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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Christmas songs that originated in films

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This was originally published on the Inside the Envelope DVD Netflix blog, which was shuttered after the service ended in Sept. 2023.

The holiday season isn’t complete without listening to some Christmas tunes and watching a cozy film. But what about the times those two go hand-in-hand? There are holiday music staples that originated from films or TV versions:

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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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Musical Monday: Oh! What a Lovely War (1969)

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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:
Oh! What a Lovely War (1969) – Musical #758

oh what a lovely war

Studio:
Paramount Pictures

Director:
Richard Attenborough

Starring:
The Smith family: Wendy Allnutt, Colin Farrell, Malcolm McFee, John Rae, Corin Redgrave, Maurice Roëves, Paul Shelley, Kim Smith, Angela Thorne, Mary Wimbush

Extended guest star appearances: John Mills, Dirk Bogarde, Phyllis Calvert, Jean-Pierre Cassel, John Clements, John Gielgud, Jack Hawkins, Kenneth More, Laurence Olivier, Michael Redgrave, Vanessa Redgrave, Ralph Richardson, Maggie Smith, Susannah York

Also starring: Vincent Ball, Pia Colombo, Paul Daneman, Isabel Dean, Christian Doermer, Robert Flemyng, Meriel Forbes, Frank Forsyth, Ian Holm, David Lodge, Joe Melia, Guy Middleton, Juliet Mills, Nanette Newman, Cecil Parker, Natasha Parry, Gerald Sim, Thorley Walters, Anthony Ainley, Michael Bates, Fanny Carby, Cecilia Darby, Geoffrey Davies, Edward Fox, George Ghent, Zeph Gladstone, Peter Gilmore, Ben Howard, Norman Jones, Paddy Joyce, Angus Lennie, Harry Locke, Clifford Mollison, Derek Newark, John Owens, Ron Pember, Dorothy Reynolds, Norman Shelley, Marianne Stone, John Trigger, Kathleen Wileman, Penelope Allen, Maurice Arthur, Freddie Ascott, Dinny Jones, Carole Gray, Bernard Jarvis, Jane Seymour (uncredited)

Plot:
Shown through fantasy metaphors, as well as real life scenes, the story follows working class British family, the Smith family, who enlist in World War I, and the juxtaposition between the fighting men, military leaders and the rich.

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Musical Monday: Johnny Doughboy (1942)

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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.

johnny doughboyThis week’s musical:
Johnny Doughboy (1942) – Musical #757

Studio:
Republic Pictures

Director:
John H. Auer

Starring:
Jane Withers, William Demarest, Henry Wilcoxon, Ruth Donnelly, Etta McDaniel, Jack Boyle (billed as Patrick Brooks), Joline Westbrook
Themselves as 20 Minus Club Members: Bobby Breen, Cora Sue Collins, Baby Sandy, Robert Coogan, Carl ‘Alfalfa’ Switzer, George ‘Spanky’ McFarland, Kenneth Brown, Billy Lenhart, Grace Costello

Plot:
Sixteen-year-old actress Ann Winter (Withers) is sick of playing kid parts in films. Just as Ann leaves angrily for a two week vacation, the prize winner of the Ann Winters look-a-like contest, Penelope Ryan (also Withers) arrives to stay the weekend. Ann’s agent Harry (Demarest) asks Penelope to stand in for Ann while she’s gone.

While Penelope pretends to be Ann, former child stars of the 20 Minus Club want “Ann” to participate in a Junior Victory Caravan show for the war effort. Penelope wants to help but has to say no.

Meanwhile, through a series of events Ann finds herself at the cabin of playwright Oliver Lawrence (Wilcoxon), and she sets her hope high that she will get to be in an upcoming play of his.

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Musical Monday: A Wave, a WAC and a Marine (1944)

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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:
A Wave, a WAC and a Marine (1944) – Musical #756

Studio:
Monogram Pictures

Director:
Phil Karlson

Starring:
Elyse Knox, Ann Gillis, Sally Eilers, Richard Lane, Marjorie Woodworth, Ramsay Ames, Henny Youngman, Alan Dinehart, Cy Kendall, Aileen Pringle, Jack Mulhall, Mabel Todd, Mel Blanc (uncredited)
Themselves: Charles “Red” Marshall, Billy Mack, Milt Bronson, Elvia Allman, Sid Tomack, Rose Murphy, Freddie Rich, Connie Haines, The Music Maids

Plot:
Talent scout O. Henry Brown (Youngman) confuses two understudies, Marian and Judy (Knox and Gillis), for the stars of the Broadway show “A WAVE, a WAC and a Marine,” Eileen and Betty (Woodworth and Ames). Brown takes Marian and Judy to Hollywood to be signed by Margaret Ames (Eilers) who realizes his mistake and turns the girls down. Marian and Judy have to figure out what to do now that they are stuck in Hollywood.

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Musical Monday: Darling Lili (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.

darling liliThis week’s musical:
Darling Lili (1970) – Musical #755

Studio:
Paramount Pictures

Director:
Blake Edwards

Starring:
Julie Andrews, Rock Hudson, Jeremy Kemp, Lance Percival, Michael Witney, Gloria Paul, Jacques Marin, André Maranne, Bernard Kay, Doreen Keogh, Carl Duering, Vernon Dobtcheff, Laurie Main, Louis Mercier

Plot:
Set during World War I, Lili Smith (Andrews) is a popular English singer who also happens to be a spy for Germany, providing information to Kurt von Ruger (Kemp). When Lili is to get close to American aviator Major Larrabee (Hudson) for information, she falls in love with him. As the two grow close, Lili’s emotions and jealousy conflict with her position as a spy.

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Musical Monday: Remains to Be Seen (1953)

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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:
Remains to Be Seen (1953) – Musical #754

remains2

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Don Weis

Starring:
Van Johnson, June Allyson, Angela Lansbury, Louis Calhern, John Beal, Barry Kelley, Sammy White, Kathryn Card, Paul Harvey, Helene Millard, Charles Lane, Peter Chong, Frank Nelson, Howard Freeman, Dabbs Greer (uncredited), Emmitt Smith (uncredited), Stuart Holmes (uncredited)
Herself: Dorothy Dandridge

Plot:
Waldo Williams (Johnson) is the manager of a luxury apartment complex (who also dabbles in drumming). Williams discovers Travis Revercombe (Holmes) dead in his apartment. While the body was announced as natural causes, a knife is found in his chest by the funeral home. It’s determined that the body was stabbed after he was dead. Revercombe’s lawyer Benjamin Goodman (Calhern) has asked the deceased’s niece, nightclub singer Jody Revere (Allyson), to meet with him. Jody isn’t upset that her uncle is dead, but Waldo Williams is a great fan. Jody is the heir to Revercombe’s fortune, and if she refuses it, it goes to his favorite charity, led by Valeska Chauvel (Lansbury).

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Musical Monday: Murder at the Windmill (1949)

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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:
Murder at the Windmill(1949) – Musical #753

windmill burlesque2

Studio:
Grand National Pictures

Director:
Val Guest

Starring:
Garry Marsh, Jack Livesey, Jon Pertwee, Eliot Makeham, Diana Decker, Donald Clive, Jill Antsey, Pamela Deeming, Johnnie Gale
Themselves: Jimmy Edwards, The Windmill Theater Trope, Robin Richmond

Plot:
When a man is found dead in the front row of the Windmill Theater, police inspectors (Pertwee, Marsh) ask for the cast to re-perform the whole show so they can evaluate how the man was shot and determine who killed him.

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Musical Monday: Kelly and Me (1956)

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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:
Kelly and Me (1956) – Musical #752

kelly and me

Studio:
Universal Pictures

Director:
Robert Z. Leonard

Starring:
Van Johnson, Piper Laurie, Martha Hyer, Onslow Stevens, Hebert Anderson, Douglas Fowley, Frank Wilcox, Dan Riss, Kelly the Dog, Madge Blake (uncredited)

Plot:
Set in 1930, vaudeville performer Len Carmody (Johnson) has a corny, failing act. When another performer abandons his trained dog, Kelly (Kelly the Dog), the dog becomes attached to Carmody. When the dog walks out on stage during Carmody’s act and the audience goes nuts, he realizes he may be on to a new act. The pair become successful on stage and are traveling when they meet Mina Van Runkel (Laurie), who happens to be the daughter of a film studio executive (Stevens). Mina convinces her father to give Carmody and Kelly a role in a film. As Kelly becomes a great film star, Carmody resents the dog’s celebrity and playing second fiddle in his films.

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