Events

Musicals at TCM Film Fest 2016

Good morning—it’s time for TCMFF! I will once again be serving as a Social Media Producer, so keep an eye out for me if you’re planning to attend the festival. More details on what I’m doing later today…

As I do almost automatically now, when the schedule was first announced, I immediately went through to check to see if I’d be able to find any musicals. And, of course, TCM being TCM—they delivered!  There are some real treats in here, especially if you’re a fan of musicals from the 1950s. See my picks below with descriptions from the TCM guide, or check out the full schedule for even more (non-musical) treasures.


Friday

My Sister Eileen
Betty Garrett and Janet Leigh in My Sister Eileen

Love Me or Leave Me (1955) – 9:00am / Chinese Multiplex House 6

Doris Day and James Cagney moved to MGM for this dramatic musical biography of Ruth Etting, the torch singer whose career was jump-started by the gangster husband whose violence eventually drove her away.

My Sister Eileen (1955) – 9:15pm / Chinese Multiplex House 1

Bob Fosse earned his first big-screen choreography credit with this musical version of the classic tale of two sisters trying to make it big in New York. Betty Garrett and Janet Leigh play the sisters, with Fosse, Tommy Rall and Jack Lemmon as the men in their lives.


Saturday

Ooooooklahoma is featured in the History of Widescreen Cinema presentation
Ooooooklahoma is featured in the History of Widescreen Cinema presentation

90th Anniversary of Vitaphone (2016) – 9:00am / Egyptian Theatre

Ron Hutchinson presents restored versions of 11 early sound shorts from Warner Bros.—from industry watchdog Will Hays’ introduction of the Vitaphone process to classic vaudeville acts like Molly Picon, Baby Rose Marie and George Burns and Gracie Allen.

The King and I (1956) – 6:30pm / TCL Chinese Imax

60th anniversary presentation of the lavish film adaptation of the Broadway hit starring Deborah Kerr as an English governess who brings modern ways to 19th century Siam, and falls in love with its king (Yul Brynner) in the process.

A Short History of Widescreen Cinema (2014) – 9:30pm / Egyptian Theatre

Through a variety of film clips, Leonard Maltin and Chris Reyna present the history of widescreen, a technological tradition that has fascinated filmmakers and audiences from the earliest days of cinema to the present day.


Sunday

the-band-wagon-5

The Band Wagon (1953) – 7:45pm / Chinese Multiplex House 1

Producer Arthur Freed created the screen’s most sophisticated “puttin’-on-a-show” musical, with Fred Astaire as a faded song-and-dance man attempting a Broadway comeback opposite ballet dancer Cyd Charisse. The score includes standards like “Dancing in the Dark” and “By Myself,” and the show-biz anthem “That’s Entertainment.”


And for even more musical fun, check out the Spotify playlist I made celebrating some of the greatest songs featured in and inspired by events in the festival!

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