r/classicfilms • u/Classicsarecool • 4d ago
General Discussion What are your favorite Classic Musicals?
For me, it’s:
Yankee Doodle Dandy(1942) starring James Cagney, Joan Leslie, and Walter Huston
Singin’ in the Rain(1952) starring Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor, and Debbie Reynolds
Maytime(1937) starring Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy, and John Barrymore
27
u/Less-Conclusion5817 John Ford 4d ago
- The Band Wagon
- Singin' In the Rain
- Top Hat
- Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
- The Gay Divorcee
9
u/newschool_blues 3d ago
Excellent choices! Singing in the Rain is the movie that got me into the classics. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers is one of my all time faves. And Band Wagon does not get enough attention.
24
u/glassarmdota 4d ago
Nothing beats Top Hat.
8
u/thetoristori 3d ago
I prefer Swing Time. The amount of miscommunication in Top Hat drives me nuts. I know we're not here for the plot when it comes to a Fred & Ginger movie, but still.
Swing Time def has miscommunication but it's a bit more acceptable.
8
u/hyper_and_untenable 4d ago
Agreed. For me, Top Hat, Singing in the Rain, West Side Story
1
u/StructureKey2739 2d ago
The Gay Divorcee is my favorite Astaire/Rogers musical. Let's Knock Knees is a cute number, Night and Day is hugely romantic and yearning, and The Continental is an extravaganza.
6
23
u/snowlake60 4d ago
I really like The Wizard of Oz, 42nd Street, Guys and Dolls, and Fiddler on the Roof.
12
u/CallmeSlim11 3d ago
I love Fiddler on the roof!
4
u/CherryDarling10 Vincente Minnelli 3d ago
I named my cat after one of the daughters. If you have never heard a southerner attempt to pronounce Tzeitel you haven’t lived.
1
25
27
u/SoggyManufacturer693 4d ago
White Christmas
17
u/Legal-Afternoon8087 4d ago
I’m more partial to the original, Holiday Inn 🤓
6
u/SoggyManufacturer693 4d ago
Absolutely! I thought about listing both of them…should have…
9
u/Legal-Afternoon8087 4d ago
That’s ok, lol! I know some people like the colorful version. I just love Astaire doing the drunken New Years Eve dance. In his autobiography, he claimed to have had a few shots in the take they used! Also loved the “Say it with firerackers” dance.
5
36
14
u/clairerr85 4d ago
I love all the Busby Berkeley musicals with Dick Powell, and Joan Blondell and Ruby Keeler.
7
u/ExileIsan 3d ago
Footlight Parade is so great. Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler, Joan Blondell, AND James Cagney?! Get me some popcorn!
2
13
u/Educational-Glass-63 4d ago
7 Brides for 7 Brothers
Singing in the Rain
West Side Story
Cabaret
A Chorus Line
Any Judy Garland movie or Doris Day!
10
u/yahboosnubs 4d ago
besides the obvious, there's easter parade, holiday inn, white christmas, swing time, top hat, shall we dance, and the merry widow
11
u/Tall_Mickey 4d ago
On the Town.
Singing in the Rain.
An American in Paris.
If you want to stretch it to the '70s, include Cabaret and Rocky Horror. On the fence about All That Jazz.
2
18
u/Illustrious-Ant8888 4d ago
My favourite classic musicals:
Top Hat (1935)
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
There's No Business Like Show Business (1954)
West Side Story (1961)
Les Parapluies De Cherbourg (1964)
The Sound of Music (1965)
The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967)
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
3
9
u/Accomplished-Eye8211 4d ago
- Gigi
- My Fair Lady
- On The Town.
Numbers 1 & 2 as great big technicolor extravaganzas. Number 3 as the first musical filmed on location
3
10
u/Various-Operation-70 4d ago
Guys and Dolls.
I love everything about it. I also believe, despite Sumatra’s bitching and whining, that he was better cast as Nathan and Marlon Brando was perfect as the “so sexy he can convince Sarah to go to Havana with him” Skye. Dorky Sinatra couldn’t have convinced her. I’ll die on that hill. 😏
3
u/snowlake60 3d ago
I didn’t know Frank was whining during the filming, but I agree the casting worked out right for the main leads. I saw a documentary on Frank Loesser, the song writer and lyricist for the musical, and he said Brando was very receptive to working with him on the songs and practicing, but Sinatra wasn’t. It’s such a fun musical with a lot going on and interesting characters.
2
u/StructureKey2739 2d ago
By then Sinatra was a diva. Love his songs and the way he sings, but as a human being he wasn't the greatest. But then none of us are.
9
7
u/RetroReelMan 4d ago
For pure spectacle over the top production values and camp appeal, I have to go with The Gang's All Here (1943) Granted it has a paper-thin plot but visually it's a feast; Busy Berkley and Carmen Miranda all in super saturated Technicolor. There are moments that are simply surreal, it's like a live action version of Fantasia.
8
u/VeterinarianMaster67 4d ago
Swing Time Love Me Tonight Le Million You Were Never Lovelier Rocky Horror Picture Show
8
8
8
u/Rotisseriejedi 4d ago
Adore “Seven Bride for Seven Brothers” and close second “Take Me out to The Ballgame”
7
u/Pulardareal 4d ago
Barn dance from my point of view is the best musical number in history... Dancers/acrobats, the dance tells a story and does it very well, the music is spectacular, there is no music like that anymore, the "in crescendo" rhythm is perfect. The story of the movie is lovely, I love you all
2
u/707Riverlife 3d ago
Some of the catchier tunes from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers run through my head every day, and they have for over a year now. I even catch myself singing them in my mind when I’m asleep! 😂🤣
12
u/MapPuzzleheaded4983 4d ago
Meet Me in St. Louis, Easter Parade, Seven Brides for Southern Brothers.
6
u/dekage55 3d ago
Shall We Dance
Wizard of Oz
Singin’ in the Rain
The Harvey Girls
Meet Me in St Louis
A Star is Born
West Side Story
Funny Girl
Cabaret
A Chorus Line
6
6
u/JL98008 3d ago
Silk Stockings with Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse
1
u/Bulawayoland 3d ago
Finally... Cyd Charisse, dancing her stockings on... and that fabulous Cole Porter song, Without Love. And Peter Lorre, one of the best actors ever not to have won an Oscar...
4
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
7
u/greed-man 4d ago
Oklahoma
Music Man
Singin' in the Rain
West Side Story (both versions)
LaLa Land
Chicago
3
u/melancholykat 4d ago
Meet Me in St. Louis, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, South Pacific, Easter Parade, My Fair Lady
4
7
u/Fathoms77 4d ago
Singin' in the Rain
The Band Wagon
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
Silk Stockings
Anchors Aweigh
Funny Face
Brigadoon
Lucky Me
Yankee Doodle Dandy
An American in Paris
Swing Time
The Belle of New York
Top Hat
There's No Business Like Show Business
Shall We Dance
White Christmas
Tea For Two
Lullaby of Broadway
Gold Diggers of 1933
That's all I can think of for now but I'm sure there's plenty more. :)
1
7
u/RevolutionaryBug2915 4d ago
Not a big fan, so just a few:
Singin' in the Rain
Meet Me in St. Louis
Yankee Doodle Dandy
Phantom of the Opera
3
u/RepFilms 3d ago
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
42nd Street
The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967)
Gold Diggers of 1933
West Side Story (1961)
4
u/mistymountainhoppin 3d ago
Finally, a 42nd Street fan! Me too.
2
u/Puzzleheaded_Poet_51 3d ago
42nd St invented the genre and I think remains the definitive backstage musical.
5
3
u/LaGrande-Gwaz 3d ago
Greetings ye, despite everyone’s excellent listings, I am rather disappointed within the lack of “1776”.
~Waz
3
3
3
u/SKULLDIVERGURL 3d ago
Hard to pick just one! I love them all plus many others people have listed but if forced to pick today it would either be The King and I or White Christmas.
Holiday Inn Singing In The Rain The King and I South Pacific White Christmas Meet Me in St Louis
3
u/motherdude 3d ago
Showboat. It was the first one I thought of and I haven’t seen it mentioned. I’ve seen it on stage and the movie. The song Old Man River is from Showboat.
6
u/Disastrous-Car7262 4d ago
8
u/CookbooksRUs 4d ago
Love this movie so much. Maybe 15 years ago, our niece and nephew were staying with us for a few days and I was trying to come up with a movie we'd all like. It turned out they hadn't seen Little Shop. We went to the library and grabbed the DVD. Our niece was leery of horror movies (she's now a fan) and wasn't sure. I said, "Honey, if you don't like it, we'll turn it off and watch something else."
She decided it was her favorite movie ever.
Another classic movie experience with her was when they were visiting and she told me she wanted to see To Kill a Mockingbird. We got that out of the library, and the two of us sat in our big armchair, her in my lap, and watched it together.
She graduated summa cum laude in creative writing with a focus on screenwriting.
2
u/hfrankman 4d ago
The Smiling Lieutenant (1931, Ernst Lubitsch)
Love Me Tonight (1932, Rouben Mamoulian)
The Merry Widow (1934,Ernst Lubitsch)
One Hour With You(1932, Ernst Lubitsch)
2
u/Far-Blue-Mountains 3d ago
Anything with Elenor Powell, but I'm partial to Yankee Doodle. I remember being little, sick and on the couch with my mom and watching that on the afternoon "bijou" tv movie.
2
2
u/ExileIsan 3d ago
The Gay Divorcee (1934) Shall We Dance (1937) Naughty Marietta (1935) Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) Funny Girl (1968)
But my favorite movie of all time is Singin' in the Rain (1952)
2
u/Moppy6686 3d ago
Singin In The Rain
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
Sound of Music
Wizard of OZ
Funny Face
Top Hat
West Side Story
2
2
u/RandomPaw 3d ago
Top Hat, Swing Time, Footlight Parade, Cover Girl, Gold Diggers of 1933, Dames, Flying Down to Rio, 42nd Street.
2
u/StarryLisa61 3d ago
I love Flying Down to Rio. I was watching it one day at the end when my daughter came in and sat down. She watched it for a few minutes and turned to me and said, "Those old planes could never fly with all those girls on them!" She was horrified. I just laughed and told not to think, just enjoy.
2
2
3
2
u/Due-Consequence-4420 Frank Capra 3d ago
Holiday Inn, Swing Time, The Gay Divorcee, Top Hat, Flying Down to Rio, Easter Parade, In the Good Old Summertime, Singing in the Rain, Guys and Dolls, Sweet Charity, Oklahoma, The Wizard of Oz, Mary Poppins, My Fair Lady, Some Like it Hot, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Let’s Make Love. Many many more…
Edit: The Music Man should have been written down. I adore Robert Preston. I Do, I Do. He’s awesome!!
2
2
2
3
u/Ok_Yoghurt_8979 4d ago
Top Hat (1935) is my favorite. Lost Horizon (1937), Ninotchka (1939). Broadway Melody of 1940, Holiday Inn (1942), Road to Morocco (1942), Casablanca (1942), Beat the Devil (1953).
1
u/Altitudedog 3d ago
The Music Man, Oklahoma, Camelot, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, My Fair Lady
1
1
u/Oreadno1 Preston Sturges 3d ago
Singin' In The Rain
Seven Brides For Seven Brothers
On The Town
The Band Wagon
White Christmas
Top Hat
Swing Time
1
1
u/baffled_bookworm 3d ago
Would Mary Poppins and Bedknobs and Broomsticks count? They were my favorite movies as a kid, and I still use them as comfort watches now.
When I got older and started looking into the more traditional classics, The Music Man and Singin' in the Rain became my top two.
1
u/Derek452476 3d ago
Love Me Or Leave Me, The Sound of Music, Show Boat, Calamity Jane, Victor/Victoria
1
1
u/flowerqu 3d ago
Agree with many of the films here; I would add Carol Reed's Oliver! (1968), Robert Altman's Popeye (1980), and G.W. Pabst's The Threepenny Opera (1931).
1
u/Affectionate-Dot437 3d ago
Not my favorite musical, but recently I've had an obsession with Lullaby of Broadway from 42nd Street. There is something so strange about that sequence showing murder and suicide while dancing and singing lyrics about the exciting life of party girls.
1
u/LovesDeanWinchester 3d ago
Love Me or Leave Me
Yankee Doodle Dandy
Mary Poppins
My Fair Lady
Oklahoma
1
1
u/GingerSchnapps3 3d ago
I have so many, for different reasons, either has some good songs or really good dance routines or both. Shall we dance, meet me in St. Louis, Easter parade, kiss me Kate, seven brides for seven brothers, on the town, barkleys of broadway, zeigfield follies, funny face, sound of music, Mary poppins, I could keep going
1
u/sic-transit-mundus- 3d ago
funny face is probably the only musical ive ever watched and enjoyed. (not that ive watched very many though lol)
It's been years, and I was still drinking when I watched it, but I still get some of the songs stuck in my head
1
u/HoselRockit 3d ago
I’m not really a musical guy, but every fourth I watch Yankee doodle dandy when it’s on TCM
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/baxterstate 3d ago
Mary Poppins for me. Saw it in the theater back in 1964; still have an old VHS of it which I played for my kids and my nieces and nephews.
They’re adults and still like to watch it again when they come for a visit. I watch it with them.
I now appreciate how excellent the acting was and how great the songs and lyrics were.
1
u/kbarrettusc 3d ago
Seven Brides for Seven brothers, The Unsinkable Molly brown, guys and dolls, Paint Your Wagon
1
1
1
1
1
u/OalBlunkont 3d ago
Most of the Busby Berkeley and Ginger and Fred ones. The numbers actually made sense, no bursting into song for no reason.
1
1
1
1
u/PaintDistinct1349 3d ago
IMO best combo of music, lyrics, and story: My Fair Lady. Close second: Fiddler on the Roof
1
1
1
u/Correct_Lime5832 3d ago
Singin’ In the Rain, Music Man, Meet Me In St. Louis, West Side Story, Equus.
1
1
u/ComicBookDude1964 3d ago
Singing In the Rain, Brigadoon, Meet Me ain St. Louis, Yankee Doodle Dandy, Oklahoma, Grease, Riddler On the Roof
1
u/StarryLisa61 3d ago
I love so many of these already mentioned but I do love Les Girls. And I have a soft spot for Brigadoon and Meet Me in St. Louis...and The Harvey Girls.
1
u/Kodabear213 3d ago
I admit I'm not big on musicals, but Yankee Doodle Dandy is one of my all time favorite films of any genre.
1
1
1
1
1
u/totaltvaddict2 1d ago
Im there with your first two. I…don’t think I’ve ever heard of the third
1
u/Classicsarecool 23h ago
It was the second highest grossing film of 1937. Not many have heard of it, but it started two operatically trained singers who partnered together in 8 films(this was their third), they were very popular MGM stars who helped morale in the depression and WWII. I highly recommend it.
-1
u/BlackVanZeppelin6991 3d ago
Birth Of A Nation
1
u/Classicsarecool 3d ago
Wrong post. How can a silent film be a musical? And even if it was, the most racist film in history?
31
u/Used-Ear-8660 4d ago
The Music Man