A Star Is Born

Dir: George Cukor I USA I 1954 I 181 mins I U

Cast: Judy Garland, James Mason, Jack Carson, Charles Bickford

The second of four adaptations of the classic musical melodrama, recently updated to acclaim by Bradley Cooper in 2018, George Cukor’s (The Women, My Fair Lady, A Philadelphia Story) epic 1954 version of A Star is Born features an Oscar nominated Judy Garland and James Mason as the lovers on opposing ends of fame, and is widely considered one of the greatest musicals of all time.

Meeting inebriated former matinee idol Norman Maine (Mason) on stage, talented aspiring singer Esther (an effervescent Garland) saves him from a potentially embarrassing...

Cabaret

Dir: Bob Fosse I USA I 1972 I 124 mins I 15

Cast: Liza Minnelli, Michael York, Helmut Griem, Marisa Berenson, Joel Grey

An iconic, incredibly stylish study of the hedonism and sexual ambiguity of pre-war Berlin, Cabaret was a huge, multi Oscar-winning hit for choreographer and director Bob Fosse in 1972 and made Liza Minnelli (who won Best Actress) a star.

Often described as a musical for people who don’t like musicals, it sets its scene in Berlin during the 1931 Weimar Republic, against a backdrop of increasing antisemitism and the growing Nazi Party. Loosely based on the 1966 Broadway musical by Kander and Ebb, itself adapted from Christopher Isherwood’s novel...

Cabin in the Sky

Dir: Vincente Minnelli I USA I 1943 I 99 mins I U

Cast: Ethel Waters, Eddie ‘Rochester’ Anderson, Lena Horne, Louis Armstrong

With its all-black cast, MGM’s 1943 musical Cabin in the Sky provided a rare and invaluable showcase for some of the era’s most legendary African American performers. Director Vincente Minnelli’s (An American in Paris, Meet Me in St. Louis, The Band Wagon) first feature, this Faustian fantasy stars Ethel Waters, Eddie ‘Rochester’ Anderson and Lena Horne in her first and only leading role in an MGM musical; with Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington and his orchestra performing alongside.

Based on the hit Broadway musical of the...

Calamity Jane (singalong)

Dir: David Butler I USA I 1953 I 101 mins I U

Cast: Doris Day, Howard Keel, Allyn Ann McLerie

Dust off your Stetson and polish those cowboy boots – Calamity Jane is coming to UK cinemas!

Starring the luminous Doris Day, who sadly passed away earlier this year at the age of 97, Calamity Jane is one of her best-loved films and a cult classic for queer audiences. Based on the life of real Wild West heroine and gunslinger, this hugely entertaining film won the Academy Award for Best Original Song (‘Secret Love’) and was recently celebrated with a special screening at the BFI Flare: London LGBTQ+ Film Festival. The Deadwood stage of wild Dakota is...

Carousel

Dir: Henry King I USA I 1956 I 128 mins I U

Cast: Gordon MacRae, Shirley Jones, Cameron Mitchell

A much-loved stage and film musical, Henry King’s 1956 classic Carousel stars Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones. Based on the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein stage musical of the same name, it contains what many critics consider to be some of the pair’s most beautiful songs – no small feat, as they wrote a string of hits from Oklahoma! to The King and I.

The story revolves around Billy Bigelow (Macrae), a rough-talking macho carousel barker, and Julie Jordan (Jones), a young mill worker living in a small town in Maine. They fall in love, but after they are both fired...

First a Girl

Dir: Victor Saville I UK I 1935 I 98 mins I U

Cast: Jessie Matthews, Sonnie Hale, Anna Lee

Did you know that one of the most brilliant 1930s musicals was made in the UK? Sly, sparkling comedy First a Girl is a joy to watch and everything you need for your big screen musical fix.

This little-known British adaption of the 1933 German film Viktor und Viktoria (later remade as Victor Victoria and similarly reworked in Shakespeare in Love) sees a shop girl pretending to be a boy in order to perform onstage as a female impersonator.

First a Girl stars Jessie Matthews (Evergreen), one of the era’s biggest British stars. She and Sonnie Hale were a...

Guys and Dolls

Dir: Joseph L. Mankiewicz I USA I 1956 I 149 mins I U

Cast: Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, Frank Sinatra, Vivian Blaine

Based on the popular 1950 Broadway musical of the same name, Guys and Dolls is a hugely entertaining musical with some of the brightest stars of its day, including Marlon Brando in his only musical role. The film was made by Samuel Goldwyn Productions, distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz (All About Eve, Cleopatra).

1950s New York: all the hot gamblers are in town, and they’re all depending on Nathan Detroit (Sinatra) to set up the next game. The only problem? He needs money, and to get it, bets...

Live Cinema UK: Hedwig and the Angry Inch Tour

In partnership with Make A Scene, Live Cinema UK have produced a national film tour of Queer cinema cult-classic, Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Adapted from the critically acclaimed off-Broadway rock theatre hit, this is the story of an ‘internationally ignored’ rock singer, Hedwig. Surviving a botched sex change, she searches for love and liberation through her songs. See John Cameron Mitchell’s underground queer rock musical as you’ve never experienced it before. Hosted by queer trans icon Grace Oni Smith performing as the internationally ignored songstress herself, Hedwig is given a full raucous, way-too-interactive treatment with audience...

Melodia!

Melodia! celebrates the diversity and complexity of Soviet, Russian and Caucasian musicals. It gives UK audiences a unique opportunity to explore an undiscovered musical tradition in the context of the main BFI programme of American and British musicals. Highlights of the season include: COSSACKS OF THE KUBAN (1949) with numbers from famed composer Isaac Dunaevsky which mythologises Soviet prosperity and CHERYOMUSHKI (1963), based on Dmitri Shostakovich‘s operetta of the same name exploring housing shortages in Moscow in the 1950s. It also comprises beloved Soviet classics, such as Eldar Ryazanov’s CARNIVAL NIGHT (1956) alongside HIPSTERS (2008), an optimistic rethinking of...

Pakeezah

Dir: Kamal Amrohi I India I 1972 I 147 mins

Cast: Ashok Kumar, Meena Kumari, Raaj Kumar

One of the most extraordinary musical melodramas ever made and a cult classic, Pakeezah is much beloved by audiences for Meena Kumari’s breathtakingly tragic turn as the doomed Sahibjaan, who is born in a graveyard to a dying mother who was once a famed courtesan.

Taken in by her aunt she follows in her mother’s footsteps but a chance encounter leads to her falling in love with a man she cannot marry. Forbidden love, homosocial women’s space, glittering fountains, rainbows of silk and gold filigree as far as the eye can see and even some rampaging elephants – Pakeezah has it...

Singin’ in the Rain

Dir: Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen / USA / 1952 / 102 mins / U

Cast: Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynold, Donald O’Connor, Jean Hagen

It’s 1927 in Hollywood and the stuntman-turned-matinee-idol star of Monumental Pictures, Don Lockwood (Kelly), is caught in the bumpy transition from silent films to talkies. When the studio’s attempts to make their own talkie turn disastrous, it’s down to Don, his songwriter best friend Cosmo (O’Connor) and ingénue love interest Kathy (Reynolds) to save the day… by turning the film into a musical! Full of classic songs like Singin’ in the Rain, Make ‘Em Laugh and Good Morning, Singin’ in the Rain is pure singing, dancing, laughing...

Singing Lovebirds (Oshidori utagassen)

Dir: Masahiro Makino I Japan I 1939 I 69 mins

Cast: Chiezo Kataoka, Takashi Shimura, Haruyo Ichikawa

One of the rarest films in our tour, 1939 Japanese musical comedy Singing Lovebirds isn’t even available on DVD in the UK – even though, directed by Masahiro Makino, the ‘Busby Berkeley of Japan’, it’s the most frequently revived pre-war musical in Japan and an effortlessly delightful viewing experience.

Daughter of a former rōnin (masterless samurai), Oharu (Haruyo Ichikawa) is in love with Reisaburō Asai (Chiezō Kataoka), another rōnin who lives next door. But she faces steep romantic competition from two other local admirers – and...

Sweet Charity

Dir: Bob Fosse I USA I 1969 I 142 mins I PG

Cast: Shirley MacLaine, John McMartin, Ricardo Montalban

“There ain’t no use flappin’ your wings, ’cause we are stuck in the flypaper of life!”

Bob Fosse’s 1969 musical comedy-drama Sweet Charity stars the great Shirley MacLaine alongside an all-star ensemble cast including Sammy Davis Jr (performing ‘Rhythm of Life’ in a brilliant musical scene) and Ricardo Montalbán and is based on the script of Fellini’s Nights of Cabiria.

Charity Hope Valentine (MacLaine) always tries to look on the bright side of life, despite working in a rundown dance hall and contending with a seemingly endless run of bad dates....

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

Dir: Jacques Demy / France / 1964 / 93 mins / PG

Cast: Catherine Deneuve, Nino Castelnuovo

Guy, an auto mechanic, has fallen in love with Geneviève, an employee in her widowed mother’s chic but financially embattled umbrella shop. On the evening before Guy is to leave for a tour of combat in Algeria, the two share a passionate night, resulting in Geneviève’s pregnancy. She must choose between waiting for Guy’s return or accepting an offer of marriage from a wealthy diamond merchant. Described by Jacques Demy as “a film in song”, the visually intoxicating The Umbrellas of Cherbourg pays homage to the Hollywood musical and is a major influence...

Top Hat

Dir: Mark Sandrich I USA I 1935 I 93 mins I U

Cast: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Edward Everett Horton

An undeniable classic, screwball musical comedy Top Hat stars legendary duo Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Glamorous and enthralling, a Depression-era diversion beautifully scored by Irving Berlin, it is the most successful and beloved picture of the prolific Rogers and Astaire partnership which saw them produce an astonishing nine musicals between 1933 and 1939.

When American dancer Jerry (Astaire) comes to London to star in a show produced by bumbling Horace (Edward Everett Horton), he wakes up wealthy tourist Dale (Rogers) by tap dancing in his hotel...

We Are Parable: The Art of the Black Visual Album

Events company We Are Parable will celebrate some of those Black musicians who have created visual albums to enhance their storytelling abilities with a new season. The Art of the Black Visual Album is a nationwide project that will visit five cities between October and January, showing work from Sampha, Janelle Monae, Kamasi Washington, Prince and Rapman. In the age of disposable, consumable digital content, the visual album stands out as a cultural and creative phenomenon. However it is seen, the visual album should provide an integrated experience for the viewer/listener, so much so that the visual and audio become intertwined,...

Yentl

Dir: Barbra Streisand I UK/USA I 1983 I 133 mins I PG

Cast: Barbra Streisand, Mandy Patinkin, Amy Irving

“Nothing mattered to me except getting this movie made.” – Barbra Streisand

As much as musicals put women at the forefront, it’s rare to see one directed by a woman, but Barbra Streisand’s Yentl is a key exception. Directed, co-written and co-produced by its lead star, Yentl also earned Streisand the honour of becoming the first – and so far only – woman to receive a Golden Globe for directing.

Based on Leah Napolin and Isaac Bashevis Singer’s play of the same name (itself based on Singer’s short story), Yentl sees Streisand portraying a young woman...