Popular Music of the USA
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Films
Musicals and Musical Films of the 1930s
42nd Street (1933)
42nd Street (1933) is a legendary, Depression-era backstage musical directed by Lloyd Bacon and choreographed by Busby Berkeley. The film follows a demanding Broadway director (Warner Baxter) mounting a show amidst financial ruin. When his leading lady breaks her ankle before opening night, an inexperienced chorus girl (Ruby Keeler) steps into the spotlight and becomes an overnight star.
Roberta (1935)
Roberta (1935) is a classic RKO musical romance starring Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Irene Dunne, and Randolph Scott. Based on a Broadway hit, it follows an American football player who inherits a posh Paris fashion house and partners with the chief designer, featuring iconic Jerome Kern songs like “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes”.
Show Boat (1936)
Released by Universal Pictures, the 1936 Show Boat is a critically acclaimed cinematic adaptation of Edna Ferber’s novel and the landmark 1927 Broadway musical. Directed by James Whale, it is widely celebrated by musical theater and classic film enthusiasts as a highly authentic representation of the original stage production.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
Released in 1937, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is Walt Disney’s iconic animated masterpiece. Based on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale, it made cinematic history as the first full-length American animated feature film. It revolutionized the medium and proved animation could tell compelling, feature-length stories.
Shall We Dance (1937)
Shall We Dance (1937) is the seventh of the ten iconic musical comedy films starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Directed by Mark Sandrich, the film follows an American ballet dancer who poses as a Russian and falls in love with a tap-dancing star.
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Released in 1939 and produced by MGM, The Wizard of Oz is a landmark musical fantasy film based on L. Frank Baum’s 1900 novel The Wizard of Oz. It follows young Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland) as she is swept away by a tornado from her Kansas farm to the magical land of Oz, where she befriends a Scarecrow, a Tin Man, and a Cowardly Lion.
Musicals and Musical Films of the 1940s
Pinocchio (1940)
Released in 1940, Pinocchio is Walt Disney Productions’ second full-length animated feature film. Based on the 1883 Italian children’s novel by Carlo Collodi, it follows a wooden marionette who comes to life and must prove himself “brave, truthful, and unselfish” to become a real boy.
Rhythm on the River (1940)
Rhythm on the River (1940) is a classic musical comedy starring Bing Crosby and Mary Martin as uncredited ghostwriters who fall in love while writing songs for a famous, but creatively blocked, composer (played by Basil Rathbone). Co-written by Billy Wilder, the film features the Academy Award-nominated song “Only Forever”.
For Me and My Gal (1942)
For Me and My Gal (1942) is a classic MGM musical-drama directed by Busby Berkeley. Set during World War I, the film famously marks Gene Kelly’s screen debut alongside Judy Garland. It follows two ambitious vaudeville performers whose dream of playing the Palace Theatre is complicated by love and the draft.
Presenting Lily Mars (1943)
Presenting Lily Mars (1943) is an MGM musical comedy based on the 1933 novel by Booth Tarkington. Directed by Norman Taurog, the film stars Judy Garland as an ambitious, stage-struck small-town Indiana girl determined to win over a Broadway producer (Van Heflin). It is widely celebrated as Garland’s first adult screen role.
Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) is a beloved Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) Technicolor musical directed by Vincente Minnelli. Set in 1903–1904, it follows the affluent, warm-hearted Smith family as they face a life-changing move to New York right before the highly anticipated Louisiana Purchase Exposition (World’s Fair).
Step Lively (1944)
Step Lively (1944) is a fast-paced RKO Pictures musical comedy. It is a musical remake of the Marx Brothers’ 1938 farce Room Service and is historically significant for featuring Frank Sinatra in his first top-billed, lead acting role.
Song of the South (1946)
Song of the South (1946) is a live action/animated musical film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. Set in the American South during the Reconstruction era following the abolition of slavery, it remains the most controversial film in Disney’s catalog.
So Dear to My Heart (1948)
Released in 1948, So Dear to My Heart is a heartwarming Disney live-action and animated hybrid film set in rural 1903 Indiana. It follows a young boy named Jeremiah who adopts a mischievous black lamb named Danny, striving to raise the animal into a champion at the county fair.
Musicals and Musical Films of the 1950s
The Toast of New Orleans (1950)
The Toast of New Orleans is a 1950 Technicolor musical directed by Norman Taurog, starring Mario Lanza and Kathryn Grayson. The film follows a rough-around-the-edges Louisiana bayou fisherman with an operatic voice who gets discovered by a snooty opera singer, leading to classic clashes and romance.
Tea for Two (1950)
Tea for Two (1950) is a classic Warner Bros. musical comedy romance starring Doris Day and Gordon MacRae. Set just before the 1929 stock market crash, the film follows a wealthy heiress who bets her uncle $25,000 that she can answer “no” to every question for 48 hours to fund a Broadway show.
I'll See You in My Dreams (1951)
I’ll See You in My Dreams (1951) is a musical biopic directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Doris Day and Danny Thomas. It chronicles the life and career of prolific American lyricist Gus Kahn and is famously told from the perspective of his wife, Grace, who served as a consultant on the film.
An American in Paris (1951)
An American in Paris (1951) is a celebrated MGM musical romantic comedy directed by Vincente Minnelli, starring Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron. Set in post-WWII France, it follows a struggling American ex-GI and painter who falls for a young French woman, leading to a sprawling 17-minute dream ballet finale composed by George Gershwin.
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
Singin’ in the Rain (1952) is an iconic American musical romantic comedy directed and choreographed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen. Set in late-1920s Hollywood, it hilariously chronicles the film industry’s chaotic transition from silent movies to “talkies”, following a dashing silent-film star (Gene Kelly) who falls in love with a chorus girl (Debbie Reynolds).
Oklahoma! (1955)
Oklahoma! (1955) is an acclaimed musical film directed by Fred Zinnemann, based on the 1943 stage classic by Rodgers and Hammerstein. Set in the Oklahoma Territory at the turn of the 20th century, it follows the romantic rivalry between cowboy Curly McLain (Gordon MacRae) and the sinister farmhand Jud Fry (Rod Steiger) for the affections of farm girl Laurey Williams (Shirley Jones).
Carousel (1956)
Released on February 16, 1956, Carousel is a classic musical drama directed by Henry King for 20th Century Fox. Adapted from the 1945 stage musical by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, it features Gordon MacRae as Billy Bigelow and Shirley Jones as Julie Jordan. The supernatural story follows a troubled carousel barker who is granted a single day to return to Earth and make amends to his now-teenage daughter.
High Society (1956)
High Society (1956) is a celebrated American musical romantic comedy film directed by Charles Walters and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It serves as a musical remake of the iconic 1940 screwball comedy The Philadelphia Story.
The Pajama Game (1957)
The Pajama Game (1957) is an American musical romantic comedy film based on the highly successful 1954 Broadway musical of the same name. Directed by George Abbott and Stanley Donen, it is widely considered one of the best and most faithful stage-to-screen adaptations in Hollywood history. Famous French director Jean-Luc Godard famously called it “the first left-wing operetta” because of its unique focus on labor unions and working-class solidarity.
South Pacific (1958)
South Pacific (1958) is an American romantic musical film adapted from the wildly successful 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein Broadway musical. Directed by Joshua Logan, the film was a massive commercial juggernaut, finishing as one of the highest-grossing movies of 1958. The narrative is set on a tropical island during World War II in 1943, loosely tracing themes of love, war, and deep-seated racial prejudice based on James A. Michener’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Tales of the South Pacific.
Musical Films of the 1960s
My Fair Lady (1964)
My Fair Lady (1964) is a critically acclaimed American musical film directed by George Cukor and produced by Warner Brothers. Adapted from the hit 1956 Broadway stage musical—which in turn was based on George Bernard Shaw’s 1913 play Pygmalion—the film is widely regarded as one of the last great masterpieces of the classic Hollywood studio era.
The Sound of Music (1965)
The Sound of Music (1965) is a beloved musical drama starring Julie Andrews as Maria and Christopher Plummer as Captain von Trapp. Directed by Robert Wise, it follows an Austrian nun who becomes a governess to a large, widowed family in 1938 and uses the power of music to unite them ahead of World War II.
Musical Films of the 1970s
The Last Waltz (1976)
The Last Waltz (1976) was the legendary farewell concert by the Canadian American roots-rock group, The Band. Held on Thanksgiving Day at San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom, the seven-hour event featured a massive roster of guest stars and was immortalized in a critically acclaimed 1978 documentary directed by Martin Scorsese.
The Greatful Dead Movie (1977)
The Grateful Dead Movie (1977) is a legendary concert documentary directed by Jerry Garcia that captures the band during their iconic five-night run at San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom in October 1974. It is celebrated not just for its live performances, but for heavily spotlighting the burgeoning “Deadhead” fan culture and the band’s massive “Wall of Sound” audio system.