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N o other genre of film can celebrate the magic of the movies quite like the musical. It demands audiences to free themselves from reality and enter the world of dreams, as the screen melts into a fantasy of song and dance, while characters are given the opportunity to belt out all their hidden desires.
1927’s The Jazz Singer was the first feature length musical ever released, while also officially heralding the end of the silent film era.
It immediately beckoned in a golden age of musicals, with talents like Fred Astaire , Ginger Rogers , Gene Kelly , and Judy Garland helping to drive the genre’s popularity up until the early 1950s.
The next few decades saw production slow, as the musical’s appeal started to wane at the box office, although the 1980s and 1990s saw the rise of the Broadway musical adaptation.
Today, the genre has broadened, with jukebox musicals of popular artists like ABBA and The Beatles becoming a trend, while 2018’s The Greatest Showman
It may be an expansive genre catering to many different tastes, but here are our top picks for the best of the best.
Show all 20 1 /20The 20 greatest movie musicals The 20 greatest movie musicals The Wizard of Oz (1939) All the tricks and gimmicks of today’s filmmakers could never upstage The Wizard of Oz’s grand reveal, as Dorothy (Judy Garland) takes her first step into cinema’s bold, technicolour future. Eighty years later, and the effect is still breathtaking. MGM’s legendary musical adaptation of L Frank Baum’s children’s book, nominated for six Academy Awards, not only cemented Garland’s early stardom, but continues to transport those both young and old to a world where imagination is the only limit.
Most memorable track : “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”
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The 20 greatest movie musicals Moulin Rouge! (2001) Madonna, The Beatles, Nirvana, and The Police found themselves transported to the streets of 1900s Montmartre for Baz Luhrmann’s jukebox musical. Yet, as giddy and eclectic as Luhrmann’s directorial approach may be – making him one of Hollywood’s most unique creative forces – Moulin Rouge!’s doomed love story of a penniless writer (Ewan McGregor) and a courtesan (Nicole Kidman) is still grounded in the same sweeping romanticism that fuels the classic operas from which Luhrmann took his inspiration, including La traviata and La bohème.
Most memorable track: “Come What May”
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The 20 greatest movie musicals Singin' in the Rain (1952) Hollywood has (and will forever remain) in love with itself, but no other single film has ever quite shared that joy with audiences in the way Singin’ in the Rain does. A light-hearted parody of the industry’s transition from silent film to sound, MGM struck gold with its stars Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, and Donald O’Connor. All three play off each other with both spirit and wit, while demonstrating unmatched technical ability: from the delightful tap routine of “Good Morning”, O’Connor’s pratfalls in “Make ‘Em Laugh”, to Kelly’s now iconic umbrella dance.
Most memorable track: “Singin’ in the Rain”
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The 20 greatest movie musicals Top Hat (1935) It’s a tough decision to determine which of the 10 musicals Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers co-starred in represents the very best of their work. The dance team are responsible for some of the most graceful, accomplished routines ever captured on film – and there’s no denying they made a perfect pair. As Katharine Hepburn is said to have noted: “He gives her class and she gives him sex appeal.” Yet, it’s Top Hat that remains their most fondly remembered collaboration, as a screwball romance of mistaken identities plays out across a series of glamorous locales in London and Venice.
Most memorable track: “Cheek to Cheek”
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The 20 greatest movie musicals Cabin in the Sky (1943) Cabin in the Sky has a complex legacy, and it’s difficult to judge how exactly it should be remembered. On the one hand, it’s a radical work, as a rare example of a musical with an all-black cast produced during Hollywood’s Golden Age. Although it was released by MGM and even nominated for an Oscar, the film was banned in several US cities on its release. However, as the product of a major Hollywood studio in the 1940s, the film is guilty of troubling racial stereotyping in its depiction of folksy, childlike black characters. Although this must be taken into account, the film remains a major part of film history, especially as it provides an opportunity to see some of the greatest black performers of the era – including Ethel Waters, Lena Horne and Louis Armstrong – in one place. It was also the debut film of Vincente Minnelli, who went on to direct the likes of Gigi (1958) and An American in Paris (1951).
Most memorable track: “Happiness is a Thing Called Joe”
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The 20 greatest movie musicals An American in Paris (1951) The height of class and elegance, An American in Paris rises to the top of MGM’s crop of musicals thanks to its George Gershwin score and its unforgettable 17-minute ballet sequence, which cost almost half a million dollars to film. Imagined as a fevered daydream of the film’s main character, Jerry (Gene Kelly), the sequence is a riot of colour and twirling skirts, as Jerry and his love (Leslie Caron’s Lise) traverse across a series of theatrical sets, each stylised to evoke a famous French painter. La La Land’s epilogue sequence is a direct reference to the film.
Most memorable track: “I Got Rhythm”
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The 20 greatest movie musicals The Sound of Music (1965) The third highest-grossing film of all time (when adjusted for inflation), Robert Wise’s adaptation of the stage musical has remained a source of great comfort over the decades. Drawing from the true story of the von Trapp family, who escaped Nazi-invaded Europe to continue their musical career in the United States, the film allows us to believe, even momentarily, in a world where kindness, joy and optimism is all that’s needed to shield us from the evils of the world, as exemplified by Maria (Julie Andrews) herself.
Most memorable track: “The Sound of Music”
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The 20 greatest movie musicals West Side Story (1961) This wasn’t simply William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet reheated for a new generation. West Side Story injected new blood into one of our greatest tragedies, exposing how relevant the story remained in a decade as divided as the 1960s, when America faced conflicts both on a global scale, in the Cold War, and at home, with continuing racial tensions within the US. As the Jets, the white American gang, and the Sharks, the Puerto Rican gang, fight for control of their New York neighbourhood, two lovers cross the battle lines to offer the hopeful message that love will save us all.
Most memorable track: “Tonight”
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The 20 greatest movie musicals Cabaret (1972) The inarguable peak of Bob Fosse’s career as a director and choreographer, Cabaret exemplifies exactly what’s possible within the musical genre. Utilising the Weimar Republic’s booming nightlife scene as a backdrop for the rise of the Nazi Party, Cabaret could be sexy, glamorous, dark, and sinister in equal measure, exploring topics that were largely taboo at the time (including abortion) while still delivering the musical’s traditional exuberance, anchored in Liza Minnelli's magnetic lead performance.
Most memorable track: “Cabaret”
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The 20 greatest movie musicals The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) The ultimate cult musical, once described by critic Roger Ebert as more of “long-running social phenomenon” than a film, The Rocky Horror Picture Show now comes with its own rules and traditions – you can either be enlisted to dress up and perform alongside the film, or join in with one of the many callbacks that fans all know by heart. It’s a testament to the film’s glorious, schlocky embrace of B-movie history and its message of feel-good sexual liberation and gender fluidity.
Most memorable track: “The Time Warp”
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The 20 greatest movie musicals Bugsy Malone (1976) Bugsy Malone is an idea that never should have worked on film: would we really sit and indulge in a cast of children playing pretend cops and gangsters? Yet, under Alan Parker’s direction, and thanks to Paul Williams’s riotous lineup of songs, the film is not only a delight, but feels oddly subversive in the way its cast so gamely fill the roles of wisecracking ne'er-do-wells – a smart way to parody the cultural obsession with the machismo of the gangster genre.
Most memorable track: “You Give a Little Love”
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The 20 greatest movie musicals Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) While the film may have earned its place in the history books thanks to Marilyn Monroe’s now iconic performance of “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” – frequently revisited, whether by Madonna or Moulin Rouge!’s Satine – Gentlemen Prefer Blondes also deserves to be heralded for including one of cinema’s greatest double acts. Monroe and Jane Russell are formidable as two best friends on the hunt for the ideal husband, with Russell’s witty cynicist providing the perfect counterbalance to Monroe’s goofy bombshell.
Most memorable track: “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend”
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The 20 greatest movie musicals Dancer in the Dark (2000) The film’s production history has been mired in controversy after its star, Björk, alleged that she had been sexually harassed by a "Danish film director she worked with", with the Los Angeles Times later identifying the accused as Dancer in the Dark’s Lars von Trier. He has denied the allegations. However, it’s hard to deny the film’s cultural significance, as one of the most startling and groundbreaking musicals of the 21st century. Björk’s score adds incredible compassion to the story of an immigrant factory worker who finds herself betrayed by the world and its cruel machinations.
Most memorable track: “I’ve Seen it All”
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The 20 greatest movie musicals Chicago (2002) Rob Marshall, whose last film was Disney’s Mary Poppins Returns, has become the go-to director for the modern Hollywood musical. Having also directed Nine (2009) and Into the Woods (2014), his best work is easily Chicago, which became the first musical to win Best Picture since Oliver! in 1968. It’s a film that dutifully pays homage to its stage origins, including Bob Fosse’s original choreography, while still feeling slick and modern in its invocation of the 1920s and its lurid culture of celebrity criminals.
Most memorable track: “All that Jazz”
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The 20 greatest movie musicals My Fair Lady (1964) Director George Cukor knew he had two key ingredients when it came to his take on the musical adaptation of George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion: Audrey Hepburn and the gorgeous stylings of Edwardian London. And so, My Fair Lady’s most delightful image remains Hepburn’s Eliza Doolittle, engulfed by an enormous black and white hat, hollering at a race horse to “move your bloomin’ arse!” Doolittle’s resilience and fierce sense of independence endures today, 50 years after the film was first released.
Most memorable track: “I Could Have Danced All Night”
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The 20 greatest movie musicals The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) Arguably, the film could could be described more as an opera than a musical, since every line of dialogue is sung, accompanied by Michel Legrand’s score – but it’s also a work that feels purely cinematic, in love with how much life and colour can be conjured in every frame. The film remains one of the most purely romantic entries in cinematic history, as Geneviève (Catherine Deneuve), a teenage girl working in her mother’s umbrella’s shop, pines after her lover (Nino Castelnuovo) after he’s drafted to fight in Algeria.
Most memorable track: “Je ne pourrai jamais vivre sans toi”
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The 20 greatest movie musicals The Lion King (1994) The Disney animated musical is almost a genre unto its own, considering how much it has to offer, but if one film must tower above the rest, it’s almost certainly The Lion King. Released at the height of the studio’s renaissance in the 1990s, the film recasts Shakespeare’s Hamlet in the African savannah, offering an epic story that deals with themes of destiny and responsibility, without skimping on the humour. If an entire generation is now scarred by the infamous stampede scene, it’s a price worth paying.
Most memorable track: “Circle of Life”
The 20 greatest movie musicals Mary Poppins (1964) Much more than the screen debut of Julie Andrews, Mary Poppins has endured in the hearts of so many because of how it spoke to children: directly, but with a wit that never dared to patronise them. Knowing Mary was to be in on the great secrets lost to world-weary adulthood, and to be welcomed into the bountiful world of imagination and play – as beautifully represented in the Sherman brothers’ musical score and the film’s combination of live-action and traditional animation.
Most memorable track: “A Spoonful of Sugar”
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The 20 greatest movie musicals Grease (1978) Although Grease will largely be remembered for its karaoke-primed tunes, what’s often forgotten is how subversive the film actually proved to be at the time of its release. Grease helped break barriers when it came to the teen film, featuring characters (especially female characters) who speak frankly and openly about sex. As much as Sandy (Olivia Newton-John)’s “bad-girl” transformation can elicit eyerolls today, the scene isn’t as simple as a woman changing herself in order to impress a man – it’s also a kickback against the stifling sexual norms of American society.
Most memorable track: "You're the One That I Want"
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The 20 greatest movie musicals La La Land (2016) La La Land’s legacy is now forever tied to the great snafu of 2017’s Academy Awards, but there’s more to Damien Chazelle’s modern musical than a besuited Ryan Gosling trying to suppress an embarrassed giggle on the Oscars stage. A love letter to the genre’s history, it’s a film that both pushes forward while looking back, much like the ill-fated lovers at the centre of its story.
Memorable track: “City of Stars”
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