My Favorite Musical Films

#1

Mary Poppins

• Released in 1964 & directed by Robert Stevenson (Darby O’Gill & the Little People, Old Yeller, The Absent-Minded Professor, Blackbeard’s Ghost, Bedknobs & Broomsticks, The Love Bug, That Darn Cat!, The Shaggy DA), Mary Poppins was a revolutionary Walt Disney masterpiece every bit as much as “Steamboat Willie” or Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs. Mary Poppins received 13 Academy Award nominations, winning five for Best Actress, Best Musical Score, Best Song (“Chim Chim Cher-ee”), Best Film Editing, & Best Visual Effects. This places Mary Poppins in an eight-way tie for second place for Oscar nominations. All about Eve & Titanic both received 14. In 1998, Mary Poppins was the first Disney film released on DVD.

• Mary Poppins stars Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke, Glynis Johns, David Tomlinson, Ed Wynn, Reta Shaw (perhaps best known as Aunt Hagatha on Bewitched), & Elsa Lanchester (perhaps best known as the Bride in Bride of Frankenstein).

• Mary Poppins is based on the Mary Poppins series of eight novels by PL Travers. The first novel, Mary Poppins, was published in 1934. The author was so disenchanted with the Disney film, specifically the animated sequence, the songs, & Julie Andrews’ interpretation of Poppins as less stern & more compassionate than the literary version, that Travers refused to sell the film rights for the sequels to anyone, especially Disney.

• Robert & Richard Sherman composed the score & songs for Mary Poppins. The Sherman Brothers also composed the songs for The Sword in the Stone, The Jungle Book, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Aristocats, Bedknobs & Broomsticks, Charlotte’s Web (1973), & most of the Disney Winnie the Pooh songs. In addition, the Sherman brothers wrote “It’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow,” “it’s a small world,” & “You’re Sixteen.”

• Mary Poppins was Julie Andrews’ first motion picture role. Andrews had become famous starring opposite Rex Harrison & Richard Burton in the Lerner & Lowe Broadway stage musicals My Fair Lady & Camelot. Andrews was able to appear in Mary Poppins, because Warner Brothers Studios had declined to cast her as Eliza Doolittle in the film version of My Fair Lady, a role she had originated. In her Oscar acceptance speech for Best Actress, Andrews famously thanked Jack Warner, head of Warner Brothers for making her win possible.

#4

The Wizard of Oz

• Released in 1939, The Wizard of Oz stars Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Bert Lahr, Frank Morgan, Billie Burke, & Margaret Hamilton. Victor Fleming directed, while EY Harburg & Harold Arlen contributed lyrics & music. Fleming had a banner year in 1939 also directing Gone with the Wind.
• The Wizard of Oz only turned a slight profit on its initial release in 1939 ($3 million versus its $2.8 million production/marketing budget). When The Wizard of Oz was re-released 10 years later, however, it generated an additional $1.5 million revenue. So in 1949, MGM at last considered The Wizard of Oz profitable. (By this time, Victor Fleming, Frank Morgan, the screenwriter, editor, & music arranger were all dead.)
• The Wizard of Oz was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, winning two—Best Original Score & Best Song (“Over the Rainbow”). No less than four 1939 films received more Oscar nominations than The Wizard of Oz; however, only Gone with the Wind won more.
• In 1956, The Wizard of Oz became the first motion picture to be aired in one evening, uncut, by a television network (CBS), as opposed to a local affiliate. From 1959 to 1991, The Wizard of Oz aired once per year on a single network. From 1959 until sometime after the film was released on VHS in 1980, The Wizard of Oz regularly won its timeslot during this annual presentation. Thus, it was television that took this fondly remembered film with a reasonably good reputation & transformed it into a legendary classic, a cultural icon, one of the best & favorite—if not the best & favorite—films in the history of American cinema.

• The Wizard of Oz is, of course, based on the children’s classic The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L Frank Baum, which was published in 1900. The film follows the novel in its essentials, omitting several incidents & characters & combining other characters. The chief stylistic difference lies in the film’s treatment of Dorothy’s adventures as a dream, while the book holds them real. Other minor differences are that in the novel Glinda is the Witch of the South rather than the North, & that Dorothy gains silver shoes from the dead Witch of the East rather than Ruby Slippers. Baum wrote 14 Oz books in all prior to his death in 1919.

• Several actors were injured during filming of The Wizard of Oz, including Margaret Hamilton & Buddy Ebsen (The Beverly Hillbillies, Barnaby Jones). Ebsen was forced to leave the film but can still be heard in parts of the soundtrack.
• Three musical numbers were edited out of The Wizard of Oz for running time considerations. Two were reprises (of “Over the Rainbow” & “Ding Dong the Witch Is Dead”), while one was an original song (“The Jitterbug”).

#5

Grease

• Released in 1978 & directed by Randal Kleiser, Grease stars John Travolta (Pulp Fiction), Olivia Newton-John, Jeff Conaway (Taxi), Stockard Channing, Didi Conn (Benson), & Dinah Manoff (Empty Nest). Grease was the highest-grossing film of 1978. “Hopelessly Devoted to You” received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song, losing to “Last Dance.” Grease’s soundtrack album was the second-highest selling album of 1978.

• Grease takes place in 1959 & features several 1950s personalities in supporting or cameo roles, including Eve Arden (Our Miss Brooks), Sid Caesar (Your Show of Shows), Edd Byrnes (77 Sunset Strip), & 1950s singer & teen idol Frankie Avalon (Beach Party, Bikini Beach, Beach Blanket Bingo, & How to Stuff a Wild Bikini, all with Annette Funicello). In addition, several 1950s personalities are mentioned either in dialogue (Debbie Reynolds, President Eisenhower, Richard Nixon) or in the song “Look at Me, I’m Sandra Dee” (Annette Funicello, Troy Donahue, Elvis, Rock Hudson, Doris Day). Finally, the title song, “Grease,” was performed by 1960s star & lead singer of the 4 Seasons, Frankie Valli.

• Grease began as a stage musical, running on Broadway from 1972 to 1980. When Grease left Broadway in 1980, it was, with 3,388 performances, the longest-running show on Broadway to date. John Travolta & Jeff Conaway both acted in the Broadway version—Conaway as the second actor to play Danny Zuko (after Barry Bostwick), Travolta as the minor T-Bird, Doody.
• Four songs, written for the film version, did not appear in the original stage version—“Grease,” “Hopelessly Devoted to You,” “Sandy,” & “You’re the One That I Want,” which was the biggest Top 40 hit single from the film soundtrack.

#7

Enchanted

• Released in 2007 & directed by Kevin Lima, Enchanted stars Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, James Marsden, & Susan Sarandon. Enchanted, which is both a send-up of & an homage to many classic Walt Disney films is Disney’s first feature-length, live-action/traditional animation hybrid since Who Framed Roger Rabbit in 1988. Enchanted received three Academy Award nominations for Best Song for “That’s How You Know,” “Happy Working Song,” & “So Close,” although all of these lost to “Falling Slowly.” Enchanted earned $340 million worldwide on a budget of $85 million, &, thus, qualifies as a success, although perhaps to a lesser extent than its predecessors, Who Framed Roger Rabbit & Mary Poppins. Enchanted was in development for 10 years reportedly, in part, due to the reticence of some Disney executives to lampoon the company’s trademarks in much the same fashion as the Shrek series has.
• Amy Adams starred in Doubt & Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian & guest starred as the villainess in “Craving,” a first-season episode of Smallville as well as the semi-villainous (and potty-mouthed) Cousin Beth in “Family,” a fifth-season episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

• Enchanted contains thousands of references to previous Disney films (in addition to both King Kong & Superman II). Among them are:
  • The artificial prince Giselle builds (Aurora’s fake animal prince in Sleeping Beauty)
  • Queen Narissa’s transformations into a hag (Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs) & a dragon (Sleeping Beauty)
  • “Happy Working Song”—a parody of both “Whistle While You Work” (Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs) & “A Spoonful of Sugar” (Mary Poppins), while the sequence itself contains visual references to the scene in which Cinderella scrubs the floor while singing “Oh, Sing Sweet Nightingale”
  • Robert’s last name, Phillip (Prince Phillip of Sleeping Beauty)
  • The surname of Robert’s girlfriend, Nancy Tremaine (Lady Tremaine, Cinderella’s stepmother)
  • Bella Notte, the Italian restaurant at which Robert, Giselle, & Morgan eat (the song sung while Lady & the Tramp dine at Tony’s)
  • The passage of Giselle, Prince Edward, & Narissa from animated Andalasia to live-action New York City—a long fall down a magical well (Alice’s descent down the rabbit-hole)
  • Giselle’s use of curtains & blankets in dressmaking (the use by Cinderella’s animal friends of odds & ends to make her dress)
  • Edward checking his reflection in his sword (Gaston constantly checks his reflection in Beauty & the Beast)

• Perhaps the most significant references to previous Disney works in Enchanted are four cameos/small parts by Julie Andrews, Jodi Benson, Paige O’Hara, & Judy Kuhn. Julie Andrews was, of course, the star of Mary Poppins & is the narrator of Enchanted. Jodi Benson provided the voice of Princess Ariel in The Little Mermaid & plays Robert’s personal assistant, Sam—the name itself a reference to Prince Phillip’s horse. Paige O’Hara—the voice of Belle in Beauty & the Beast—plays Angela (a reference to Angela Lansbury, who also starred in Beauty & the Beast & Bedknobs & Broomsticks), a character in a soap opera watched by Prince Edward & Nathaniel in their hotel room. Finally, Judy Kuhn cameos as “pregnant woman with kids,” who tells Edward that he is “too late” when he knocks on her door in his search for Giselle; Kuhn provided the singing voice of Pocahontas.

#9

Tangled

• Released in 2010 & produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, Tangled is Disney’s 50th animated feature (although it is only their fifth CGI film). Tangled stars Mandy Moore, Zachary Levi, & Donna Murphy. Tangled, with six years’ production time & an estimated cost of $260 million, was, at the time of its release, the most expensive animated film ever & the second-most expensive film of any type. With a worldwide gross of $590 million, Tangled was the eighth-highest grossing film of 2010. Tangled received an Academy Award nomination for Best Song for “I See the Light,” which lost to “We Belong Togther” from Toy Story 3.

• Tangled’s title was originally announced as Rapunzel (and, indeed, the film was released to many international markets as Rapunzel). Disney executives changed the title in what many have called a crass marketing ploy to shift the film’s perceived emphasis on a princess & garner a larger male audience.

• Alan Menken composed the music for Tangled. Menken also composed the music for The Little Mermaid, Beauty & the Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules, Home on the Range, & Enchanted.