In honor of this Monday’s special FREE event at Boswell Books celebrating the recent release of Jeanine Basinger’s The Movie Musical! (Jeanine will be in conversation with fellow author - and Milwaukee native! - Patrick McGilligan), a wildly entertaining and encyclopedic look at the history of this uniquely American genre, we wanted to present you with this special edition Top Five Tuesday Friday, celebrating…
OUR TOP FIVE MODERATELY OBSCURE MOVIE MUSICALS!
*extremely Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer voice*
You know Astaire and Rogers and Kelly and Garland,
West Side Story, Chicago, Mamma Mia, and Frozen,
But do you recall
Slightly obscure musicals at all?
1. Born to Dance - Baby, you’ve got Jimmy Stew’ going
(Dir. Roy Del Ruth | USA | 1936)
A proud member of the “Sailors on Leave” subgenre (seriously, if musicals are to be believed, every naval ship features no less than three dancing troubadours in various capacities), this film has a couple of sublime points in its favor:
- Jimmy Stewart is not only in the film but sings (!) and dances (!!). One need not look far to see his self-assessment.
- It features Eleanor Powell, tap dance GOAT and one of the most wildly talented musical performers of all-time. She isn’t as renowned as some of her contemporaries at this point in history, but know only that Fred Astaire was intimidated by the prospect of dancing with her, and you’ll get a sense of how colossally talented she truly was. ELEANOR POWELL, PERFORM A PHYSICALLY TAXING TAP ROUTINE ON MY FACE, DRIVING MY NOSE BONE INTO MY BRAIN. Or, as Basinger more succinctly/less violently puts it in The Movie Musical!, “Powell was the proud definer of a kind of star vehicle that no one but her could possibly have executed.”
2. Hellzapoppin’ - Olsen/Johnson is the answer and the question’s “What’s poppin’?”
(Dirs. Sammy Fain, Charles Tobias | USA |1941)
A film adaptation of the smash hit Broadway musical, Hellzapoppin’ is almost indescribably entertaining. Flouting any and all conventions of what musicals or movies should be (it starts with the cast of a fancy song-and-dance number falling through the floor into hell - that’s where we start) it’s a whirlwind of bits/songs/dance that never relents. While Basinger doesn’t share my sentiment for Olsen/Johnson’s madcap go-for-broke sensibility (from The Movie Musical!: “(Hellzapoppin’) has had a legendary status as a comic masterpiece among people who have never seen it."), even she admits that “the fourth wall is, without a doubt, not only broken, but shattered.” See for yourself - the entire movie is embedded in the link above, and I can think of few more entertaining uses for eighty-odd minutes of your time.
3. The Gang’s All Here - We have a sophisticated Pallette
(Dir. Busby Berkeley | USA | 1943)
A late-career entry from musical icon Busby Berkeley, The Gang’s All Here is literally phantasmagoric, an eye-popping deep-dive into dazzling artifice that will win you over through sheer three-strip technicolor brute force. Whether it’s the literally bananas rendition of “The Lady in the Tutti Frutti Hat” (literally b-a-n-a-n-a-s), or the film-closing number that sees the film dissolve into a psychedelic blur of sound, color, and floating Eugene Pallette heads:
Bonus points to its Murderers’ Row of supplemental character actor talent (Carmen Miranda, Edward Everett Horton, the aforementioned Pallette, and many more). Basinger on The Gang’s All Here: “What a movie! It just doesn’t care.”
4. Gran Casino - All's Buñuel that ends Buñuel
(Dir. Luis Buñuel | Mexico | 1947)
Given the parameters Basinger lays out within The Movie Musical!, Gran Casino would likely not qualify under her conditions (like she says of a number in the 1940 film Torrid Zone: “it is musical perfomance, but not the sort that defines a film as a musical - it’s characterization, no more.”) But I’m the sheriff of Top Five Tuesday, so Gran Casino is allowed admittance through these doors. This straightforward musical drama is notable for how unlike the ouevre of its filmmaker, Luis Buñuel, it happens to be. A straightforward drama featuring evil oil barons, roguish heroes, and a demure leading lady (Argentine sensation/owner of an incredible name Libertad Lamarque) with nary a slashed eyeball or perverse dream sequence in sight!
5. Passing Strange: The Movie - Not to be confused with seeing Benedict Cumberbatch on the street
(Dir. Spike Lee | USA | 2009)
Infrequently mentioned in conversations about Spike Lee’s very best, I humbly submit Passing Strange definitely belongs. Stitched together from the final three performances of its Broadway production of the same name, this presentation of the Tony Award-winning portrait of a young black man’s journey of artistic self-discovery is infused with the passion and energy of live theater while maintaining a filmmaker’s diligence - it is a miraculous thing to behold.
Posted by: Tom Fuchs