The History of The Hollywood Musical

Please consider supporting us on Patreon: / filmmakeriq
Check out the full course with bonus material and sauce:
filmmakeriq.co...
The Hollywood Musical began right when films learned to talk. Explore the beginnings in vaudeville to the Golden Era of Studio Musicals followed by the transformation into the modern story driven Book Musical. Finally we look at the fall of the musical genre's stature from tent-pole money maker to family friendly fare and the potential future of one of film's oldest genres.
If you have any further questions - check out our questions page:
filmmakeriq.co...

[@HM-bg4gd]

I am DEVASTATED I've only just now found your channel and this great video. I would have loved if you did a video solely on La La Land and why you think it didn't measure up to the Greats. Also interesting that no one talks about this movie anymore despite its wild claims it was going to bring musicals back for good. From a new subscriber!

[@9and7]

Possibly the best channel on YT. Thank you once again.

[@FilmmakerIQ]

Possibly? :P You are most welcome, thanks for watching!

[@9and7]

HAHA!! Very true. I stand corrected. The best YT channel! Long live Flimaker IQ! Hope to see something on Citizen Kane someday too! Cheers!!

[@babban1988]

when r u gonna do the video on history of resolutions

[@MileyonDisney]

I don't know what New Years promises have to do with this channel, but whatever.

[@babban1988]

i was talking about film resolutions

[@SaturnCanuck]

John, thank you for this. I watch (subscribe) your videos all the time and find them informative entertaining. As a musician (of sorts) myself (signing and clarinet), you brought back to me my first Musical experience when, as a child of 9, my Mom “dragged” me to see “The Sound of Music”. Luckily it was at a very large theatre in Toronto and the opening scene got me. By the end, I asked to see it again - and in the days where you could stay and watch the movie again, we did. I was hooked on the genre and still watch the classic musicals to this day, most of which you mentioned. I hope to see more of these “genre” videos, such as Westerns and (my personal favourite) SF. Please keep making these video “classrooms”.

[@MetalJesusRocks]

Really great video! I'd love to see you do an entire video dedicated to breaking down Wizard of Oz or Singing in the Rain

[@morinc75]

i don't watch movies. Yet i could sit here and watch John explain them to me all day.

[@DispatchWnyPaperscom]

Same here. I came to his channel to learn a little about lighting for still photography and now I'm hooked.

[@cosmogreenpaws]

Great video! Just a quick thing I noticed is at 27:17 your "Zooey Deschanel" and "Katy Perry" tags are mixed up.

[@FilmmakerIQ]

Sorry, that should have been Natalie Portman and Keira Knightley... our bad.

[@MileyonDisney]

I wondered about that. I get those two mixed up so often...

[@FilmmakerIQ]

Sometimes we add little jokes just for ourselves and to see if you are paying attention.

[@AlfredAmeneyro21]

cosmogreenpaws thought the same, but I believe he did it on purpose.

[@lifewithlani2637]

"All That Jazz" with Roy Scheider

[@jajoe4897]

RIGHT!!! LOVED THIS!!

[@bigredjanie]

YES! Thank you for finally doing this video, musicals are a favourite genre of mine! So glad you (partially) made this video due to my suggestion!

[@artifacts8815]

What a great channel!!! I am always learning something new!!!! And I finally found someone that didn't like "La La Land". I was afraid that I was the only one and I've might been going crazy!

[@someenglishguy]

"...That made the bad British man smile." That made me laugh!

[@pezaoBsb]

I liked Hail Caesar a lot. I think the Coens and Deakins did a great job at showing us how the golden era movies used to look like. The thing is, it just stands for a good comedy and satire (which again, I enjoyed), but doesn't add much else. When I watched La La Land, on the other hand, it looked and felt much more real, from the the cinematography and the set decoration to the characters and the acting. I won't even argue about the music, since I feel that it's too personal to set an argument about it, but I really value all those risks that they took for the film to look more real (the lack of extremely professional dancers and singers, for example). I also love the old musicals, but I experienced something new with La La Land, like the musical genre finally met the realism and contemporary look of today's best films, and if that's the future of musicals, I gladly embrace it.

[@InsightsEnPointe]

Say what you will about Moulin Rouge! But it was a legend. Hollywood swore the musical film was dead and buried and even Disney had stopped making musicals. Baz Luhrmann's vision and astounding technique both appealed to the grown up kids from the Disney Renaissance (by using many of Howard Ashman's techniques) and primed a younger generation to love musical film again. Hence the Elsas and the Moanas. It didn't revive the musical film like many people hoped at the time, but that wasn't the fault of MR or Baz's fault, it's because not many other filmmakers were ever able to figure out how Baz broke down the musical film and adapted its appeal to a younger generation. The genius of MR is in how it makes people feel like they are both watching a film (something that is foreign and carefully curated) and experiencing a musical the same way they'd experience contemporary music, because well, it is the popular music of the 20th century that we collectively decided to enjoy. It is over the top in all the ways Baz Luhrmann always is, but it's still a fantastic work of film.

[@soksayscreenrecorder2333]

It would be great if the next topic is about Film Criticism and the Star Classification Reviews of Ebert, Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb.

[@FilmmakerIQ]

We are working on something in that regard. In the meantime you should check out our course on Auteur Theory: filmmakeriq.com/courses/origins-auteur-theory/

[@FilmmakerIQ]

PS - You can add your suggestions here: filmmakeriq.com/suggestions/

[@ianrotten4453]

As a Metal Head, and hard rocker that's been playing music most of my life, old-school Hollywood musicals and classical soundtracks were my biggest influence of my songwriting and arrangements. I hated LA LA Land and miss the days of the great musicals. Thank God I've got the entire Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire box set, along with The Marx Brothers (which you never mentioned in the video) box set as well. Long live the memory of the Musical!

[@glennso47]

Would Elvis be included in the musical genre? Love Me Tender, Jailhouse Rock, Change Of Habit? Other films?

[@CodySSC]

19:20 ah yes that time John was in Sound of Music lol. Love it

[@websitesthatneedanem]

TOTALLY agree with you about Laa Laa Land!

[@jdsgotninelives]

The breadth and depth of your presentation here is first class. A really riveting twenty eight plus minutes. I am a bit pissed you didn't include Moulin Rouge but I forgive you man :)

[@atariblue]

John Maguire I too was shocked he didn't me Moulin Rouge. When he said Chicago was the last great musical, I had to stop and say is he going to mention it?

[@jdsgotninelives]

And that exact moment here too seth szajek!

[@StagedRight]

Appreciated a lot of your thoughts. I dunno if the movie musical is dead. I think we need artists and directors who have instinct and knowledge of how to film musical numbers for the screen that is compelling. "Chicago"'s concept was incredible still holds up!

[@ThomasBryant]

I love every video you create. You are knowledgeable, honest and passionate. Thank you.

[@ShiftingDrifter]

Wow! Jack Warner - the famed and revered Hollywood movie mogul, a cultivated seminal film executive who earned his chops over 4 decades in the business, and was recognized as an enigmatic paragon trail blazer of numerous silver screen firsts, actually thought the jaw-dropping beauty and vocally remarkable Julie Andrews was not photogenic enough? She has a photogenic quality that can only be described as "Eye Candy Epitomized." It boggles the mind in retrospect.

[@FilmmakerIQ]

+Madd Dogg billion dollar mistake right? ;) Actually if you read through the history of stars in Hollywood you see this story over and over again, major star of today passed over by mogul again and again.

[@stageprojections]

I can't believe it's taken me so long to find your channel. I love your analysis and in-depth knowledge of all things film. I too, have a bit of a love/hate relationship with film musicals. It might have been interesting to hear your opinion of Moulin Rouge (2001) or some of the Lloyd-Webber adaptations like Phantom of the Opera (2004) and the controversial Cats (2019). Obviously, some of this is after you published this video, but it would be cool if you did some "addendum" or "update" videos tagged onto some of your excellent current ones.

[@MDMart]

Love the Zooey Deschanel joke and the hint that we are being Rick Rolled ;) Nice job. And as always, amazing video. This should be a tv show,,, well no,,, tv is dead, internet viewing is the better platform now,,, well then this should be more a more well known channel, deserving of at least a hundred times for views

[@tamaracady5035]

As always, great video. My favorite musicals include White Christmas, anything with Danny Kaye (but esp. Hans Christian Anderson), and the ever ridiculous Grease 2 that dominated my childhood.

[@CarolNataliaMulligan]

I can't believe you didn't include Showboat. It was definitely a prime example of basing a musical on a book -- and not just any book, but by Edna Ferber. Both the 1936 and 1951versions were great.

[@kelleyceccato7025]

The 1936 film deserves a documentary of its own.

[@benjaminv.marshall504]

The book of the musical (libretto) is based on Ferber's novel and it was written by Oscar Hammerstein II. 1927

[@CarolNataliaMulligan]

@@benjaminv.marshall504 and?

[@XSocalxProFroX]

So glad I found this channel... amazing!!! Keep up the great work

[@JohnMGilbert]

My favorite, "7 Brides for 7 Brothers". Not a remake of a Broadway play but a true Hollywood musical.

[@matthewneiman]

I actually very much enjoyed lala land, it felt more genuine than many of the other 'classics' I've seen.

[@FilmmakerIQ]

You can like La La Land - that's cool. To me it just didn't come off genuine - as Sebastian would say, it worships everything but values nothing.

[@matthewneiman]

Filmmaker IQ ha, at least you know your stuff and gave it an honest shot. I can totally see it being looked at as pretty goofy, it just really connected to me for whatever reason.

[@FilmmakerIQ]

Here's the thing - the movie opens up with this big bold CINEMASCOPE!!! logo. He's literally taunting you with "this is supposed to be a throwback" and then we get this super steadicam one shot of a freeway where nobody's face is visible (they should have shot it with a crane to be accurate - yes, it makes a big difference :P). The joke is look how silly musicals are - they're all miserable and stuck in traffic but they all break out into song and dance about "another day in this wonderful sun" (that's putting everybody in shadow) because they're in a musical. NO, that's not how a musical works (at least not a good musical). People don't just break out into song in a musical - they have to work up to a song. Going back to that Fosse Quote - when words aren't powerful enough, you sing. When song isn't powerful enough you dance. So why are the freeway people dancing??? And why are they all this young creative class - isn't there any older people on this freeway??? This stuff isn't a nit pick is a tone-deafness that sort of underscores the whole film. Well that just got me in a bad mood right at the beginning. Then Sebastian talks about how much he loves jazz... while the jazz band is trying to play. He seems to love talking about it more than actually listening to it. Then Mia's talking about how much she loves Hollywood while they're watching a shot take place - WHATEVER HAPPENED TO QUIET ON THE SET!!!! Then the whole flipped backwards logic of Sebastian taking the John Legend gig. He was making money making music that people seemed to enjoy and making a name for himself - how is that selling out? That's a completely unrealistic view of life as a musician. The only sense anyone made in that was John Legend when he said “You're holding on to the past, but jazz is about the future." But people love it - that's fine. But I don't think it will convert new musical fans - but I could be wrong.

[@bigredjanie]

Filmmaker IQ Honestly my biggest problem with La La Land was that it wasn't as FUN as it should've been. If you go back to classic musicals like Singin' in the Rain or The Band Wagon, they're just fun all the way through. And even when they get serious/sad those moments feel earned - La La Land has a few fun moments, but the whole film has this kinda dour feel to it outside some songs. It's like Damien wanted to add pathos to the story, but kinda diluted what made classic musicals fun to begin with.

[@zackmillsaps8850]

Filmmaker IQ I watched La La Land on the flight back from my first trip visiting (and directing a commercial) Hollywood. Personally, I finished the film with a gross feeling that it was one whole commercial for Hollywood's, now faded, grandeur. LA is only in small La La Land, it is mainly a city of actors resembling Inside Llewyn Davis.

[@JoeyScoma2]

This is such a huge topic, thank you for the wealth of information in it!!! I'm curious what your thoughts are on what happened in the 80s... The musical transformed and gave us the "Dance Montage" movies Footloose, Flash Dance, Dirty Dancing, Staying Alive, Breakin', etc etc They're not technically musicals but it was an insane trend that continues to this day. I don't know why... My guess would be the popularity of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack gave studios incentive to package pop-songs into feature films? MTV and John Hughes also happened, and someone below mentioned the Blues Brothers which is an insane hybrid unto itself. Thanks John!

[@FilmmakerIQ]

Great question. I haven't thought about it or read that much about it yet. You have to be careful how you group them because something like Dirty Dancing came quite a few years after Footloose, Flash Dance and Staying Alive with Saturday Night Fever coming even half a decade before that grouping (and a year before Grease). Certainly MTV happened and MichaelJackson (who is sort of like the Fred Astaire of the Pop World) So, I couldn't give you a definitive chronology of that time period but it's worth investigating.

[@JoeyScoma2]

Cool, thanks for the reply. Yeah i mentioned these film in part because they all fall into the "let's put on a show" (or dance) trope which until this video... I hadn't known where it had originated. I look forward to the next one!

[@chapablo]

Joey Scoma I think this list of movies, and many more, would fall under a different category. What I call the "Feature-length Music Video" is a type of film in which the actors don't sing, but they dance. But the musical numbers are designed to be modular, in that they can be packaged and marketed as singles and shown on TV/MTV, which simultaneously promotes the movie, the song/album, sells soundtracks, and generates additional revenue aside from ticket and home sales. I think it's worth it's own review.

[@SteveLittleLivesHere]

Actually you mentioning Fever reminds me that you missed the last real musical sruge of the late 70s eraly 80s that ran paralel to the disco era. It ended with Can't Stop the Music and Xanadu.

[@andlabs]

Hearing Martin Scorsese talk about Vincente Minnelli (in his excellent Personal Journey video for BFI) makes me think that his contribution to musicals deserves some discussion, but I could be wrong about this :D Also I'm pretty sure the early-2000s musical subtrend started with Moulin Rouge!, not Chicago (but I don't know enough about either film so I will err on the side of popularity and say that doesn't mean Chicago isn't worth mentioning), and IIRC wasn't it a full-on trend, not something that died with Chicago? You did mention Hairspray, which was probably the last one to come out... Lindsay Ellis's discussion of the 2004 The Phantom of the Opera begins with a similar discussion to the one you're trying to make at the end of the video, about the cognitive dissonance of a movie musical in a hyper-realistic film world, and that perhaps abandoning any pretense and resorting to pure stylism is the way forward for film musicals (though I could be misinterpreting it). I'm not sure myself, but the video is worth watching. I have yet to see any musicals in my recent attempt to drown in film; I need to get around to doing so... (Also thanks for explaining where that "let's put on a show" thing comes from; I'll have to watch that film too now...)

[@FilmmakerIQ]

I didn't mention Chicago as a trend setter - I just mentioned it was the last movie musical that I actually thought was good ;) Well I did really like Enchanted - but that's also playing on the tropes of Disney Princess musicals. I've seen the Lindsay Ellis video - it's very good and gets deeper into this than we did. You make a good point abandoning pretense and going for pure style. I mean - that's what Hamilton is essentially.

[@amandamcfarland6198]

I NEVER comment on anything especially not KZbin videos. But this deserves it...Finally someone with sense. I am tired of the generational half baked "musical" vomit. I grew up watching those black and white musicals and very concerned when people praise lala land for being any good. I have a feeling they have not invested their time in old films to really know any better. Kinda when people think panda express is the best Chinese food out there. They just don't know anybetter... Thank you so much for actually knowing about film and not following the usual sheep movie goers opinion. I showed my mother this video who grew up on musicals when she was a little girl and she couldn't agree more with everything you said. Thank you for actually being courageous enough to say it. Keep it up!

[@FilmmakerIQ]

Notice whenever you see a review of La La Land they always start off by saying "I'm not usually a big fan of musicals" ;)

[@bredmond812]

27:16 Oh man. I just got Rick Rolled....

[@Zorrorrorro]

What about The Muppets?!?! I loved that recent-ish live-action musical film.

[@JeHaVe]

Great video 👌 To answer your question which one I was missing: Showboat and Victor-Victoria.

[@peliculasperdidasyencontra5059]

I think that Hugh Jackman's The Greatest Showman captures much of the magic of the Golden Age of Hollywood Musicals.

[@FilmmakerIQ]

I wanted to see that but never got to it :(

[@peliculasperdidasyencontra5059]

Please see it, a really wonderful film and I wonder why it was so overlooked by the Academy, although the Golden Globes gave it two awards

[@swray2112]

Great video John, my pick for most overlooked is Moulin Rouge!

[@Mrkino]

I would love to see something on dancing movies, from Fred Astaire to high school musical.

[@CosmoZ42]

i'm currently writing a video essay on classic and modern movie musicals and this video has been invaluable! i love that you've shared some of this history :))

[@aaronhamel5935]

I absolutely love your videos, but I was disappointed to not see any mention of Hebert Ross' Pennies from Heaven. A great film and an interesting look at the time period that birth those great Hollywood musicals!

[@FilmmakerIQ]

I have to admit, I haven't seen Pennies (an oversight that must be corrected soon)- I did discover it on my research including watching Christopher Walkens' extraordinary striptease - but it didn't make the brief history because it was a flop at at the box office.

[@aaronhamel5935]

Filmmaker IQ Fair enough, it was a big flop, but I think artistically it's pretty significant. And Walken's dance scene is amazing!

[@FilmmakerIQ]

From what little I've seen of it, I'm eager to watch it! :)

[@esmeephillips5888]

MGM 's golden years did not begin with 'Wizard of Oz' but two years earlier with 'Broadway Melody of 1936'. Freed & Brown wrote the score and it produced Metro's first authentic musical superstar, Eleanor Powell.

[@FilmmakerIQ]

No one said it did.

[@lemmor6791civ]

Moulin Rouge! is really underrated...

[@PiscesPriestesses]

OUTSTANDING John! My favourite genre after Film Noir . . . my parents used to sing their hearts out to Hollywood musicals on the TV In the 60's and 70"s!! This is one of your best shows . . . but why didn't you mention Paint Your Wagon and Lee Marvin's iconic "I was born under a wandrin star" ? 😎🙏💚😎

[@RabbiKolakowski]

My favorite musical is an obscure 1941 film that fell into the public domain called Road Show with Adolph Menjou.

[@OctoberLandon]

He didn't mention that Beauty and the Beast has made over a billion dollars worldwide and is currently the highest grossing movie of 2017....

[@AaronSmith1]

I think that has more to do with a proven brand and the big studio tent-pole movie business than anything related to musicals making a comeback.

[@zackmillsaps8850]

I second what Aaron says.

[@OctoberLandon]

Good point Aaron! It just felt like such a box-office accomplishment for musicals. But yes, I understand what you're saying. :-)

[@mrcoakes]

I love your trips through film history keep up the outstanding work!!!!

[@overheardatthepub1238]

This was probably your best work. Congrats.

[@occularmalice]

What? No Xanadu! Seriously though, I agree with your conclusions (and now subscribed to the channel, your history of videos are brilliant). I think Moulin Rouge did some effort to capture the grandiose style of the MGM days, but didn't quite measure up (but IMHO maybe should have been mentioned, even if it was a one-off). Still waiting for a resurgence but yeah, I can't see that happening too soon given the pool of talent out there.

[@irishman6414]

I'm so glad I wasn't the only one who found La La Land underwhelming.

[@guest_informant]

Moulin Rouge On a personal note I don't like musicals at all. I saw _Moulin Rouge_ once and thought it was abysmal. Then, because a friend wanted to see it I watched it again, and thought it was powerful and moving. Anyway, love it or hate it, I thought it deserved a mention.

[@diegodecastro5821]

Your videos are just amazing

[@ben12079]

Dead? Live action musicals are certainly on life support, but Disney has certainly kept the genre alive and well. Regardless of my minor quibble, your videos are great. Thank you for posting them.

[@_revivify_7175]

Great video and in depth analysis but I just can’t seem to understand how people see talent in these musicals compared to today

[@ivanofna]

Completely out of the nominal scope of the video, I did not expect to see in this video, but would recommend watching Soviet musicals, as several of those hold intense cultural cache in most Soviet countries even after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The earlier ones like Jolly Fellows(1934), a classic backstage musical and Circus (1936) an anti-anti-miscegenation musical, were well received internationally. But it's the musicals of the 60s and 70s that still hold positions similar to The Sound of Music in the West, being shown every New Year, like Irony of Fate (1975) which is a very sad musical screwball comedy, but very non-standard in it's narrative, or for example Office Romance (1977) which is a musical in the sense that the film is regularly interrupted with songs sung by cast members, but off screen, whilst scenes of urban life in Moscow are shown. But for a completely different and very post new wave, late modernist take on musicals, there is always the classics of Estonian cinema: Mehed Ei Nuta (Men Don't Cry) from 1969, a film about the treatment of insomniac hypochondriacs; and Siin Me Oleme (Here We Are) from 1979, a film about holidaymakers from the capital crashing a farmhouse. Both are extremely popular but almost impossible to watch.

[@williamsnyder5616]

No mention of "The King and I," "South Pacific," "Funny Girl" and "Oliver!?" All four were boffo box office and "Oliver!" was the last musical to win a Best Picture Oscar until "Chicago."

[@tannerdavis212]

Moulin Rouge is one of the best movies I've seen. Highly underrated. Hail, Caesar! is also quite exceptional. Shame that it wasn't really appreciated by audiences, even in spite of solid star power (which obviously isn't what it used to be).

[@tdclark235]

You Rick Rolled us...

[@BarronBrothersFilms]

Yes! I feel validated in my opinion of "La La Land".

[@n3v1h5]

I thought I could fall asleep to this but the camera transitions and, of course, the content is too damn good

[@moissandelaguila3982]

You could have mention John Carney and his three musicals: Once, Begin Again and Sing Street. Although they are not Hollywood musicals, Once was very popular and it was even adapted into a stage musical. And Sing Street is really good too.

[@adamfromm]

Thank you, I was scanning through comments specifically to see if anyone had mentioned Carney's work. What I love about these films is that they're not just movies with music-they're movies ABOUT the music, and the joy and connection of the music-making process. They're also unique in that they're grounded in realism, with the music occurring organically within the scene rather than everyone abruptly bursting into song. In a way, they're a throwback to the "let's put on a show" subgenre with its unflagging optimism, but without its artificial Hollywoodized sheen.

[@devinbell4816]

I've always adored the early sound musicals of the late 20s and 30s. Especially the two strip technicolor ones. They have this style and charm that's never really been properly replicated.

[@mst311]

meet me in st louis !

[@ishbanyadav]

I am from India and recently "Jagga Jasoos" was released. Its the first musical from our industry. Really proud :)

[@transsexual_void_fairy]

?????? To my knowledge they sing in EVERY Bollywood movie

[@JIRAFACOVERS]

da fuck you talking about, the Bollywood industry produce the most musical films today (even waaaaaaaaaaaaaay before you posted this comment)

[@ziva1]

The Band Wagon, Thoroughly Modern Millie

[@fantaghiro1389]

Bollywood needs its own video, because it never really apeared to "die" far as we know.

[@robsemail]

Also, you never mentioned Jeanette MacDonald. I think my favorite of hers is 'San Francisco'. MacDonald is perfect for this picture where the music does not really further the story, but is something we simply witness as the main character plies her trade as a singer. She's so good she can hold your interest singing a cookbook. There's also the fact that the movie tells a ripping good story with special effects that still look impressive today.

[@FilmmakerIQ]

You see Jeanette MacDonald in 8:19 with Maurice Chavelier in the Love Me Tonight.

[@robsemail]

Ah, missed that. Sorry.

[@carolynkingsley4421]

Love the old Hollywood musicals. I have a few of these gems in my collection. I have two faves- The Sound of Music and Singing in the Rain.

[@MegaTheBard]

Moulin Rouge is most def my favorite film musical

[@StevenTorrey]

Judy Garland was a stage performer at age 2; Fred Astaire at age 5. It was a magic age of Irving Berlin, George/Ira Gershwin, Cole Porter matching priceless music/words to priceless talent imbued at an early age.

[@wado1942]

OK I totally busted a gut when I saw that accordion gag!

[@strangersound]

Grease deserved more than the passing mention. :The last great musical. )

[@thegirllikesmovies7389]

I love this channel so much.

[@JonPaulDiefenbach]

Another great video! I enjoyed every minute. Thank you for making this!

[@Nolroa]

What About Moulin Rouge? Perhaps the film does not qualify within the musical genre (Original songs written for the play) but it had a magnificent artistic performance.

[@pokepress]

Could you do a follow-up on how existing (or commissioned) popular music is used in film? It's been done for a long time, but I think the 70s, 80s, and 90s were some of the peak years. You could also talk about films used to promote musicians (The Beatles, Prince, and Michael Jackson being notable). I always like hearing about the interactions between various forms of media.

[@FilmmakerIQ]

+pokepress I think you would need to start earlier.. in the 30s and 40s studios put out "concert movies" with Big Band legends like Ellington and Glenn Miller. The peak was probably in the 50s with Elvis and the whole beach party movie scene where people like Annette Funacello. By 80s and 90s MTV was a more reliable avenue for music stars... You still have the occasional foray from one to the other, last to come to mind was Katy Perry.

[@pokepress]

That's another reason I like this channel so much-learning things go further back is a lot of fun. My "70s/80s/90s" comment was more about movies like "Saturday Night Fever", "Top Gun" and "Space Jam" where existing (or commissioned) songs are inserted into the film. Since my channel focuses on music related to a certain licensed property, that's always been of interest to me.

[@fredwucher4045]

Hello, John Hess. There are several musicals you did mention except for one; the 1968 film classic "Paint Your Wagon," starring Jean Seberg and Clint Eastwood. I'm not pissed, just a little oversight.

[@First.Ascent.Therapy]

Lol, your accordion playing during the Sound of Music clip

[@72Yonatan]

The grandchild of musical film genre is the music video, and the best of those videos tell a story. They have even influenced commercials, just look around and see that these are incarnations of the musicl film format made smaller and shorter.

[@Jaylooker]

Forgot to mention 'Nothing Suits Me Like a Suit' but it's on a TV show and not a movie.

[@alg11297]

Good review. Warner's musicals were always gritty and timely. They made reference to the Depression, the NRA, and even Roosevelt. They do take place on a stage that magically expands to an all emcompassing movie that defies reality. I mean have you ever seen "Remember My Forgotten Man"? MGM musicals had to be happy and colorful with a rather stupid storyline. The play Oklahoma was popular on Broadway because they gave free tickets to anyone in the service who was on leave. Soldiers would see it over and over. Hey for free? The film that turned me off to musicals altogether was "7 Brides for 7 Brothers" which was written for the movies. There is a dance scene that goes on for like a half hour and I never watched a musical again.

[@luanasimpson]

Great video! great points! Loved it!

[@chun-link1717]

Great video from a great channel, though I genuinely don't know how you managed to not include "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes".

[@TheSparrahNest]

Even though it's not a Hollywood musical I feel as though all of Jaques Demy's films should've had a mention here since he very successfully transferred the spirit and heart of the golden age musicals to New Wave 60s France, especially with Umbrellas of Cherbourg and Young Girls of Rochefort (which had musicals performances and a cameo by Gene Kelly).

[@incendere244]

One of the things I dislike the most about Hollywood, and mainstream media in general, is how much untapped potential there is to the fantasy genre, with the exception of a few really original works, everybody is basically trying to copy Tolkien or Rowling, and one of the greatest things about fantasy, IMO, is that it brings back that "let's make believe together" feeling that you mentioned about theater, in a fantasy world, anything and everything can be justified by saying that's just how it works there, those are this universe's rules, and they don't have to be like the ones on our universe, that'd be boring, I think it's kinda sad then, how nobody has seeming had the idea to use that to justify the otherwise immersion-breaking sudden musical number, Imagine how incredibly awesome it would be to see a movie that takes place in a fantasy world that has been carefully crafted to support a culture where the language is rhythmical, a lovingly constructed fantasy language designed to be sung rather than spoken would at the very least be a very interesting concept, and in the best case scenario, a solid foundation for a great movie musical

[@donuthaters12]

I know this video was only regarding the Hollywood musical, but i can’t help but think of the genre without referring to the works of Jacques Demy, notably The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and The Young Girls of Rochefort.

[@ivanofna]

I literally went through ALL the comments to see, if someone else managed to mention these movies first, oblivious to the fact the video intended to only tackle Hollywood fare. Especially The Young Girls of Rochefort, because the opening sequence seems to be very similar to the opening sequence of La La Land both stylistically and aurally (the music of LaLa Land seems to be more in the easy listening interpretation of jazz the French made from 1950s onward, based on what little I have seen of LaLaLand) Demy's musicals sort of seem to fill the same role as LaLa Land, maybe, as they are half homage/half criticism of Hollywood musicals.

[@bryancolley7044]

You forgot to mention 1776 (the original Hamilton), Hedwig and the Angry Inch, All That Jazz, and The Blues Brothers; but you mentioned Love Me Tonight so it's all okay.

[@Pauldjreadman]

Great video. Amazed I missed it the first time round, The Sound of Music is the only one that stand out. The only one I have seen, I think. People forget how dark the movie actually is though.

[@FilmmakerIQ]

If Sound of Music is the only musical you've seen then I kind of feel sorry for you haha. Not that Sound of Music is bad... But it's one of the more milquetoast ones out there.

[@chapablo]

Thinking about Footloose, Dirty Dancing, Saturday Night Fever, etc. I think this list of movies, and many more, would fall under a different category. What I call the "Feature-length Music Video", a type of film in which the actors don't sing, but they dance. But the musical numbers are designed to be modular, in that they can be packaged and marketed as singles and shown on TV/MTV, which simultaneously promotes the movie, the song/album, sells soundtracks, and generates additional revenue aside from ticket and home sales. I think it's worth it's own review.

[@FilmmakerIQ]

Some of that practice goes back earlier - the Elvis movies weren't cinematic masterpieces, they were to sell more Elvis... Hard Day's Night was the first exposure of American audiences to that titular tune. I bet you could make a case for the intertwining of film and music industry since the Jazz Singer.

[@chapablo]

That's true! My favorite example would be "Streets of Fire: A Rock and Roll Fairy Tale". The opening and closing numbers work beautifully as stand-alone videos, and they still get played on the radio from time to time.

[@verdatum]

You left out Oliver! You didn't talk about Gene Kelly! You completely dismissed the Elvis musical! You said that the Disney renaissance started with Little Mermaid, when it actually started with Oliver and Company! You...nah, I joke, you did a great job.

[@kchishol1970]

He did mention "Singin' in the Rain," Gene Kelly's greatest musical.

[@verdatum]

That he did. I guess that's pretty good.

[@FilmmakerIQ]

And "On the Town" and "An American in Paris" :P

[@kostajovanovic3711]

How did it start with oliver and company?

[@kostajovanovic3711]

+verdatum no, seriously, you are the first person to say that

[@alexanderfilmworks]

And what about 1953's "The Band Wagon"? Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Nanette Fabray, and Oscar Levant? The director (Jack Buchanan) who is pretentiously oh, so very *wrong*? Music by Dietz and Schwartz?

[@MarceloJavier83]

19:19 Awesome Cameo!

[@sokolum]

Very informative and enjoyable to watch, thank you.

[@kelleyceccato7025]

I have to respectfully disagree on Hairspray. While Travolta was a disappointment, I was focused instead on Nikki Blonsky, whom I found to be delightful. I wholeheartedly agree with everything else here, especially: 1) your praise of Fiddler on the Roof, a stage-to-screen adaptation that I don't think gets nearly enough credit for its excellence, and 2) your pointing out that the lack of trained musical talent has kept the genre from taking flight in recent years. For me, musicals started to go downhill when producers and directors started casting non-singing actors in musical roles without even bothering to dub them (e.g. Marlon Brando and Jean Simmons in Guys and Dolls; Tab Hunter in Damn Yankees; Vanessa Redgrave in Camelot; the entire cast of Paint Your Wagon except for Harve Presnell and the men's chorus). Rather than nurturing musical talent, they just decided to get by with the big names they had, whether musical roles suited them or not. And as Russell Crowe's (ahem) performance in Les Miserables attests, they're still making this mistake, in live action at least.

[@pertelote4526]

I couldn't agree more!

[@Bow503]

But " put on your Sunday clothes" is such a good song.

[@NEMIHEMERA]

Damn right about La La Land!

[@octavialesley4730]

Great vid!!

[@RobertMertensPhD]

Some of my favorites, of course, All that Jazz, Flashdance, Grease, Grease II. But you did include a lot of my other favorites. Thanks. I was actually looking for editing hints. My videos (even to me) are longer than they need to be. Looking for tips on what to leave out, what to leave in. My watch times are abysmal. Well, around 25%, but I think I can do better.

[@FilmmakerIQ]

Don't get hung up on Watch Time statistics. They can be skewed because people naturally flow in and out of videos. As for editing tips and tricks - it starts with the writing. Writing an "active" voice will come off as stronger where as a "passive voice" will come off as slow and languid. From there learn how to enter a conversation after "hello" and before "goodbye". Those are two simple quick tips for tightening up a video.

[@RobertMertensPhD]

I couldn't have said that better. Yes, that's exactly how I sound in my videos - slow and languid, and I'm not that person - or, I don't think of myself as that. When I rehearse, yes, I sound a lot better and more alive, and when I pick up from queues, notes, and a script (even if it comes from and internal, pre-rehearsed dialogue), I sound like a friggin genius. I think I see what you're saying. I go in with so many of my videos with off-the-cuff dialogue, and now I can see why it bogs down. Huge tip. Thanks! It's not the editing, it's the prep! (Obviously, if I know what I want in the video, and it's all there, the editing is ten times easier.)

[@jennygw1883]

Another great video :)

[@LensKuba]

Great video!

[@JohnRiley5]

The best musical made in modern times. Oh Brother, Where Art Thou!

[@francescabrowne8197]

so good :) thank you

[@matthewclark3538]

At 1:28 you use the wrong picture for Douglas Fairbanks. That is a picture of his son, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. who was acting in silent films at the time, but was not the household name that his father was.