Category Archives: History

Essential Film Musicals: Frozen

Posted on June 4, 2020 by boz

In 1937, Walt Disney had an idea for a biographical film about Hans Christian Andersen. In 1940, he arranged a co-production with Samuel Goldwyn, who would shoot live-action sequences to accompany Disney’s animated sequences, but World War II brought an … Continue reading →

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Essential Film Musicals: Beauty and the Beast

Posted on June 4, 2020 by boz

After the success of Snow White (1937), Walt Disney began looking for other fairytales to adapt, including Beauty and the Beast. His team continued working on that story through the 1930s and into the 1950s, but it “proved to be … Continue reading →

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Essential Film Musicals: All That Jazz

Posted on June 2, 2020 by boz

In 1974, director-choreographer Bob Fosse was editing Lenny, his first film since winning an Oscar (watch here) for Cabaret, and staging Chicago, a Broadway musical starring his estranged wife Gwen Verdon. To keep pace, he was popping Dexedrine and ignoring … Continue reading →

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Essential Film Musicals: Mary Poppins

Posted on June 2, 2020 by boz

Walt Disney’s daughters fell in love with the Mary Poppins books and made him promise to make a film based on them. He first attempted to purchase the film rights from author P.L. Travers as early as 1938. However, she … Continue reading →

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Essential Film Musicals: A Star Is Born

Posted on May 29, 2020 by boz

In 1950, MGM fired Judy Garland. A year later, Vicente Minnelli and she divorced. At a professional and personal nadir, her personal manager (and eventual third husband) Sid Luft engineered a comeback with concerts at the London Palladium and New … Continue reading →

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Essential Film Musicals: Singin’ in the Rain

Posted on May 28, 2020 by boz

Though now often regarded as the greatest film musical ever made, Singin’ in the Rain was only a modest hit when it was first released in 1952. Its stature has grown to near legendary status in the years since. Roger … Continue reading →

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Essential Film Musicals: An American in Paris

Posted on May 28, 2020 by boz

MGM’s Freed Unit, which began creating musical films in 1939 under producer Arthur Freed’s leadership, reached the peak of its creative and critical acclaim in 1951 with An American in Paris, which won the Oscar for Best Picture. Much of … Continue reading →

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Essential Film Musicals: Meet Me in St. Louis

Posted on May 26, 2020 by boz

After working as an uncredited associate producer on The Wizard of Oz, Arthur Freed was given charge of his own unit at MGM. His first effort was the film adaptation of Rodgers and Hart’s stage musical Babes in Arms (1939), … Continue reading →

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Essential Film Musicals: Yankee Doodle Dandy

Posted on May 25, 2020 by boz

“There’s little that’s really original,” Roger Ebert has said of the musical biopic Yankee Doodle Dandy. “The greatness of the film resides entirely in the Cagney performance.” In its 1942 review, Variety similarly noted, “James Cagney does a Cohan of … Continue reading →

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Essential Film Musicals: The Wizard of Oz

Posted on May 22, 2020 by boz

After Disney’s Snow White showed that children’s stories could be profitable, MGM bought the rights to L. Frank Baum’s 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, about the adventures of Kansas farm girl Dorothy and her dog Toto in the … Continue reading →

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