The musicals had a great season in American celluloid in a period of the 40’s and 50’s; and one of the greatest musicals of all time was ‘Singing In the Rain’ (released in 1952). The movie is also acknowledged to be Gene Kelly’s greatest work (with An American in Paris released in 1951 being another great movie). This was a movie that Gene Kelly had thrown his heart and soul into, with not only delivering a great acting role, but also co-directing, and being the choreographer. The movie had some great dances, with the dance on the title song where Gene Kelly danced with an umbrella, with water pouring, dancing in puddles, and generally having a good rain soaked dance being one of the greatest. It is even more admirable due to the fact that the dance happened when Gene Kelly had 103 fever.
The movie also picturised the transition that the American film industry had from the age of silent movies, to the age of movies with sound. This was a major change, and impacted not only the art of film-making, but also had an impact on the film stars of the silent era. Singing in the Rain captures the transition of some of the stars, while others failed to make the transition, and also heralded the appearance of new stars who were more suited for the sound era.

The movie is about a popular star of the silent era, Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly). He has risen through the industry while doing all sort of jobs, and is now the leading star. His leading lady is Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen); Don cannot stand Lina, while she feels that they have an ongoing romance (something created by the studio for more publicity). Once, Don gets to suddenly meet a lady Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds) (he jumped into her car to escape from some fans); and after some initial back-and-forth, they start falling into love.
However, there is a major disturbance - a new talking film called ‘The Jazz Singer’ has been released by a rival studio and becomes a success. This forces a change of plans, with the studio boss R.F. Simpson (Millard Mitchell) deciding to convert the upcoming Don - Lina film into a talkie. However, it wasn’t so easy, and they eventually decide to get Kathy to dub for Lina, and to make the movie into a musical. Lina does not like Kathy and her romance with Don, and makes sure that Kathy cannot get screen credit for her voice-over; however, in the premiere, after some delay, the inevitable happens. It is revealed that Kathy is the voice, and also the upcoming star.

Mr. Holland’s Opus was a very touching movie released in 1995, based on the story of a would be composer (trying to create his magnum opus, the piece of music that would become so popular that it would make him famous). Instead, as a result of circumstances, he is forced to take a job teaching music to a generation of students; it is this teaching the properties of music, the love of music, about confidence, respect. This development of his students is his actual legacy, his major achievement in life. Mr. Holland’s Opus is a movie that celebrates the noble profession of teaching, where a good teacher can mould his students to become good human beings. The movie went to be a decent commercial success, not of the same level as the action oriented movies, but made a respectable $100 million worldwide.

The role surely is a role that Richard Dreyfuss will treasure as one of his best performances, and he was nominated for an Oscar for this role (he did not win, the Best Actor role going to Nicholas Cage for ‘Leaving Las Vegas’). The movie reviews get 2 different types of reviews: Some see it as a great movie that spans 3 decades of a man’s life, his most productive years and sees what he has made of those years (and that accomplishment does not necessarily mean being rich or having a great name); the second type of reviews see the movie as a tear-jerker that plays on one’s emotions with a finale scene that is written to bring out the tears of the audience. I agree with both, but see the tear jerker as a natural part of the storyline.
The movie is set in Oregon in 1964 where Glen Holland is an aspiring composer and musician wanting to create his great work of music that will be his glory and lead to success; however, his responsibilities (his wife is pregnant) leads to him having to take up the job of a music teacher at a local high school. Like any other school, he faces a wide group of students, some are willing, some are rebellious, some are very talented and others not so. He strives to inculcate a love of music in them, using this as a method to better their character. At the same time his ambition to teach his son to become a great musician reaches a high level of frustration when he realizes that his son is deaf. He has to conquer this frustration and form bonds with his son while dealing with a wide variety of students, during a time when the US was going through major upheavals - Vietnam, civil rights, the assassination of John Lennon, etc. The movie also showcases the priorities of school life, with sports and science getting a much higher priority over music, and including the cutting of the music budget.
Probably the best way to summarize the theme of the movie is this line:
Mr. Holland might think himself a failure…” one former student laments near the end of the story… “and he would be wrong…”
The soundtrack of the film has the following songs:
1. Visions Of A Sunset - Shawn Stockman (of Boyz II Men)
2. One, Two, Three - Len Barry
3. A Lover’s Concerto - The Toys
4. Keep On Running - Spencer Davis Group
5. Uptight - Stevie Wonder
6. Imagine - John Lennon
7. The Pretenders - Jackson Brown
8. Someone To Watch Over Me - Julia Fordham
9. I Got A Woman - Ray Charles
10. Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy) - John Lennon
11. Cole’s Song - Julian Lennon
12. An American Symphony (Mr. Holland’s Opus) - Michael Kamen

Amadeus is the middle name of one of the greatest composer of all time, the Austrian composer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart who lived in Vienna during the 18th century. And thus it is pretty natural that a movie on the life of this great composer (and another composer of the same age, Antonio Salieri) should have the name Amadeus in it. The movie, released in 1984 was a drama film about these 2 men, and caught the attention of critics to such a great extent that it cleaned up on the awards, winning 8 Oscars, and a clutch of BAFTA and Golden Globe awards. The movie was also a commercial hit (although on a smaller scale) since it made around $51 million on a budget of $18 million. Inspite of some creative licenses with the truth (the movie assumes that the murder of Mozart is due to a devious plan by Salieri, when this was not a proven fact).

The movie also served to make a lot more people aware of the life history of Mozart, and his amazing musical skills. The depiction of his talent was pretty good, wrapped in a story that touches all the human emotions of skill, envy, jealousy and anger, distress, depression, hatred and downfall. All of these were exhibited in the inter-twined life history of Salieri and Mozart, down to the downfall of both of them.
The story is all set in flashback, when a priest visiting Salieri in a mental health institution visits him, trying to get a confession from Salieri about having committed the murder of Mozart. Salieri is initially uninterested, but then opens up and discloses the full story, including his role in the downfall of Mozart. Salieri had a troubled start to his musical career, since his father was not interested in letting his son study music, but then his death opened the door to a musical career. Salieri was not an exceptional musician, and was happy being the court composer to the Austrian Emperor Joseph II, believing his talent to be God’s gift. And then Mozart burst onto the screen.
Mozart was funny, he was brash, he was lewd, and he was a genius. He started out with taking a work that Salieri had spent time making, and modified that into a new musical work (conversion of “March of Welcome” to “Non più andrai” march from Mozart’s opera ‘The Marriage of Figaro’). Salieri is sinking into depression, believing that actually god is laughing at him for his mediocre music. In the meantime, Mozart goes through a whole gamut of emotions; feeling happy at his success and with his wife Constanze and his son Wolfgang, and then getting shaken by court rivalry, depression over his father Leopold’s death. He starts to fall down as his family expenses increase and the income starts to fall.
And then the ultimate plan. Salieri decides to deceive Mozart, so he disguises himself to be like Leopold (Mozart’s dead father), and gives Mozart a down payment to write a requiem mass (also known as a funeral mass). Mozart starts down to write his best piece of work, not aware that the plan was for Mozart to be killed in the end, and Salieri would then appropriate the Mass and deliver it (in a delicious irony), at Mozart’s funeral. Mozart drives himself to madness while writing this work, and his wife leaves him along with their son. His condition continues to decline, and he collapses during a performance. Salieri takes him home, and continues to make Mozart work during his illness.
Mozart’s fie returns the next morning, and is shocked to see his condition. Salieri has by now abandoned his plan, and he credits Mozart with work on the composition, and Constanze locks the manuscript away. However, all this is in vain, since Mozart dies, and the composition is left incomplete. Mozart is taken away and buried in a pauper’s grave (although his body is recovered later and buried more appropriately). The work remains incomplete, and Salieri is driven to the mental asylum with the thought that God would kill Mozart rather than let Salieri share the glory of the beautiful composition.

The music from the movie:

(all composed by Mozart except as noted)

* Disc One

1. Symphony No. 25 in G minor, K 183, 1st movement
2. Stabat Mater: Quando Corpus Morietur and Amen (Pergolesi - performed by the Choristers of Westminster Abbey, directed by Simon Preston)
3. Early 18th Century Gypsy Music: Bubak and Hungaricus
4. Serenade for Winds, K. 361, 3rd movement
5. The Abduction from the Seraglio, Turkish Finale
6. Symphony No. 29 in A, K 201, 1st movement
7. Concerto for Two Pianos, K. 365, 3rd movement
8. Mass in C minor, K. 427, Kyrie (Mozart)
9. Symphonie Concertante, K. 364, 1st movement

* Disc Two

1. Piano Concerto in E flat, K. 482, 3rd movement
2. The Marriage of Figaro, Act III, Ecco la Marcia
3. The Marriage of Figaro, Act IV, Ah Tutti Contenti
4. Don Giovanni, Act II, Commendatore scene
5. Zaide aria, Ruhe Sanft
6. Requiem, K. 626, Introitus (orchestra introduction)
7. Requiem: Dies Irae
8. Requiem: Rex Tremendae Majestatis
9. Requiem:Confutatis
10. Requiem: Lacrimosa
11. Piano Concerto in D minor, K. 466, 2nd movement

Movie awards at the Oscars: Best Picture, Best Actor (F. Murray Abraham as Antonio Salieri), Best Director (Forman), Costume Design (Theodor Pistek), Adapted Screenplay (Shaffer), Art Direction, Best Makeup, and Best Sound

There have been many movies that have been adapted from successful plays or musicals, less so in recent time; but much more in earlier times. One of the best adaptations of a stage musical was the creation of the movie, ‘My Fair Lady’, released in 1964. The movie was a great success, both commercially and critically. The movie and the stage musical are both based on the famous play, Pygmalion, by George Bernard Shaw. The movie also starred some famous names, such as Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn, and part of the success of the movie can be attributed to the presence of these 2 stars.
The movie was nominated for 12 Academy Awards, and won 8 of them, a pretty large number. In addition, it won the BAFTA Best Film. The movie picked up the 2 Oscar awards that defined the movies: Best Picture, and Best Direction. The awards that the movie got nominated for and won were:

Wins:

* Best Picture - Jack L. Warner
* Best Director - George Cukor
* Best Actor - Rex Harrison
* Best Cinematography - Harry Stradling
* Best Sound - George R. Groves, Warner Brothers Studio
* Best Music Score - Andre Previn
* Best Art Direction - Gene Allen, Cecil Beaton and George James Hopkins
* Best Costume Design - Cecil Beaton

Nominations:

* Best Adapted Screenplay - Alan Jay Lerner
* Best Film Editing - William Ziegler
* Best Supporting Actor - Stanley Holloway
* Best Supporting Actress - Gladys Cooper

The movie is seen as an all time great, one of the 100 best movies. The concept of the movie is interesting, about a person so confident of his linguistic abilities that he is willing to bet that he can turn any woman (of any upbringing) from the street into a proper refined lady who can deceive anybody.
And so, the arrogant Professor Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison) boasts that he can turn the young flower seller girl, Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn) on the street, the one with a strong accent that can be as un-aristocratic as you can believe; in fact, he is positive that he is willing to pay for the expenses of this transformation and has a bet with a new friend, Colonel Pickering (Wilfrid Hyde-White). And so starts the whole project. In fact, in the beginning, this whole effort seems to be headed for failure - the desired transformation is difficult, and Henry is a strict teacher. However, just when they all seem to be giving up, Henry lightens up and gives her a good explanation of the history of the English language, along with its beauty. This speech seems to have done the trick, and Eliza now seems to be able to speak with an upper class accent.
Eliza is now able to start acting the part, and she is able to make a good impression in the races at Ascot with a new sophisticated way, except for when she lapses back into a cockney accent. And then comes the decision time, Eliza appears at an embassy ball as a mysterious lady, of an obvious noble rank, and passes the bet even with the evaluation of an expert. However, now that the bet has been won, Higgins starts getting distanced from Eliza, being seemingly callous to her future prospects. She is not happy and walks out. He soon starts missing her, and tries to get her back; but his ego again comes in the way and she refuses. He reaches back home, seemingly initially unconcerned about her not coming back, but misses her and plays her phonograph records. And then, she comes back and things are now right.

Being a musical, the movie had some great music. Here are all the songs from the movie.

Act One

* Overture (conducted by Previn)
* Why Can’t The English? (Harrison)
* Wouldn’t It Be Loverly (Nixon)
* An Ordinary Man (Harrison)
* With A Little Bit of Luck (Holloway)
* Just You Wait (Hepburn/Nixon)
* Servants Chorus
* The Rain in Spain (Hepburn/Nixon and Harrison)
* I Could Have Danced All Night (Hepburn/Nixon)
* Ascot Gavotte
* Ascot Gavotte [reprise]
* On the Street Where You Live (Shirley)
* Intermission

Act Two

* Transylvanian March
* Embassy Waltz
* You Did It (Hyde-White and Harrison)
* Just You Wait [reprise] (Hepburn)
* On The Street Where You Live (Shirley)
* Show Me (Shirley and Nixon)
* Get Me to The Church on Time (Holloway)
* A Hymn to Him (Harrison and Hyde-White)
* Without You (Hepburn/Nixon)
* I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face (Harrison)
* Finale
* Exit Music

‘The Sound of Music’ is an award winning musical film released in 1965. The film was based on a successful Broadway musical by the same name, and the movie itself was one of the most successful music themed movies ever made. In fact, the movie, made at an approx budget of $ 8 million, made over $155 million at that time (and if this figure is inflated adjusted for the current, the movie made $ 1 billion at current prices, making this one of the most successful movies of all times). At the Oscars too, the movie was extremely successful, earning a total of 10 nominations, and willing 5 of them, including the treasured ones of Best Picture and Best Director.
The movie is very famous for the songs, and is actually known as a Rodgers and Hammerstein movie (so named due to the 2 song writers & musicians - Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II (who died before the movie version was started)). The movie, although a musical, is based in Austria in very serious times, at a time when the Nazis were becoming more and more powerful, and is about the eventual escape of a family from the clutches of the Nazis.

The Academy awards for which ‘The Sound of Music’ was nominated were:

Wins

* Best Picture
* Best Director (Robert Wise)
* Sound
* Best Adapted Score
* Film Editing

Nominations

* Best Actress (Julie Andrews)
* Best Supporting Actress (Peggy Wood)
* Best Cinematography
* Best Art Direction
* Best Costume Design

The movie was essentially based on the Von Trapp family, headed by a widower naval commander, Captain von Trapp (Christopher Plummer), and his seven cute children Liesl (16), Friedrich (14), Louisa (13), Kurt (11), Brigitta (10), Marta (7), and Gretl (5). In the midst of this comes Maria (Julie Andrews), studying to be a nun; she is sent to be the governess of these children. After some initial confrontation with the children and their father, she wins them over with the power and fun of her music and song (and these songs are the ones to watch).
The Captain warms to her when he sees the children getting closer to her, and Julie in turn finds herself falling for the Captain, but he is engaged to the wealthy baroness, Elba. Elba realizes the Captain is getting close to Julie, and sends her back to the convent. However, the Captain soon makes it clear that things will not work with the Baroness, and when Maria gets back to the house, they wed.
However, politically things are not turning out right. The Nazis take over power in Austria, and want Captain von Trapp to serve in the military. He however is not willing to serve, and buys time by taking part in a concert, from the entire family escape over the hills to Switzerland.

Songs from the movie:

* “Prelude and The Sound of Music”
* “Overture” (Main Titles, consisting of “The Sound of Music”, “Do-Re-Mi”, “My Favorite Things”, “Something Good” and “Climb Ev’ry Mountain”) seguéin= into the Preludium
* “Preludium: Dixit Dominus”, “Morning Hymn” (Rex admirabilis and Alleluia, based on traditional songs)
* “Maria”
* “I Have Confidence” (lyrics and music by Rodgers)
* “Sixteen Going On Seventeen”
* “My Favorite Things”
* “Salzburg Montage” (instrumental underscore based on “My Favorite Things”
* “Do-Re-Mi”
* “The Sound of Music” (reprise)
* “The Lonely Goatherd”
* “Edelweiss”
* “The Grand Waltz” (instrumental underscore, based on “My Favorite Things”)
* “Ländler” (instrumental based on “The Lonely Goatherd”)
* “So Long, Farewell”
* “Processional Waltz” (instrumental underscore)
* “Goodbye Maria/How Can Love Survive Waltz” (instrumental underscore, incorporating “Edelweiss” and the deleted song “How Can Love Survive?”)
* “Edelweiss Waltz” (instrumental, Act 1 Finale, based on “Edelweiss”)
* “Entr’acte” (instrumental, consisting of “I Have Confidence”, “So Long, Farewell”, “Do-Re-Mi”, “Something Good” and “The Sound of Music”)
* “Climb Ev’ry Mountain”
* “My Favorite Things” (reprise)
* “Something Good” (lyrics and music by Rodgers)
* “Processional” (instrumental) and “Maria”
* “Sixteen Going On Seventeen” (reprise)
* “Do-Re-Mi” (Salzburg Folk Festival reprise)
* “Edelweiss” (Salzburg Folk Festival reprise)
* “So Long, Farewell” (Salzburg Folk Festival reprise)
* “Climb Ev’ry Mountain” (reprise)
* “End Titles”