Musical

  • Géza von Bolváry – Das Lied ist aus AKA The Song Is Over (1930)

    1921-1930ComedyGermanyGéza von BolváryMusicalWeimar Republic cinema

    Quote:
    I don’t hesitate to call “Das Lied ist aus” one of the great masterpieces of early German cinema. It is one of the best and most stylish of all the Weimar musical sound films, and it’s unusual for its strongly melancholic undertone and unhappy ending. It can also be regarded as one of the defining films for the team of actor Willi Forst, director Geza von Bolváry and scriptwriter Walter Reisch. Forst fully established his screen persona here: the witty, elegant, but also fragile and thoughtful gentleman, although he was a much too versatile actor to be pinned-down to such keywords. Forst is paired here with the equally stunning Liane Haid, very charming and womanly, and the chemistry these two have has rarely been achieved again in later films with Forst (but check out “Der Prinz von Arkadien” with the same team!).Read More »

  • John Cameron Mitchell – Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001) (HD)

    2001-2010CultJohn Cameron MitchellMusicalQueer Cinema(s)USA

    Quote:
    A transgender punk-rock girl from East Berlin tours the U.S. with her band as she tells her life story and follows the former lover/band-mate who stole her songs.Read More »

  • Roy Del Ruth & Willy Pogany – Kid Millions (1934)

    1931-1940ComedyMusicalRoy Del RuthUSAWilly Pogany

    Synopsis:
    Who’s that dodging his murderous mama, an equally murderous sheik, and the temptations of a harem full of beauties? It’s Brooklyn’s own Eddie Wilson, who comes to Egypt to claim an inheritance and finds that lots of other folks want a slice of his $77,000,000 pie. In one of his famed Samuel Goldwyn movie extravaganzas, Eddie Cantor sings, clowns and wows ‘em as Eddie.Read More »

  • Adrian Brunel, Alfred Hitchcock – Elstree Calling (1930)

    Comedy1921-1930Adrian BrunelAlfred HitchcockMusicalUnited Kingdom

    Quote:
    A series of 19 musical and comedy “vaudeville” sketches presented in the form of a live broadcast hosted by Tommy Handley (as himself). There are two “running gags” which connect the sketches. In one, an actor wants to perform Shakespeare, but he is continually denied air-time. The other gag has an inventor trying to view the broadcast on television. Four of the sketches are in color (in shades of yellow and brown only).Read More »

  • H.C. Potter – Hellzapoppin’ (1941)

    1941-1950ComedyH.C. PotterMusicalScrewball ComedyUSA

    Plot: Ole and Chick are making a movie, but the director is not satisfied. So he brings them to a young writer, who outlines them an absurd story. They have to support Jeff and Kitty in setting up a musical revue in their garden and want to bring it up on Broadway. If Jeff is successful he can marry Kitty. But there is his rich friend Woody, who also loves Kitty, Chick’s sister Betty, who’s in love with a false Russian count, and detective Quimby. They all make the thing very complicated for Ole and Chick. After some mistakes they think that Kitty isn’t the right girl for Jeff and they start sabotaging the show, but the Broadway producer is impressed and signs the contract. That’s the story the writer tells them. For this he’s sued by the director.Read More »

  • Hugo Prata – Elis (2016)

    2011-2020BrazilDramaHugo PrataMusical

    The life of Elis Regina, undoubtedly the greatest Brazilian singer of all time, is told in this biopic film with energetic and pulsating rhythm.Read More »

  • Anatole Litvak – La chanson d’une nuit (1933)

    1931-1940Anatole LitvakComedyGermanyMusical

    Opera singer Enrico Ferraro, tired of his too many engagements, jumps off the train escaping from his manager and changes to another going to the Riviera. He makes a friend and stops at a village, where (it seems) he can at last have some well deserved holidays, with the added interest of meeting a beautiful girl in the surroundings.Read More »

  • Jean-Luc Godard – Sympathy for the Devil (1968)

    1961-1970ArthouseJean-Luc GodardMusicalUnited Kingdom

    Jean-Luc Godard’s documentary Sympathy for the Devil combines footage of the Rolling Stones in a recording studio creating one of their masterpieces (the song gave the film its name) with the sort of documentary footage Godard was intrigued by at that time in his career.Read More »

  • Frank Tuttle – Roman Scandals (1933)

    1931-1940ComedyFrank TuttleMusicalUSA

    Review by TV Guide
    Of the six films Eddie Cantor made for Samuel Goldwyn, Roman Scandals was his fourth and second only to The Kid From Spain in popularity. When Goldwyn’s idea to adapt George Bernard Shaw’s “Androcles And The Lion” as a vehicle for Cantor proved too difficult, the producer hired Robert Sherwood and George S. Kaufman to fashion a story that would take Cantor to imperial Rome. Displeased with their draft, Goldwyn brought in Nat Perrin, George Oppenheimer, and Arthur Sheekman to add jokes, and William Anthony McGuire to get the whole thing into shape for shooting. This film turned out to be one of the best Cantor-Goldwyn associations. With humor, music, and more than a little female flesh, Roman Scandals is a sort of Wizard of Oz in that Cantor, a wacky delivery boy in West Rome, Oklahoma, goes into a dream sequence and imagines himself to be a slave in old Rome.Read More »

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