Tag Archives: MGM

Musical Monday: Paramount on Parade (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.

This week’s musical:
Paramount on Parade (1930) – Musical #831

Studio:
Paramount Pictures

Director:
Dorothy Arzner, Otto Brower, Edmund Goulding, Victor Heerman, Edwin H. Knopf, Rowland V. Lee, Ernst Lubitsch, Lothar Mendes, Victor Schertzinger, A. Edward Sutherland, Frank Tuttle

Starring:
Iris Adrian, Richard Arlen, Jean Arthur, Mischa Auer, William Austin, George Bancroft, Clara Bow, Evelyn Brent, Mary Brian, Clive Brook, Virginia Bruce, Nancy Carroll, Ruth Chatterton, Maurice Chevalier, Gary Cooper, Cecil Cunningham, Leon Errol, Stuart Erwin, Henry Fink, Kay Francis, Richard “Skeets” Gallagher, Edmund Goulding, Harry Green, Mitzi Green, Robert Greig, James Hall, Phillips Holmes, Helen Kane, Dennis King, Abe Lyman, Fredric March, Nino Martini, Mitzi Mayfair, Marion Morgan Dancers, David Newell, Jack Oakie, Warner Oland, Zelma O’Neal, Eugene Pallette, Joan Peers, Jack Pennick, William Powell, Charles “Buddy” Rogers, Lillian Roth, Rolfe Sedan, Stanley Smith, Fay Wray

Plot:
Paramount Pictures Studios introduces their movie stars in a talking picture musical. The studio’s stars appear as themselves, performing songs and skits. Jack Oakie and Maurice Chevalier are more heavily featured than most of the stars.

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Musical Monday: The Hollywood Revue of 1929 (1929)

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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:
The Hollywood Revue of 1929 (1929) – Musical #795

hollywood revue7

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Charles F. Riesner

Starring:
All Performers as themselves:
Master of Ceremony: Conrad Nagel, Jack Benny
Galaxy of Stars: John Gilbert, Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Bessie Love, Anita Page, Buster Keaton, Marion Davies, Lionel Barrymore, William Haines, Marie Dressler, Cliff Edwards, Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Nils Asther, Charles King, Polly Moran, Gus Edwards, Karl Dane, George K. Arthur, Gwen Lee
Uncredited: Ann Dvorak (uncredited)

Plot:
To introduce audiences to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer stars in a talking picture, the MGM stars, all as themselves, perform a revue of songs and skits with actors Conrad Nagel and Jack Benny as the hosts.

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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: Your Cheatin’ Heart (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.

This week’s musical:

Your Cheatin’ Heart – Musical #252

Your Cheatin Heart

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Gene Nelson

Starring:
George Hamilton, Susan Oliver, Red Buttons, Arthur O’Connell, Rex Ingram, Shary Williams, Chris Crosby

Plot:
A biographical film on the life and career of country singer Hank Williams.

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Musical Monday: That’s Entertainment! (1974)

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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:
That’s Entertainment! (1974)

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Jack Haley, Jr.

Starring:
As themselves narrating: Frank Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor, Peter Lawford, James Stewart, Mickey Rooney, Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Fred Astaire, Liza Minelli, Bing Crosby

Plot:
A feature film documentary celebrating 50 years of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, featuring film clips from 1929 into 1958.

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Musical Monday: Summer Holiday (1948)

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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:
Summer Holiday (1948) – Musical #297

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Rouben Mamoulian

Starring:
Mickey Rooney, Gloria DeHaven, Walter Huston, Frank Morgan, Jackie ‘Butch’ Jenkins, Marilyn Maxwell, Agnes Moorehead, Selena Royle, Michael Kirby, Shirley Johns, Hal Hackett, Anne Francis, Howard Freeman, Virginia Brissac, John Alexander

Plot:
Set at the turn of the century in Connecticut, Richard Miller (Rooney) is in love with Muriel McComber (deHaven) and is graduating from high school. Richard has started reading revolutionary literature his summer before starting at Yale. Muriel’s father disapproves and forces the couple to breakup. In his sadness, Richard goes to spend an evening with a chorus girl (Miller) and is served alcohol while underage. After the incident, Richard’s father Nat Miller (Huston) talks with his son and helps him make everything right again. As a sub-plot, Uncle Sid (Morgan), who drinks too much, is in love with Cousin Lily (Moorehead), but is refused by her because of his drinking.

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Watching 1939: Lucky Night (1939)

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In 2011, I announced I was trying to see every film released in 1939. This new series chronicles films released in 1939 as I watch them. As we start out this blog feature, this section may become more concrete as I search for a common thread that runs throughout each film of the year. Right now, that’s difficult. 

1939 film: 
Lucky Night (1939)

Release date: 
May 4, 1939

Cast: 
Myrna Loy, Robert Taylor, Joseph Allen, Henry O’Neill, Douglas Fowley, Charles Lane, Bernard Nedell, Gladys Blake, Marjorie Main, Bernadene Hayes, Irving Bacon, Frank Faylen (uncredited)

Studio: 
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director: 
Norman Taurog

Plot:
Cora Jordan (Loy) is rich and doesn’t know what she wants out of life. After jilting her suitor, she decides to break free from her rich father (O’Neill) to see if she can find what she’s looking for. While unsuccessfully looking for a job, she meets unemployed Bill Overton (Taylor). The two team up for a lucky evening of gambling. The fun is complicated when they marry when Bill wants to keep having fun and Cora feels they should be more serious.

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Musical Monday: The Girl of the Golden West (1938)

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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:
The Girl of the Golden West (1938) – Musical #262

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Robert Z. Leonard

Starring:
Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy, Walter Pidgeon, Leo Carrillo, Buddy Ebsen, Cliff Edwards, Olin Howland, Leonard Penn, Priscilla Lawson, H.B. Warner, Monty Woolley, Noah Beery, Bill Cody Jr., Jeanne Ellis, Brandon Tynan, Russell Simpson (uncredited)

Plot:
Mary Robbins (MacDonald) traveled out west to California as a child, and now as an adult runs the saloon on the frontier. The masked outlaw Ramirez (Eddy) is wreaking havoc on the countryside as he holds up stagecoaches. After meeting Mary, Ramirez disguises himself as Lieutenant Johnson to get closer to her, and they fall in love. However, Sheriff Jack Rance (Pidgeon) is also in love with Mary and is hunting Ramirez and his gang.

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Watching 1939: Stand Up and Fight (1939)

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In 2011, I announced I was trying to see every film released in 1939. This new series chronicles films released in 1939 as I watch them. As we start out this blog feature, this section may become more concrete as I search for a common thread that runs throughout each film of the year. Right now, that’s difficult. 

1939 film:  Stand Up and Fight

Release date:  Jan. 6, 1939

Cast:  Wallace Beery, Robert Taylor, Florence Rice, Helen Broderick, Charles Bickford, Barton MacLane, Charley Grapewin, John Qualen

Studio:  Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:  W.S. Van Dyke

Plot:
Starting in 1844 in Maryland, Blake Cantrell (Taylor) is a plantation owner who is broke and has to sell his property. He’s in love with Bostonian Susan Griffith (Rice), who loses interest when he has no means of taking care of himself. Blake has never worked for a living and ends up working for a stagecoach line run by Capt. Boss Starkey (Beery), which is also owned by Amanda Griffith (Broderick), who is Susan’s aunt.

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Musical Monday: The Merry Widow (1952)

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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 500. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
The Merry Widow (1952) – Musical #237

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Curtis Bernhardt

Starring:
Lana Turner, Fernando Lamas, Una Merkel, Richard Haydn, Thomas Gomez, John Abbott, King Donovan, Robert Coote, Lisa Ferraday, Sujata Rubener, Joi Lansing (uncredited), Gwen Verdon (uncredited)

Plot:
Crystal Radek (Turner) is a rich widow of a man from the kingdom of Marshovia, who left $80 million to his widow. Now living in America, she is invited to Marshovia under false pretenses. The kingdom is in financial distress and has invited her there with hopes that playboy Count Danilo (Lamas) will woo and marry Crystal for her money so the country won’t be annexed to Austria. However, Crystal switches place with her secretary Kitty (Merkel) to see if people will love her for herself.

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