Dave Tompkins :: DVD Library :: AFI Series :: 25 Musicals


(text-only version)

1.  Singin' in the Rain (1952)

A silent film production company and cast make a difficult transition to sound.

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2.  West Side Story (1961)

Musical about two youngsters from rival NYC gangs who fall in love.

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3.  The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Dorothy Gale is swept away to a magical land in a tornado and embarks on a quest to see the Wizard who can help her return home.

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4.  The Sound of Music (1965)

A woman leaves an Austrian convent to become a governess to a Naval officer widower.

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5.  Cabaret (1972)

A female girlie club entertainer in Weimar Republic era Berlin romances two men while the Nazi Party rises to power around them.

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6.  Mary Poppins (1964)

A magic nanny comes to work for a cold banker's unhappy family.

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7.  A Star is Born (1954)

A movie star helps a young singer/actress find fame, even as age and alcoholism send his own career into a downward spiral.

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8.  My Fair Lady (1964)

A misogynistic and snobbish phonetics professor agrees to a wager that he can take a flower girl and make her presentable in high society.

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9.  An American in Paris (1951)

Jerry Mulligan, a struggling American painter in Paris, is ''discovered'' by an influential heiress with an interest in more than Jerry's art...

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10.  Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)

In the year before the 1904 St Louis World's Fair, the four Smith daughters learn lessons of life and love, even as they prepare for a reluctant move to New York.

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11.  The King and I (1956)

Musical about a widow who accepts a job as a live-in governess of the King of Siam's children.

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12.  Chicago (2002)

Murderesses Velma Kelly (a chanteuse and tease who killed her husband and sister after finding them in bed together) and Roxie Hart (who killed her boyfriend when she discovered he wasn't going to make her a star) find themselves on death row together and fight for the fame that will keep them from the gallows in 1920s Chicago.

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13.42nd Street (1933)
14.  All That Jazz (1979)

Director/choreographer Bob Fosse tells his own life story as he details the sordid life of Joe Gideon (Roy Scheider), a womanizing, drug-using dancer.

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15.  Top Hat (1935)

Showman Jerry Travers is working for producer Horace Hardwick in London. Jerry demonstrates his new dance steps late one night in Horace's hotel...

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16.  Funny Girl (1968)

The life of comedienne Fannie Brice, from her early days in the Jewish slums of the Lower East Side...

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17.  The Band Wagon (1953)

A pretentiously artistic director is hired for a new Broadway musical and changes it beyond recognition.

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18.  Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

A film of the life of the renowned musical composer, playwright, actor, dancer and singer George M. Cohan.

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19.On the Town (1949)
20.  Grease (1978)

Good girl Sandy and greaser Danny fell in love over the summer. But when they unexpectedly discover they're now in the same high school, will they be able to rekindle their romance?

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21.  Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)

In 1850 Oregon, when a backwoodsman brings a wife home to his farm, his six brothers decide that they want to get married too.

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22.  Beauty and the Beast (1991)

Belle, whose father Maurice is imprisoned by the Beast (really an enchanted Prince), offers herself instead and finds the prince inside the Beast.

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23.  Guys and Dolls (1955)

In New York, a gambler is challenged to take a cold female missionary to Havana, but they fall for each other, and the bet has a hidden motive to finance a crap game.

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24.Show Boat (1951)
25.  Moulin Rouge! (2001)

A poet falls for a beautiful courtesan whom a jealous duke covets in this stylish musical, with music drawn from familiar 20th century sources.

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Count: 22 / 25