Putting on the glitz in musical films

In this month's instalment of his "Light and Shadow" series, Kevin Ryland looks back at the golden age of musical films and finds that modern musicals just don't hit the right notes.

The Hollywood musical, that frequently skilful and delightful mixture of artistry and kitsch, started in the earliest days of sound. The winner of the Best Picture 'Oscar' in 1929 was a musical, "The Broadway Melody" and in 1930 there was "The King of Jazz" in early Technicolor.

In the 'thirties, the two studios which dominated the making of musicals were Warner brothers and RKO Radio, which gave us films of quite distinct styles.
The Warner films, such as 1933's brilliant "42nd Street" and "Gold Diggers of Broadway" had characteristic hard-edged black and white photography and superb choreography which was directed by the obsessive, hard-drinking Busby Berkeley, whose trademark style was geometric dance patterns and the stunning, overhead, "Berkeley top shot". The songs by Harry Warren and Al Dubin were memorable, cynical and sexy. The stories tended to be typical "putting on a show" situations where a young girl seizes the chance for stardom.

The RKO films, which featured the immortal Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, were softer in style and more romantic, with scores by such distinguished composers as Gershwin, Kern, Berlin and Porter. The sophisticated look of top hat and tailcoats for men and ball gowns for women were escapist fantasies for the grim 'thirties.

Paramount's 1932 "Love Me Tonight" was perhaps the most original of early musicals, but many were boringly stage-bound and unimaginative.

From 1942, MGM began a series of brilliantly made films which are still cherished by filmgoers. The first real MGM classic was "Meet me in St Louis" (1944), a charming and sentimental period piece starring Judy Garland. 1951 saw "An American in Paris" with Gershwin's music and Gene Kelly at his best, while 1953 brought the charmingly urbane Fred Astaire in "The Band Wagon" with imaginative choreography and unforgettable songs. The last of the classic MGM musicals, "Gigi", came in 1958 with music by Lerner & Loewe, a delightful performance by Leslie Caron and beautiful Cecil Beaton costumes. Despite the occasional sense of sumptuous vulgarity these films are a musical and visual treat.

Stanley Donen was less concerned with "art" and, as an ex-dancer, he loved vigorous action and humour. His films, including "Singing in the Rain" (1952), were typified by tip-top dancing bubbling with good tunes.

In the 1950s and '60s Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals like "Oklahoma" and "The Sound of Music" were big box office successes. Although filmically they were not always imaginative, they had splendid dancing and singing.

After "Gigi", musicals began a slow decline and were too reliant on adaptations of stage successes. Even the much-praised "West Side Story" (1961) was too stage bound after an electrifying beginning with vigorous dancing in real streets. In 1969 the British produced a classic musical based on the songs of World War One, "Oh! What a Lovely War", which was moving and imaginative. By contrast "Hello Dolly" cost Fox quite a few million dollars and looked superb, but had a weak score.

This is the problem with so many modern musicals - poor musical values but sumptuous settings. Vulgar caterwauling by untrained voices with the wrong sense of style has replaced charm and wit in overrated Lloyd Webber horrors. The best recent musical I have seen was "Chicago" (2002) which had wonderfully cynical songs, well-controlled direction and imaginative choreography - but I fear that this was a lone beacon in a dreary sea of deadly-dull musicals. It seems profit is more important than artistry these days. KR