BFI's 100 Film Musicals

The fortunes of down-on-his-luck crooner Asfour change overnight when he discovers a mysterious lamp housing a charming genie. She can make anything he wishes come true, so he asks for help in luring his distracted girlfriend from the charms of a rich competitor. But Asfour soon learns he should be careful what to wish for, as he soon realizes h...

Three friends struggle to find work in Paris. Things become more complicated when two of them fall in love with the same woman.

Two sailors on shore leave head out for four days of partying – only to become involved in the affairs of an aspiring singer and her precocious nephew.

Twins (both played by Infante) are separated while very young, one raised as a singer by their widowed mother and another as the heir to one of Mexico's richest families. Their paths cross in the future, but they are unable to recognize each other due to their very different social backgrounds.

This early example of the "backstage" musical genre tells the story of Kitty Darling, a fading burlesque star who tries to save her convent-educated daughter April from following in mom's footsteps.

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

Inside the Kit Kat Club of 1931 Berlin, starry-eyed singer Sally Bowles (Liza Minnelli) and an impish emcee (Joel Grey) sound the clarion call to decadent fun, while outside a certain political party grows into a brutal force.

When compulsive gambler Little Joe Jackson dies in a drunken fight, he awakens in purgatory, where he learns that he will be sent back to Earth for six months to prove that he deserves to be in heaven. He awakens, remembering nothing and struggles to do right by his devout wife, Petunia, while an angel known as the General and the devil's son, L...

Doris Day and Howard Keel fuss, feud and fall in love as Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickok. At first curvaceous Calamity is too durned busy fighting Indians and cracking a bullwhip to pay mind to such girlie what-alls as dresses and perfume. She soon changes her mind when Katie Brown arrives in town.

Car Wash covers the exploits of a close-knit group of employees at a Los Angeles Car Wash. In an episodic fashion, the film covers a full day, during which all manner of strange visitors make appearances.

Version of the Bizet opera set in World War II, with new lyrics and an African-American cast.

Fifteen years after his death, a carousel barker is granted permission to return to Earth for one day to make amends to his widow and their daughter.

A cavalcade of English life from New Year's Eve 1899 until 1933 seen through the eyes of well-to-do Londoners Jane and Robert Marryot. Amongst events touching their family are the Boer War, the death of Queen Victoria, the sinking of the Titanic and the Great War.

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.

George Formby, who plays George, a stable boy. He also has the unique ability to soothe an anxious racing horse. Expectedly, George races the horse and wins

A nightclub dancer makes it big in modeling, leaving her dancer boyfriend behind.

Selma, a Czech immigrant on the verge of blindness, struggles to make ends meet for herself and her son, who has inherited the same genetic disorder and will suffer the same fate without an expensive operation. When life gets too difficult, Selma learns to cope through her love of musicals, dreaming up little numbers to the rhythmic beats of her...

In the seaside town of Rochefort, twin sisters Delphine and Solange dream of love and artistic fulfillment beyond their quiet lives. As sailors, artists, musicians, and chance visitors pass through town during a weekend fair, a web of near-misses and romantic longing brings ideal partners tantalizingly close—without their realizing it.

A radio broadcaster's intense attraction to a mysterious woman opens the door to a tidal wave of powerful emotions and desires.

In London at the turn of the century, the bandit Mack the Knife marries Polly without the knowledge of her father, Peachum, the 'king of the beggars'.

On the day before Easter in 1911, Don Hewes is crushed when his dancing partner (and object of affection) Nadine Hale refuses to start a new contract with him. To prove Nadine's not important to him, Don acquires innocent new protegee Hannah Brown, vowing to make her a star in time for next year's Easter parade.

Harriet Green, a beloved and radiant music hall star of the Edwardian era, mysteriously disappears on the eve of her wedding. Years later, she reappears on the stage as young looking and beautiful as ever.

A bandleader woos a Latin flame who is already engaged to his employer.

Chester Kent struggles against time, romance, and a rival's spy to produce spectacular live "prologues" for movie houses.

Classic tale of teen rebellion and repression features a delightful combination of dance choreography and realistic and touching performances. When teenager Ren and his family move from big-city Chicago to a small town in the West, he's in for a real case of culture shock.

When the leading lady of a Broadway musical breaks her ankle, she is replaced by a young unknown actress, who becomes the star of the show.

A shy Greenwich Village book clerk is discovered by a fashion photographer and whisked off to Paris where she becomes a reluctant model.

The life of famed 1930s comedienne Fanny Brice, from her early days in the Jewish slums of New York, to the height of her career with the Ziegfeld Follies, as well as her marriage to the rakish gambler Nick Arnstein.

A woman thinks a flirting man is the co-respondent her lawyer has hired to expedite her divorce.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is a romantic comedy based on a successful musical and starring Marilyn Manroe in her last role in a film.

A down-and-out gangster hires an alcoholic press agent to make his blonde bombshell girlfriend a recording star in 6 weeks. But what is he going to do when he finds out that she has no talent? And what is going to happen when the two fall in love?

A wealthy composer rescues unemployed Broadway performers with a new play, but insists on remaining anonymous.

Employees and clients of a commercial gallery only live for love; they dream it, proclaim it, sing it and dance it. Experience the encounters, reunions, passions and disappointments of a malicious chorus of girls and a group of idle boys.

Grease is the successful cult film based on a Musical of the same name starring Olivia Newton and John Travolta as high school sweethearts in this 60’s musical fairytale. Newton and Travolta actually sun the songs that became a part of America’s pop culture.

In New York, a gambler is challenged to take a Salvation Army missionary to Havana, and unexpectedly they fall for each other. And the bet has a hidden motive ... classic song and dance ensues!

A black laborer turns preacher after accidentally killing a man.

A Hard Day’s Night is named after the successful Beatles album of the same name. The film tells in a mocking style the life of the modern pop stars. The film shows the Beatles at the height of their career as they move between hotel rooms, trains, and concerts.

The Harder They Come is a 1972 Jamaican crime film starring reggae singer Jimmy Cliff, who plays Ivanhoe Martin, a character based on Rhyging, a real-life Jamaican criminal who achieved fame in the 1940s.

A popular high school athlete and an academically gifted girl get roles in the school musical and develop a friendship that threatens East High's social order.

At an inn which is open only on holidays, a crooner and a hoofer vie for the affections of a beautiful up-and-coming performer.

Eight women gather to celebrate Christmas in a snowbound cottage, only to find the family patriarch dead with a knife in his back. Trapped in the house, every woman becomes a suspect, each having her own motive and secret.

Three World War II buddies promise to meet at a specified place and time 10 years after the war. They keep their word only to discover how far apart they've grown. But the reunion sparks memories of youthful dreams that haven't been fulfilled -- and slowly, the three men reevaluate their lives and try to find a way to renew their friendship.

After serving time for manslaughter, young Vince Everett becomes a teenage rock star.

Two high school girls, Ruri and Yumi, go to Kyoto on a school trip, here they get acquainted with Hinagiku, there are many adventures ahead of the three of them. A musical starring 3 Japanese pop music and TV stars.

The Jazz Singer is the first full length feature film to use sound. Director Alan Crosland created the precursor of musical films.

Howard Keel, and Kathryn Grayson, and Ann Miller star in this film version of the musical based on William Shakespeare's comedy "The Taming of the Shrew".

Vienna glove-sales-lady Christl falls in love to Czar Alexander. Metternich tries to use this to keep him out of the conferences of the Vienna Congress from 1815.

Seymour Krelborn is a nerdy orphan working at Mushnik's; a flower shop in urban Skid Row. He harbors a crush on fellow co-worker, Audrey Fulquard, and is berated by Mr. Mushnik daily. One day, Seymour finds a very mysterious unidentified plant which he calls Audrey II. The plant seems to have a craving for blood and soon begins to sing for it’s ...

Virgie Cary's father, a rebel officer, sneaks back to his rundown plantation to see his dying wife and is arrested. A Yankee officer takes pity and sets up an escape. Everyone is captured and the officers are to be executed. Virgie and Uncle Billy beg President Lincoln to intercede.

Story of torch singer Ruth Etting's rise from 1920s taxi dancer to movie star, simultaneously aided and frustrated by Chicago mobster Marty Sydney's headstrong ways and pressure tactics