Posts Tagged ‘chorus-girl’

42nd Street (1933)

Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008
Genres: Drama | Musical | Romance
Countries: USA
Actors:
Directors:
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The source from which all modern musicals flow: An ailing Broadway director returns to produce one final show, but his leading lady is injured and must be replaced by a novice. Call it dated, but it’s aged to perfection, and the final twenty minute sequence will leave you tapping your toes, with a smile on your face and a song in your heart. Movies—never mind musicals—just don’t get any better than this.

Torch Singer (1933)

Tuesday, December 16th, 2008
Genres: Drama | Musical
Countries: USA
Actors: Claudette Colbert | Ricardo Cortez | David Manners | Lyda Roberti | Baby LeRoy | Charley Grapewin | Sam Godfrey | Florence Roberts | Virginia Hammond | Mildred Washington | Cora Sue Collins | Helen Jerome Eddy | Albert Conti | Ethel Griffies | James Burke
Directors: Alexander Hall
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Sally Trent has an illegitimate child, but cannot support her and gives the baby up for adoption. The father, Michael Gardner, leaves for China not knowing about the baby, and she assumes he has abandoned her for life. She gets a job as a torch singer, changes her name to Mimi Benton, and becomes notorious for her drinking and philadering. Mimi fills in on a children’s radio program as the character “Aunt Jenny,” singing and telling bedtime stories, and eventually uses the airtime to find her long lost daughter, part with her wild lifestyle, and reunite with Michael.

Chicago (2002)

Monday, November 17th, 2008
Genres: Comedy | Crime | Drama | Musical
Countries: Germany | USA
Actors: Taye Diggs | Cliff Saunders | Catherine Zeta-Jones | Renée Zellweger | Dominic West | Richard Gere | Jayne Eastwood | Bruce Beaton | Christine Baranski | Roman Podhora | John C. Reilly | Colm Feore | Rob Smith | Shawn Wayne Doyle | Steve Behal | Robbie Rox | Chita Rivera
Directors: Rob Marshall
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Fame hungry Roxie Hart dreams of a life on the Vaudville stage, and spends her nights jazzing it up in the bright lights of Chicago, continually hoping that she’ll find her lucky break, and be shot into 1920’s stardom, so able to flee her boring husband Amos. In awe of seductive club singer Velma Kelly (who is subsequantly arrested for the murder of her husband and sister - after discovering their affair), Roxie meets Fred Cassely a man who convinces her he can ‘make her showbiz career take off’. However after Roxie has undergone the ‘casting couch’ treatment, and Fred has had his wicked way with her, he reveals that he has no more connections in showbusiness than she does. This is the final straw for Roxie, and her constant anger at rejection explodes. She shoots Fred Cassely and kills him. Upon discovering her infidelity, Roxie’s husband Amos refuses to take the blame for the murder and Roxie is sent to jail, pending hanging. In jail she finally meets tabloid darling Velma Kelly, currently receiving huge media attention for the double murder she committed earlier in the tale. Sharing the clink with Velma, are a collection of other sly females, all awaiting trial for the murders of their own partners. Velma is aloof to Roxie, however the prison Warden Mrs Morton offers Roxie the opportunity of representation by slick Chicago lawyer Billy Flynn. Billy is more a showbiz P. R agent than a legal lawyer and minipulates the tabloids into thinking Roxie is no more than an innocent ‘good time girl’ who took the wrong path, than a scheming murderess. The tabloids go crazy for the new girl on the cell block, and Roxie finally becomes a star. However due to Roxie’s new found fame, Velma is forgotten about. She is forced to approach Roxie with an offer of a part in her Vaudville act (filling the gap left by her murdered sister), but Roxie turns down her offer flat, thinking she needs no support in topping the bill. However, just as Velma’s star fell, so does Roxie’s, when Go-to-hell Kitty arrives at the jail on a multiple murder charge, the press forget Roxie and now she and Velma are in the same boat. With one more trick up her sleave Roxie manages to bring the media attention back onto her, and her day in court arrives. Billy is now ready to play the ultimate showman!

Singin’ in the Rain (1952)

Wednesday, February 14th, 2007
Genres: Comedy | Musical | Romance
Countries: USA
Actors: Gene Kelly | Donald O'Connor | Debbie Reynolds | Jean Hagen | Millard Mitchell | Cyd Charisse | Douglas Fowley | Rita Moreno
Directors: Stanley Donen
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Glorious classic film musical. 1927: Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont are the darlings of the silent silver screen. Offscreen, Don, aided by his happy-go-lucky friend and piano accompanist, Cosmo Brown, has to dodge Lina’s romantic overtures, especially when he falls for chorus girl Kathy Selden. With the advent of sound in motion pictures, it is decided to turn Don and Lina’s new film into a “talkie” and a musical at that. The only problem is Lina’s voice, which mere words cannot describe. Thus, Kathy is brought on to dub her speaking and singing voice in secret, and Don’s on top of the world. But then Lina finds out…