Tag Archives: 1950s musicals

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: 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: 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: 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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Musical Monday: Tea for Two (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:
Tea for Two (1950) – Musical #171

tea for two2

Studio:
Warner Bros.

Director:
David Butler

Starring:
Doris Day, Gordon MacRae, Gene Nelson, Eve Arden, Billy De Wolfe, S.Z. Sakall, Bill Goodwin, Patrice Wymore, Virginia Gibson, Elinor Donahue (uncredited), Carol Haney (uncredited), Dee Turnell (uncredited), John Wilder (uncredited)

Plot:
Told in the flashback from modern times, we are transported back from the 1950s to the stock market crash of 1929. At the same time Nanette Carter (Day) agrees to finance a Broadway musical, she has lost everything during the stock market crash. However, she doesn’t know and her financier Uncle J. Maxwell Bloomhaus (Sakall) doesn’t know how to tell her. Instead of telling Nanette she has no money, Uncle Max tells her to say “no” to everything for 48 hours. She believes that if she wins this bet, she can get the $25,000 to finance the show.

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Musical Monday: Kiss Me Kate (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.

kissThis week’s musical:
Kiss Me Kate (1953) – Musical #19

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
George Sidney

Starring:
Kathryn Grayson, Howard Keel, Ann Miller, Tommy Rall, Keenan Wynn, James Whitmore, Bob Fosse, Tommy Rall, Kurt Kasznar, Ron Randell, Willard Parker, Ann Codee, Carol Haney, Jeanne Coyne, Hermes Pan (uncredited)

Plot:
Cole Porter (Randell) has written a musical version of Williams Shakespeare’s play, “Kiss Me Kate.” Fred Graham (Keel) feels the show is perfect for him and his ex-wife, Lilli Vanessi (Grayson). Though Lilli outwardly hates Fred, she can’t turn down a good role, and Fred and Lilli play Petruchio and Kathrine in the show. One of Fred’s girlfriends, Lois (Miller) is cast as Kathrine’s younger sister, Bianca. On opening night as the show is being performed, issues occur backstage. Gangsters (Wynn, Whitmore) show up to collect a gambling debt of Lois’s boyfriend and co-star, Bill (Rall); Lilli and Fred battle, and Lilli’s fiancé (Parker) arrives.

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Musical Monday: Sincerely Yours (1955)

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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:
Sincerely Yours (1955) – Musical #683

Studio:
Warner Bros.

Director:
Gordon Douglas

Starring:
Liberace, Joanne Dru, Dorothy Malone, William Demarest, Alex Nicol, Lori Nelson, Lurene Tuttle, Richard Eyre, James Bell, Ian Wolfe (uncredited), Ed Platt (uncredited), Guy Williams (uncredited)

Plot:
Anthony Warrin (Liberace) loses his hearing unexpectedly. Depressed that he can no longer play the piano due to his hearing loss, Anthony learns to lip-read and begins watching people from his penthouse apartment overlooking Central Park. He learns about their problems by lip-reading and helps strangers.

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Musical Monday: An American in Paris (1951)

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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.

americanThis week’s musical:
American in Paris (1951) – Musical #8

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Vincente Minnelli

Starring:
Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron, Nina Foch, Oscar Levant, Georges Guétary, Madge Blake (uncredited)

Plot:
Jerry Mulligan (Kelly) is an American living in Paris trying to make it as a painter. He often doesn’t sell his work and pals around with his unemployed concert pianist friend, Adam (Levant). One day, wealthy American Milo Roberts (Foch) takes an interest in Jerry’s work … and more. But then Jerry meets and falls in love with Lise (Caron), who happens to also be engaged to his pal (Guétary).

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Musical Monday: The Best Things in Life Are Free (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:
Best Things in Life Are Free (1956) – Musical #729

best thing in life

Studio:
20th Century Fox

Director:
Michael Curtiz

Starring:
Gordon MacRae, Dan Dailey, Ernest Borgnine, Sheree North, Tommy Noonan, Murvyn Vye, Phyllis Avery, Larry Keating, Julie Van Zandt, Jacques d’Amboise, Roxanne Arlen, Harold Miller, Linda Brace, Patty Lou Hudson, Robert Banas (uncredited), Barrie Chase (uncredited), Ann B. Davis (uncredited), Juliet Prowse (uncredited), Marion Ross (uncredited)

Plot:
Musical biographical film on the songwriting trio Buddy DeSylva (MacRae), Ray Henderson (Dailey) and Lew Brown (Borgnine) and the music they wrote together during the 1920s. The film depicts how the trio worked together and how they grew apart when De Sylva went to Hollywood and wanted to produce pictures, leaving Henderson and Brown behind.

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