Are you an MGM movie musical fan like me? I was trying to remember when was the very first time I saw an MGM musical. Believe it or not, it was most likely "The Wizard of Oz"! Remember how they would play it every year around Easter on national television? I was always so excited to watch it every time it was on. Watching it together as a family in my household became an Easter tradition. That is...until it was available for rental or purchase on VHS in 1980. And then you could watch it whenever you wanted.
Anyway, back then, I didn't understand what an MGM musical REALLY was. But when I was about 14 years old...one of the big cable channels had an MGM movie musical marathon that I watched from beginning to end. I was suddenly immersed in the all-encompassing grandeur of what an MGM musical entailed. From the set design, costumes, musical orchestration, dance numbers, and of course the talents of all the MGM stars featured in them - including Debbie Reynolds, Donald O’Connor, Fred Astaire, Judy Garland, Lena Horne, Leslie Caron, Esther Williams, Kathryn Grayson, Mickey Rooney, Gene Kelly, Jane Powell, Cyd Charisse, Van Johnson, Eleanor Powell and hundreds more - so after watching that marathon, I was hooked!
If you’ve never seen any of these wonderfully produced movie musical classics, here are some of my all-time favorites. Feel free to use this list as a guide. Trust me….they are all worth watching. Hopefully, they will turn you into a fan of the MGM musical like yours truly.
BRIGADOON (1954) - Directed by Vincente Minnelli, starring Gene Kelly, Van Johnson, and Cyd Charisse, "Brigadoon" is a fantasy, boy meets girl musical story based on the 1947 Broadway musical of the same name by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe. The story is about two American tourists who stumble upon a mysterious Scottish village that appears for only one day every 100 years. Tommy (Kelly), one of the tourists, falls in love with Fiona (Charisse), a young woman who lives in that quaint town and he has to leave her behind. If you love movies like Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” (minus the singing candelabra, cups, and teapots) you’ll enjoy this enchanting MGM musical.
ROYAL WEDDING (1951) - Directed by Stanley Donen, this glorious musical stars the wonderful Fred Astaire and the lovely Jane Powell as an American brother-sister song and dance duo who go on a trip to London in 1947 at the time of the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Philip Mountbatten. They even use newsreel footage from the real royal wedding showing the bride's carriage leaving the palace and taking her to the church.
One of the most famous scenes from the film is the musical number "You're All the World to Me" - which was filmed on a set inside a revolving barrel that could be rotated to make Fred Astaire look like he was dancing on the wall and ceiling! It’s a brilliantly executed musical number that only Arthur Freed’s production team could’ve created. Don’t miss seeing this one!
MEET ME IN ST LOUIS (1944) - Starring Judy Garland, Margaret O'Brien, Mary Astor, Lucille Bremer, Tom Drake, Leon Ames, Marjorie Main, June Lockhart and Joan Carroll, "Meet Me in St. Louis" is a classic MGM romantic musical comedy, directed by Vincent Minnelli, that focuses on four sisters (one of whom is the beautiful Judy Garland) during the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. This is the film that Garland sang the standard song "The Trolley Song", "The Boy Next Door" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” for the first time - which is one of the main reasons why you should put this classic MGM movie musical on your “must watch” list.
SUMMER STOCK (1950) - This playful, charming, technicolor movie musical is directed by Charles Walters and stars Judy Garland and Gene Kelly, along with Eddie Bracken, Gloria DeHaven, Marjorie Main, and Phil Silvers. The film features the iconic blazer and tilted fedora wearing Garland musical sequence "Get Happy" - which is a "must-see" number. It was also Kelly and Garland’s final on-screen pairing as well as Garland’s last film at the studio she called home for 15 years.
To find out more about the making of “Summer Stock” click HERE to listen to my two fascinating podcast episodes with authors David Fantle and Tom Johnson -- whose best-selling book "C’Mon, Get Happy: The Making of Summer Stock" was recently published.
BORN TO DANCE (1936) - Directed by Roy Del Ruth, the film stars legendary dancer Eleanor Powell and James Stewart as Powell's love interest and Virginia Bruce as the film's resident femme fatale and Powell's rival. With a fabulous musical score by Cole Porter, highlights of the film include a rare musical number by Stewart (which the actor later poked fun at in the That's Entertainment! retrospective), and a bombastic finale with Buddy Ebsen and Eleanor Powell called "Swingin' the Jinx Away". You’re going to love it!
Click HERE to listen to my revealing interview with authors Paula Broussard and Lisa Royère (Episodes 59 & 60) whose new book "Eleanor Powell Born To Dance" is a loving and faithful tribute to one of Hollywood’s great dance icons.
SINGING IN THE RAIN (1952) - This is one of my all-time favorite movies about moviemaking! Directed and choreographed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, the film stars Kelly, Donald O'Connor, and Debbie Reynolds, along with Jean Hagen, Millard Mitchell, Rita Moreno, and Cyd Charisse in some unforgettable supporting roles. This fabulous film offers a lighthearted depiction of Hollywood in the late 1920s when the film industry was going through the transition from silent films to "talkies". With classic musical numbers like "Make 'Em Laugh", "Fit As a Fiddle”, "Good Morning" and the iconic Kelly “Singing In The Rain” sequence - this is the quintessential romantic comedy movie musical! You must put it on the top of your "must-watch" list!
AN AMERICAN IN PARIS (1951) - Winner of six Academy Awards including Best Picture, this romantic comedy musical stars Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron (in her film debut), Oscar Levant, Georges Guétary, and Nina Foch. The film is set in Paris and was directed by Vincente Minnelli with a terrific screenplay by Alan Jay Lerner.
The film features a slew of memorable tunes by George and Ira Gershwin and concludes with an elaborate ballet dance sequence built around the symphonic poem "An American in Paris" (arranged for the film by Johnny Green), which at the time was the most expensive musical number ever filmed, costing $500,000! It’s a masterpiece from beginning to end that you mustn’t miss seeing it.
GIGI (1958) - Considered the last great Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical, directed by Vincente Minnelli, with a screenplay by Alan Jay Lerner, and the final great achievement of the Freed Unit, headed by producer Arthur Freed. This Academy Award-winning film is based on the 1944 novella of the same name by Colette, it stars Leslie Caron, Maurice Chevalier, Louis Jourdan, Hermione Gingold, and Eva Gabor, featuring songs with lyrics by Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe, arranged and conducted by André Previn. The film won all nine of its Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director for Minnelli.
Set in Paris during the Belle Époque at the turn of the 20th century, the film is utterly charming from beginning to end. The music, songs. sets and costumes are a banquet for the eyes and ears - even though the subject matter is quite controversial in today’s world (Gigi is a 16-year-old schoolgirl who is groomed to be a courtesan to a 30-something-year-old man by her aunts).
One of the highlights of the film is a signature scene that was filmed on location at the world-famous restaurant Maxim's in Paris that includes a funny musical number by Jourdan. And then there’s Chevalier’s timeless classic number "Thank Heaven for Little Girls" that opens and closes the film, which is often regarded as the definitive version of the song. It’s as exquisite as the film is.
THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939) - Primarily directed by Victor Fleming, who left production to take over the troubled "Gone with the Wind". This legendary movie musical stars Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley, Billie Burke, and Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch of The West. If you haven’t seen this beloved film yet then you’ve been missing out on one of the most iconic films ever made. If I were you, I’d stop reading this post right now, and watch it this very minute. I promise it’ll leave you with a huge smile on your face and a lot of fuzzy feelings inside.
Enjoy watching all these fantastic films. Afterward, I'm sure you’ll be on your way to becoming a full-fledged MGM movie musical fan like me.
To listen to my entertaining conversation with authors DAVID FANTLE & TOM JOHNSON (Episodes 77 & 78) about their new book “C’Mon, Get Happy: The Making of Summer Stock “ on my podcast, click the links below. Enjoy!
Episode 77 - HERE
Episode 78 - HERE
