Films With A Broadway Setting

Muppets Take Manhattan

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

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/

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?

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

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.

Smash

Fame

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

A Chorus Line

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

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.)

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