive Hirschhorn, The Hollywood Musical

"Though an inside-stuff yarn about filmdom, it's a backstage story with a difference; and the fact that Hollywood can laugh so heartily at itself, only adds to the film's appeal. Standout performances by Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor, especially the latter." - Variety

". . .probably the most enjoyable of all American movie musicals. . .The film falters during a too-long love song on a deserted studio stage (later cut from some of the prints) and during a lavish oversize Broadway ballet, but these sequences don't seriously affect one's enjoyment." - Pauline Kael, 5001 Nights At The Movies

Singin’ in The Rain (1952)



1953 Academy Awards: 2 Nominations – 0 Wins
NOM - Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Jean Hagen
NOM - Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture

1953 Golden Globes: 2 Nominations – 1 Win
WON - Best Motion Picture Actor - Musical/Comedy - Donald O'Connor

NOM - Best Motion Picture - Musical/Comedy

1953 BAFTA Awards 1 Nomination - 0 Wins
NOM - Best Film from any Source - USA

1953 Guild Awards of America
WON – Writers Guild of America (WGA) - Best Written American Musical

NOM – Directors Guild of America (DGA) - Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures

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One of those classics which didn’t register too well at the Awards, was basically ignored by film critics when released and treated with indifference (with box-office of $7.7 worldwide). It received only two Academy Award nominations - Best Supporting Actress (Jean Hagen), and Best Musical Score (Lennie Hayton) and didn't win any awards. The film's musical score Oscar nomination lost to Alfred Newman's score for With a Song in My Heart.

Now, after many accolades, television screenings, and its resurgence after the release of That's Entertainment (1974), it is often chosen as one of the all-time top ten American films, and generally considered Hollywood's greatest and finest screen musical.

Now consider that the 5 movies that were nominated that year, The Greatest Show on Earth (WON), High Noon, Ivanhoe, Moulin Rouge, The Quiet Man....honestly, besides Cecil B. DeMille’s masterpiece, has anyone really heard of the rest.

A Star Is Born (1954)

Box Office = $4,335,968



Warner Brothers' most masterful 1950s musical was built by another stellar team of MGM alumni: director George Cukor, screenwriter Moss Hart, composer Harold Arlen, lyricist Ira Gershwin and performer Judy Garland. Judy Garland's intense performance as the main character, probably the finest of her entire career, illuminates the film based upon Moss Hart's screenplay.

A Star is Born was based on a classic 1937 tearjerker about an unknown actress surviving Hollywood stardom and personal heartbreak. After months of long and tortured filming, Garland gave the most spontaneous and powerful screen performance of her career, while Cukor and company made "The Man That Got Away" and other songs emotional highpoints that fit seamlessly into the story.



Trivia

Actors considered for the role as Norman Maine include:
Laurence Olivier
Richard Burton
Tyrone Power
Cary Grant
James Stewart
Glenn Ford
Gregory Peck

Cary Grant was offered $450,000
William Powell was offered the role as the studio boss
The 'Born in a Trunk' sequence cost $250,000

A Star is Born (1954)



1955 Academy Awards: 6 Nominations – 0 Wins
NOM - Best Actor in a Leading Role - James Mason
NOM - Best Actress in a Leading Role - Judy Garland
NOM - Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color
NOM - Best Costume Design, Color
NOM - Best Music, Original Song - For the song "The Man that Got Away"
NOM - Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture

1955 Golden Globes: 2 Nominations – 2 Wins
WON - Best Motion Picture Actor - Musical/Comedy - James Mason
WON - Best Motion Picture Actress - Musical/Comedy - Judy Garland

1956 BAFTA Awards: 1 Nomination – 0 Wins
NOM - Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures - George Cukor

1955 Guild Awards of America
NOM – Directors Guild of America (DGA) - Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures
NOM – Writers Guild of America (WGA) - Best Written American Musical

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Ironically, the emotionally-intense film also hints at the real-life troubles and problems in the career of its female star during the film's making. A Star is Born is Judy Garland's great comeback-musical after MGM cancelled her contract in 1950. Predicted to win the Best Actress Oscar, Garland was devastated by the loss to Grace Kelly in an lesser role in The Country Girl.

The film was both a disappointment at the box-office and at awards time. In a year where Marlon Brando’s On The Waterfront swept with 8/12 Awards, the 6 nominations were unrewarded. And both director Cukor and screenplay author Moss Hart were neglected in the nominations.

The film, considered overlong at three hours, was drastically cut by Warners' film studio after its initial release. Painstaking restoration in the early 80s resulted in a revised, 170-minute version.

The Phantom of the Opera is a piece of stinky poo.

Emmy Rossum can act. She's cute, but she can't sing - she feels a need to pronunciate every syllable, kind of like Diana DeGarmo. Rarely is the result pretty...
Gerard Butler was okay. He can't act, but he can sing. He's no Michael Crawford, though.

The opening scene with the chandelier and the bidding was done very well. However, it's not nearly as shocking and scary as it is on the stage. What really ruined it for me was the rockified score. They completely ruined "Phantom of the Opera" (the song) with the guitars at the end. It's awful.

Although this is Schumacher's best since, like, The Lost Boys, it's highly overrated. See the version on stage. Not this one...

C+

Thanks for giving it a try :razz:

While i can't really compare it to the play because i haven't seen it, all your criticisms are the general ones which people who don't like the movie but loved the play say....

Shocking and Scay was not the direction of the movie, they were aiming for romance and sensuality in the movies...and i'm not sure why you didn't like the score, the stage production probably had the same style too......and this score has a much grander sound and more polished feel.... :???:

Perhaps you just hated the singing...... :???:

I wasn't a huge fan of the singing either. In fact the more I listen to the soundtrack, the less I like the singing. Emmy Rossum is good, Patrick Wilson really isn't that great at all, and Gerard Butler, while not bad, is far from great.

However, I still liked the movie.

Okay i saw the movie. The acting Was horrible!!!! Christine always had her mouth open, and The phantom was always pouting. Butttt despite that it's the phatom of the opera. it has the best music ever and the story line is amazing.

So A-

In terms of singing, Raoul had the best voice followed by Christine she was amazing as well.

At first i didnt like the voice of the guy who played the phantom, but i've compared it to other soundtracks and his voice while not great is more manly than most other phatoms. And the phatom has to be manly.

So yeah. A-

Emmy Rossum's voice is so uneven. I'll post a comparison between Brightman and Rossum when I get a chance...

Well that's the most important thing isn't it :razz:

Patrick Wilson's voice is classic theatre, and i think it fits perfectly with his character.....Emmy Rossum i completely adore, her singing is fantastic, so much depth at just 16......while i agree that Gerard Butler's voice is harder to like, for me it suitably shows his vulnerability as a character...

If we try to think of the movie outside of the play's context and direction, i think more people will appreciate it -

Emmy Rossum tried to vary her voice and tone to suit the emotions of the character, since the dialogue here is singing....and put pronounciations on particular words to show that range,

It doesn't matter. It should still stay the same in one song...That's what I mean by uneven, lol. It's kinda sad you can even think of calling her the best singer in the movie. She was the best performer outside of Minnie Driver, though.

Listen to a comparison of her and Sarah Brightman on the classic "Phantom of the Opera" song. There's no starker contrast - Brightman sticks with one style and Rossum's voice is waaaay too weak and waves from like five different styles (from a deep voice to a thin, light, childish voice, to something that almost RESEMBLES Brightman's rendition): http://www.torrino.net/phantom.mp3

The first is Rossum, the second is Brightman. Even with a better orchaestra, Rossum's still stands out as 500x worse. See if you hear the guitars in the background, Archangel. It's awful

Ha, to each his own

Though what you said about the 5 different styles, that's what i was talking about - using various tones to show the emotions, and i really feel that her voice fits the Christine in the movie more than Sarah Brightman's operatic voice....

500x worse, don't make me laugh Torrino, :razz: - even if its that bad.. :razz: , and whats wrong with the guitar part, which song BTW....

I agree Arch, in the context of the movie, Rossum's voice has a better quality to it. However, overall I'd have to say Brightman (as an accomplished operaist) has the better voice.

I'm talking about 5 style changes within the 14 seconds I left you with, lol. I'm talking about the guitar in the "Phantom of the Opera" song...

Listen to the mp3 I left you with

:razz: I've already got the MP3s to all songs on the Sountrack LOL, thanks anyway, - so that's what you mean the guitar line in Phantom of the Opera, that's actually one of my favourite tracks, i really love the rockish influence behind it, and especially the first interchange when the Phantom sings "Sing once again, our strange duet".....has a spanish latin sound to it.....i love it

:razz:

In theatre of course, Brightman's voice is suitable because of its strength and projection abilities - plus it suits the middle-aged Christine character.......but in the movie, its a whole different ball game.....

She's only 16?!?!

Yeah. Shes good for 16, no?

Actually she's 18. But still, that's pretty impressive. :wink: