Films With A Broadway Setting

[BornThisWay]

Posted: 9/2/13 at 1:09am

What are some films that are set on or have a plot that revolves around Broadway? Not Broadway shows that have become motion pictures.

I can think of: All About Eve, The Producers, Broadway Danny Rose, and Bullets Over Broadway. I'm sure there are many more.

What are some others?

Updated On: 9/2/13 at 01:09 AM

[Wildcard]

Posted: 9/2/13 at 1:30am

Muppets Take Manhattan

[StageManager2]

Posted: 9/2/13 at 1:49am

- Vanya on 42nd Street
- 42nd Street
- The Barkleys of Broadway
- Yankee Doodle Dandy
- Gold Diggers of 1933
- The Country Girl

Updated On: 9/2/13 at 01:49 AM

[BornThisWay]

Posted: 9/2/13 at 1:55am

How could I have forgotten those. Love them all, especially all the Busby Berkley films! Another one is the 1959 Imitation of Life, which is a favorite of mine. Makes me cry Niagara Falls every time I watch it.

Updated On: 9/2/13 at 01:55 AM

[StageManager2]

Posted: 9/2/13 at 2:02am

I was gonna list Kiss Me, Kate, but that was a Broadway show first. Also, I just thought of Shirley Temple's Little Miss Broadway.

[NoName3]

Posted: 9/2/13 at 2:39am

Mainstreet to Broadway, a 1953 film which featured Oscar Hammerstein and Mary Martin singing a forgotten Rodgers and Hammerstein song called There's Music in You.

A predictable plot about a young performer attempting to make a career on Broadway, it features wonderful cameos by Ethel Barrymore, Lionel Barrymore, Joshua Logan, Vivian Blaine, Rex Harrison, Tallulah Bankhead, Shirley Booth, Helen Hayes, John Van Druten, Agnes Morehead, Leo Durocher(!), Gertrude Berg and many, many others.

Written by Samuel Raphaelson (The Jazz Singer) and photographed by James Wong Howe (so many classics!), this MGM feature is not in any way a distinguished film, but it's fascinating for anyone who loves Broadway's "Golden Age."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Street_to_Broadway

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046027/

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/2/13 at 2:41am

SM2 listed some great ones, and I would like to add one of the best and funniest MGM musicals of all time: The Band Wagon, with an original story by Comden and Green and a "jukebox" trunkful of songs by Howard Dietz and Arthur Schwartz.

[VeraCharles3]

Posted: 9/2/13 at 6:23am

Bornthisway - 2 more to add off the top of my head. I will post more if I can think of any.

The Dolly Sisters (1945) starring Betty Grable and June Haver. It's more a vaudeville story but a very colourful musical. I think the real story of the Dolly sisters was much more scandalous and dramatic though!

Opening Night (1977) starring Gena Rowlands. I found this film facinating rather than enjoyable. It's long but worth seeing - doesn't sound like much of a recommendation does it?

[After Eight]

Posted: 9/2/13 at 8:03am

Valley of the Dolls

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 9/2/13 at 8:54am

Opening Night (perhaps not "enjoyable," but eminently fascinating, and a great ****ing movie)
A Double Life
Me and Orson Welles
Cradle will Rock
Prince of Players
Author, Author
The Goodbye Girl
Rosemary's Baby
Lily in Love
Yankee Doodle Dandy
Morning Glory
Stage Struck
The Actress
Star!
Beaches
Hannah and her Sisters
Jeanne Eagels
Carrie (Wyler's film from Sister Carrie with Olivier and Jones)
Imitation of Life (1959)
Broadway Melody (and its sequels)
The Royal Family of Broadway
Long Day's Journey Into Night
Chapter Two
The Gingerbread Lady
The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle
Bedtime Story
But Not For Me
Enter Laughing
Life Begins at 8.30
Torch Song
Stage Door
My Dinner With Andre
The Fan



















Updated On: 9/3/13 at 08:54 AM

[Playbilly]

Posted: 9/2/13 at 11:02am

The Bandwagon
The Fan

[OperaBwayLover]

Posted: 9/2/13 at 11:20am

Loving this thread! I have a lot of movies to catch up and watch. And is it bad that I really didn't like All About Eve? Tried watching it, was excited since it's a classic, and then couldn't get past the 'everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her heels!' scene. I don't know why, but I was disappointed all the same.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 9/2/13 at 11:48am

^bad that you don't like All About Eve? I wouldn't say bad. I would say tragic.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 9/2/13 at 12:17pm

Smash

Fame

[VeraCharles3]

Posted: 9/2/13 at 12:21pm

henrik, thank you. You sold Opening Night much better than I did.
I think it's a great movie but no one I've recommended it to have been able to get thru it. So now I am wary of recommending it.

Playbilly - thanks for reminding us about The Fan

OperaBwayLover - give All About Eve another go sometime. I think you need a few viewings to appreciate all the dialogue.

[all that jazz]

Posted: 9/2/13 at 1:27pm

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Babes on Broadway! Judy and Mickey were sensational together.

[BornThisWay]

Posted: 9/2/13 at 1:39pm

Who can forget Bob Fosse's "All That Jazz."

I'll have to check out "Babes on Broadway" ATJ. I'm a huge Judy Garland fan and feel terrible for saying this but, i've never seen a Mickey and Judy film before.

I've seen Opening Night and agree completely with your guys opinions of it. I think its a very good movie and Gena Rowlands delivers quite an amazing performance however, it's not really a film I care for seeing again.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 9/2/13 at 2:05pm

A Chorus Line

[Jon]

Posted: 9/2/13 at 3:19pm

Stage Door

No Way to Treat a Lady - the killer (Rod Steiger) is a failed actor who lives above a theatre, which he manages. The climactic confrontation with the detective takes place onstage and backstage.

Updated On: 9/2/13 at 03:19 PM

[dreaming]

Posted: 9/2/13 at 6:42pm

Does "A Star is Born" (Garland version) count?

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 9/2/13 at 6:46pm

^since it neither takes place in New York nor has any characters who are in the theater, I'm going out on a limb and say no.

[dreaming]

Posted: 9/2/13 at 7:08pm

I haven't seen it in ages, so I don't recall it. (I think part of it is so many Broadway ladies sing "The Man That Got Away" that I've come to associate it with Broadway.)

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 9/2/13 at 8:10pm

Gotcha.

[NoName3]

Posted: 9/2/13 at 8:14pm

Murder at the Vanities is a pre-code backstage musical murder mystery with the immortal production number "Sweet Marahuana."

ETA: The Vanities in question is the Earl Carroll's Vanities, the popular poor man's (dare I say it, white trash) version of the Ziegfeld Follies. After looking at Wikipedia and IMDB, it appears that most of the showgirls are from that year's Vanities. The supporting cast includes Kitty Carlisle, Jack Oakie, Victor McLaglen, Duke Ellington and Orchestra and Toby Wing. If you don't know who these people are, well forget it. If you do, this film is so much fun AND a historical document.

Updated On: 9/3/13 at 08:14 PM

[Eris0303]

Posted: 9/2/13 at 9:36pm

Babes on Broadways is my favorite of the Rooney/Garland pairings.

Lullaby of Broadway
Tea for Two
Please Don't Eat the Daisies
I'll See You in My Dreams
Nancy Goes to Rio
West Point Story
Til the Clouds Roll By
There's No Business Like Show Business
Words and Music
Three Little Words