Classic Film Guide

Directing Musicals

Not every great Hollywood director attempted to direct a musical during their career, but many of them gave the genre at least one chance never to return to it. Though Hitchcock never tried, Capra, Hawks, Huston, Mankiewicz, Wilder, Wyler, and Zinnemann did ... while Ford aborted most of what was to be his only offering. Not so surprisingly, their efforts were above average.

When thinking about the Hollywood studio era and the many (great and not so great) musicals that were made, one typically remembers performances by Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Judy Garland, and later Julie Andrews - or Ann Miller, Cyd Charisse, Rita Hayworth, Doris Day, maybe even Elvis and Esther Williams. If asked to recall the directors, most would likely list Vincente Minnelli, Kelly, Stanley Donen, Robert Wise, Ernst Lubitsch for those gems starring Maurice Chevalier, or Bob Fosse. While Minnelli did direct films from other genres, including some top comedies and dramas, his only two Best Director Oscar nominations were received for the musicals An American in Paris (1951) and Gigi (1958), the latter for which he took home the Academy Award. Wise received his only Oscars for musicals - West Side Story (1961) and The Sound of Music (1965) - as well, despite having a fairly diverse portfolio. I find it fascinating that many of the other men considered to be our best directors also stuck their toe into this genre’s waters at least once, with fairly good results.

Billy Wilder directed The Emperor Waltz (1948), which he co-wrote with producer Charles Brackett; the film earned Oscar nominations for its Color Costume Design and Score. Playing an American Victrola salesman in Austria, Bing Crosby sings to woo a Countess played by Joan Fontaine while several others do the dancing in this pretty average Technicolor comedy musical filmed in Canada (the Canadian Rockies substituted for the Alps). In addition to the conflict of classes that their romance entails, the rest of the plot involves a planned breeding between two royal poodles - the Countess’s bitch Scheherazade with the Emperor’s - which is interrupted by Crosby’s Nipper-like terrier Buttons. Roland Culver plays Fontaine’s financially strapped father Baron Holenia, who needs the dog’s match to keep from having to marry a rich old battle-ax of a princess played by Lucile Watson. An unrecognizable Richard Haydn plays the title role and Sig Ruman plays the breeder.

Crosby also helped Frank Capra make his comedy musical Here Comes the Groom (1951), and received unexpected assistance from another Academy Award winner - actress Jane Wyman; she sang the duet "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening", which earned Hoagy Carmichael and Johnny Mercer an Oscar for Best Song that year. The original Motion Picture Story - by Robert Riskin and Liam O'Brien - was nominated. Bing plays an easygoing unflappable character that’s always ready to smooth things over with a song, which typified many of his roles. As a foreign correspondent that’s idolized by two French war orphans, he has to find a wife within 5 days of arriving home in Boston in order to adopt them. Enter Wyman, his longtime (though ring-less) fiancee who, unbeknownst to him, has recently become engaged to her real estate mogul boss, played by Franchot Tone. Undaunted by this complication, Crosby conspires with his editor (Robert Keith) to stop Wyman’s wedding. The fact that Tone’s fourth cousin (Alexis Smith) has always had a crush on him helps these coconspirators. The director’s next (and second to last) film - A Hole in the Head (1959) - was NOT a musical (despite what IMDb.com says), though it stars Frank Sinatra and features the Academy Award winning song "High Hopes".

John Ford - What Price Glory (1952) - was intended to be a musical, but the director refused to shoot all thirteen original songs (I haven’t seen it); IMDb.com lists only three musical numbers.

Though Virginia Mayo performs a couple of numbers (her voice dubbed by Jeri Sullavan) in the Ball of Fire (1941) remake A Song Is Born (1948), it’s really Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) that qualifies as the only musical directed by Howard Hawks. Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe (and chorus) perform the Hoagy Carmichael and Jule Styne composed numbers - with lyrics by Leo Robin and Harold Adamson - from "Two Little Girls from Little Rock" and "Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend" (#12 on AFI's 100 Top Movie Songs of All Time) to "When Love Goes Wrong" and "Anyone Here for Love?".

Joseph L. Mankiewicz directed Guys and Dolls (1955), which was also Marlon Brando’s only musical. Its Score received an Academy Award nomination (among three others); "Luck Be A Lady" is #42 on AFI's 100 Top Movie Songs of All Time and the film is #23 on AFI's 25 Greatest Movie Musicals list. Though I wouldn't rate it as one of my favorite musicals, I think the first scene with Marlon Brando and Jean Simmons in the mission - where they make "the deal" - is worth the price of admission. What great dialogue! Any doubts I had about Brando in the role were erased after watching it, even though his singing was pretty hard to bear. Frank Sinatra and Vivian Blaine also star in this Samuel Goldwyn produced film. In the Damon Runyon story that was adapted by Mankiewicz, Brando plays gambler Sky Masterson, who agrees to assist Nathan Detroit (Sinatra) find a place to play their "Oldest Established Permanent Floating Crap Game in New York" by putting one over on Sarah Brown (Simmons); she runs a mission in need of "buns on seats" (sinners to convert). Blaine plays Nathan’s longtime fiancee while Robert Keith plays the law. Stubby Kaye and Sheldon Leonard also play memorable roles.

Fred Zinnemann directed Oklahoma! (1955), perhaps the best among the musicals included in this article; it’s a (Richard) Rodgers and (Oscar) Hammerstein II gem that’s become a perennial favorite. Featuring the screen debut of Shirley Jones, who’s fifth billed behind Gordon MacRae, Gloria Grahame, Gene Nelson, and Charlotte Greenwood, this entertaining musical western romance also features plenty of comic relief. The rest of its outstanding cast includes: Eddie Albert, James Whitmore, Rod Steiger, and Jay C. Flippen. The film took home Oscars for its Musical Score and Sound, Recording and received nominations for its Color Cinematography (Robert Surtees) and Editing. Click here for a plot summary. James Mitchell plays Curly in a 16 minute dream sequence that splits the movie’s two superior one hour halves (it could be cut from the film without being missed).

William Wyler directed Barbra Streisand’s screen debut in/as Funny Girl (1968), and the singer ended up sharing the Best Actress Oscar that year with Katharine Hepburn (The Lion in Winter (1968)) for her portrayal of comedienne Fanny Brice. The film received seven other Oscar nominations including for Best Picture, its title (Original) Song, Score, Supporting Actress Kay Medford, and cinematographer Harry Stradling (Sr.), who had been nominated for Guys and Dolls (1955) and several other notable musicals (The Barkleys of Broadway (1949), Auntie Mame (1958), and My Fair Lady (1964), for which he won) during his career. This film also stars Omar Sharif, Anne Francis, and Walter Pidgeon as Florenz Ziegfeld; it’s #16 on AFI's 25 Greatest Movie Musicals list, and "People" is #13 on AFI's 100 Top Movie Songs of All Time.

John Huston directed Annie (1982), which isn’t nearly as bad as its IMDb.com rating. The most objectionable scene in what is otherwise better than average family fare is near its end: there’s an Oliver! (1968) inspired moment in which the film’s red-headed woman - the orphanage’s drunken Miss Hannigan (played to a tee by Carol Burnett) - tries to save the little orphan (Annie, adequately performed by Aileen Quinn) from the male villain, in this case her brother Rooster (played deliciously by Tim Curry, who’d similarly portrayed Dr. Frank N Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)). Not only is the sequence contrived to allow Burnett to appear (her character redeemed) in the final scene, but there are some G-Ds thrown in for the sole purpose of earning the film a PG (in lieu of a G) rating. Albert Finney is his usual brilliant self as the busy billionaire Daddy Warbucks, dancer Ann Reinking is fine as his secretary that loves him, and Bernadette Peters (who conspires with Burnett and Curry to claim Annie), Geoffrey Holder (best known for his 7-Up commercials and for playing the voodoo doctor opposite Roger Moore’s Bond in Live and Let Die (1973)) as the mystical Punjab, Edward Herrmann as FDR, Peter Marshall as a 1930's radio personality, and the rest of the child actors are also good. There’s another homage to the classic era when Warbucks and his secretary take Annie to the movie Camille (1936) - even though this film is set in 1932 - and several of its sequences including Garbo’s death scene are featured.

© 2007 Turner Classic Movies - this article originally appeared on TCM's official blog

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