Category Archives: Musical Monday

Musical Monday: Let’s Dance (1950)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
Let’s Dance (1950) – Musical #456

let's dance

Studio:
Paramount Pictures

Director:
Norman Z. McLeod

Starring:
Betty Hutton, Fred Astaire, Roland Young, Ruth Warrick, Lucille Watson, Gregory Moffett, Barton MacLane, Shepperd Strudwick, Melville Cooper, Harold Huber, George Zucco, Peggy Badley, Nana Bryant (uncredited), James Burke (uncredited), Bess Flowers (uncredited),

Plot:
During World War II, Kitty McNeil (Hutton) and Donald Elwood (Astaire) were a musical act that performed in USO shows. Donald was in love with Kitty, but she had already married a serviceman, so the two split up the act. The film fast-forwards to 1950 and we learn that Kitty’s husband was killed in the war, and she lives with his stuffy family in Boston. Kitty doesn’t like how his family wants her to raise her son, Richie (Moffett), and would like to leave. But her grandmother-in-law, Serena (Watson), won’t allow her to take her son with her and insists that they raise him. Kitty and her son run away to New York City so she can find work, and she reconnects with Donald. Donald and his nightclub coworkers help Kitty and Richie build a new life.

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Musical Monday: Song of Norway (1970)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

song of norway3This week’s musical:
Song of Norway (1970) – Musical #764

Studio:
Produced by ABC Pictures Corp., distributed by Cinerama Releasing Corp.

Director:
Andrew L. Stone

Starring:
Toralv Maurstad, Florence Henderson, Christina Schollin, Frank Porretta, Harry Secombe, Robert Morley, Edward G. Robinson, Oscar Homolka, Frederick Jaeger, Henry Gilbert, Richard Wordsworth, Matt Mattox (uncredited)

Plot:
A biographical film on Norwegian composer, Edvard Grieg (Maurstad).

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Musical Monday: Star! (1968)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

StarThis week’s musical:
Star! (1968) – Musical #240

Studio:
20th Century Fox

Director:
Robert Wise

Starring:
Julie Andrews, Richard Crenna, Michael Craig, Daniel Massey, Robert Reed, Bruce Forsythe, Beryl Reid, John Collin, Alan Oppenheimer, Richard Karlan, Garrett Lewis, Anna Lee (uncredited), Grady Sutton (uncredited), Jenny Agutter (uncredited)

Plot:
Biographical film on stage actress Gertrude Lawrence (Andrews).

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Musical Monday: Lady Sings the Blues (1972)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

lady sings the bluesThis week’s musical:
Lady Sings the Blues (1972) – Musical #763

Studio:
Paramount Pictures

Director:
Sidney J. Furie

Starring:
Diana Ross, Billy Dee Williams, Richard Pryor, James T. Callahan, Paul Hampton, Sid Melton, Virginia Caper, Isabel Sanford, Ned Glass, Scatman Crothers

Plot:
A fictionalized biography on the life and career of jazz singer, Billie Holiday (Ross). The film details her teenage life, rise to fame struggles, and her romance with Louis McKay (Williams).

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Musical Monday: Deep in My Heart (1954)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
Deep in My Heart (1954) – Musical #275

deep in my heart

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Stanley Donen

Starring:
José Ferrer, Merle Oberon, Helen Traubel, Doe Avedon, Walter Pidgeon, Paul Henreid, Tamara Toumanova, Paul Stewart, Isobel Elsom, David Burns, Jim Backus, Douglas Fowley, John Alvin (uncredited), Gertrude Astor (uncredited), Barrie Chase (uncredited), Julie Newmar (uncredited), Russ Tamblyn (uncredited), Dee Turnell (uncredited)
Specialty performances: Gene Kelly, Fred Kelly, Jane Powell, Rosemary Clooney, Vic Damone, Ann Miller, William Olvis, Cyd Charisse, James Mitchell, Howard Keel, Tony Martin, Joan Weldon

Plot:
Musical biography of operetta composer Sigmund Romberg (Ferrer).

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Musical Monday: A Lady’s Morals (1930)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

morals2This week’s musical:
A Lady’s Morals – Musical #735

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Sidney Franklin

Starring:
Grace Moore, Reginald Denny, Wallace Beery, Jobyna Howland, Gus Shy, Judith Vosselli, Karl Dane (uncredited), Cecilia Parker (uncredited), Linda Parker (uncredited)

Plot:
A biographical film of opera singer Jenny Lind (Moore).

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Musical Monday: Mary Poppins (1964)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

mary poppins3This week’s musical:
Mary Poppins (1964) – Musical #42

Studio:
Walt Disney Studios

Director:
Robert Stevenson

Starring:
Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke, David Tomlinson, Glynis Johns, Hermione Baddeley, Reta Shaw, Karen Dotrice, Matthew Garber, Ed Wynn, Elsa Lanchester, Arthur Treacher, Reginald Owen, Jane Darwell

Plot:
Set at the turn of the century in London, the Banks family can never keep a nanny for their two children, Jane (Dotrice) and Michael (Garber). When Katie Nana (Lanchester) walks out on the family, Mr. Banks (Tomlinson) has very distinct ideas of what the nanny should be like. Mr. Banks is busy with his work and Mrs. Banks (Johns) spends much of her free time protesting the women’s right to vote. A mysterious and magical nanny, Mary Poppins (Andrews), appears to not only care for the children and take them on fanciful adventures, but she helps bring the family closer together and how them what’s important.

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Musical Monday: Tom Thumb (1958)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

tom thumbThis week’s musical:
Tom Thumb (1958) – Musical #762

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
George Pal

Starring:
Russ Tamblyn, Peters Sellers, Terry-Thomas, Alan Young, June Thornburn, Bernard Miles, Jessie Matthews, Ian Wallace

Plot:
After a woodsman (Miles) stops cutting down a tree when he’s halted by the Forest Queen (Thornburn), the woodsman and his wife (Matthews) are granted three wishes. The couple accidentally squanders their wishes and realize they could have wished for what they always wanted—a child. Sadly, they think how they would love a child no matter how small. That night, their child Tom Thumb (Tamblyn) arrives thanks to the Forrest Queen. The couple is exuberant. Tom has several adventures, including dancing with his toys that come to life and being conned by two thieves (Sellers, Thomas) who want him to rob the treasury.

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Musical Monday: Cole Porter’s Aladdin (1958)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

AladdinThis week’s musical:
Cole Porter’s Aladdin (1958) – Musical #761

Studio:
CBS

Director:
Ralph Nelson

Starring:
Sal Mineo, Anna Maria Alberghetti, Dennis King, Basil Rathbone, Howard Morris, Una Merkel, Cyril Ritchard, George Hall, Geoffrey Holder, Alec Clarke, Akim Tamiroff

Plot:
The story of Aladdin (Mineo), who finds a lamp with a Genie (Holder). As Aladdin tries to keep the lamp away from a sorcerer (Ritchard), he falls in love with Princess Ming Chou (Alberghetti), daughter of the Emperor (Rathbone).

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Musical Monday: Peau d’âne/Donkey Skin (1970)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

donkey skin posterThis week’s musical:
Peau d’âne/Donkey Skin (1970) – Musical #760

Studio:
Cinema International Corporation

Director:
Jacques Demy

Starring:
Catherine Deneuve, Jean Marias, Jacques Perrin, Micheline Presle, Delphine Seyrig, Fernand Ledoux, Henri Crémieux, Sacha Pitoëff, Pierre Repp, Jean Servais, Georges Adet, Louise Chevalier

Plot:
The king (Marias) lives happily with his beautiful queen (Deneuve) and their only daughter (also Deneuve). When the queen dies suddenly, she asks that if he remarries because he still needs a male heir, to marry someone more beautiful and virtuous than she. After shutting himself off in grief, the king decides to find a beautiful princess to marry. When portraits from all over the land are brought, he discovers his own daughter is the most beautiful and more charming than his mother, and he proposes marriage to his own daughter. The princess seeks help from her fairy godmother (Seyrig), who instructs her to ask for seemingly impossible gifts of the king before they will marry. When he fulfills each task, the princess asks the king to kill his prize donkey that produces gold and jewels. The princess disguises herself in the donkey skin, fleeing to a distant land where she is known as a dirty scullery maid who smells bad. When Prince Charming (Perrin) visits the village and sees Donkey Skin/the princess out of her disguise, he falls in love and wants to marry her.

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