Singing through the years
With the forthcoming release of the musical comedy Romance And Cigarettes.
Cinemas Online will dance and sing your way through the history of this
film genre.
Let's start of with a definition of what a musical actually is. According
to the Oxford English Dictionary a musical is defined below:
b. orig. U.S. A play or film in which singing and dancing play an
essential part; a musical comedy.
Traditionally, the theatrical musical has been populist and commercial,
often tending towards comic or burlesque themes, and as such has been
regarded as distinct from opera. More recently, however, it has been argued
that the distinction is no longer so clear-cut.
So with that out of the way now we know what we are talking about.
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The start of musicals
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We all know that The Jazz Singer from 1927
was the first film that used sound. Well this is partially correct as films
were using sound almost ten years earlier with films like Dream Street (1920)
and Don Juan (1926) but these only had synchronised sound effects and music.
What made The Jazz singer different is that the dialogue was synchronised.
It took the box office by storm and proved that the new "talkies"
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The 30s
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This could be regarded as the start of
the "golden age" of Hollywood musicals. These 10 years gave us
over 200 musicals with some of the all-time classics, such as 42nd Street(1933),
Flying Down To Rio(1933) which is remembered today for the first time Fred
Astaire and Ginger Rogers appear in screen together. Snow White and the
Seven Dwarfs(1937) that is more notable for being the first full length
animated feature but still a musical.
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The 40s
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This decade bought us the start of the
Bing Crosby/Bob Hope/Dorothy Lamour "Road to..." movies with Road
to Singapore (1940), the second Walt Disney animated feature, Pinocchio
(1940). Also in this decade came possibly all time classic musical, Holiday
Inn (1942) including the song "White Christmas"
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The 50s
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Possibly the height of Hollywood musicals
with Annie Get Your Gun(1950) opening the decade with one of the most famous
show-tunes ever "There's No Business Like Show Business" flowing
through Show Boat(1951), drenched in Singin' In The Rain (1952), Gentlemen
Prefer Blondes and Peter Pan(both 1953), Seven Brides For Seven Brothers
and White Christmas (both 1954), Guys And Dolls and Oklahoma! (both 1955).
This decade also saw the first "Rock and roll" musical film with
Rock Around The Clock (1956) followed in 1957 by a black and white film
starring a up-and-coming singer Elvis Presley Jailhouse rock
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The 60s
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With the coming of the 60s and pop music
taking over the airwaves, the musical slowly followed suit over the decade
with more films from Elvis and a boy band from Liverpool, The Beatles. The
early part of the decade gave us a more classic musical films like West
Side Story (1961),Mary Poppins and My Fair Lady (both 1964) but by the middle
of the decade we now had musicals called How To Stuff A Wild Bikini (1965)
- and yes I am as confused about that title as you must be! This decade
also gave us films from pop stars such as The Beatles with A Hard Day's
Night (1964). The decade ended with some of the best loved musical, especially
for kids, with Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) and Hello, Dolly! (1969)
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The 70s
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Musicals were starting to fade in the late
60s but it seems that the 70s it started to decline, almost fatally bit
even so that decade gave us some great musicals. Fiddler on the Roof and
Bedknobs and Broomsticks (both 1971). Cabaret came along in the next year,
1972, with Judy Garland's daughter Liza Minnelli. This decade also saw the
rise of Andrew Lloyd Webber with Jesus Christ Superstar (1973) and one of
the longest running films of all time, The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975).
Even with the decline of this genre some of most loved musicals, especially
for those people who are now in their 30s, Saturday Night Fever(1977), Grease
(1978) and for rock fans Tommy (1975) |
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The 80s
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Now the musical was on a life support machine
but even so the decade started off quite well with the classic The Blues
Brothers (1980) but started to go down hill quite quickly after that with
the not much loved Grease 2 (1982). Getting nearer the middle of the decade
gave us the classic 80s musicals Flashdance (1983), Footloose (1984) and
the surreal Little Shop Of Horrors (1986) |
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The 90s
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This decade saw the resurgence of the musical.
Mostly down to Disney animation getting their act back together after a
hard time in the 70s and 80s with Beauty and the Beast (1990) and Aladdin
(1991). This decade also saw Madonna trying to make yet another acting comeback
with Evita (1996) and possibly the worst Musical of all time Spiceworld
(1997) and the underrated Blues Borthers 2000 (1998) |
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Beyond 2000
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After 20years in the wilderness the musical
is back! With a mix of a more classical feel with O Brother, Where Art Thou?
(2001) and the massive hits of Moulin Rouge! (2001) and Chicago (2002).
Also we have seen the modern idea of casting music stars as the lead in
films such as 8 mile and another failure of epic proportions the much hated
vehicle for Britney Spears Crossroads (both 2002) |
