Directed by:
Phillip DyeScreenplay:
Mark McLaughlinPlots(1)
Over 550 movie musicals were produced during the 1940s, quite an accomplishment for a country caught in the turmoil of World War II. Through revealing interviews and dozens of clips, these two episodes rediscover a golden age of the movies. MGM emerged as the leader in musical entertainment with producers like Arthur Freed and directors like Vincente Minnelli and Stanley Donen putting a unique stamp of distinction upon their works. Highlights of this 2-part program include: A young Frank Sinatra creates a furor among bobbysoxers, pin-up girls like Betty Grable, Rita Hayworth, Betty Hutton and June Haver remind the boys overseas what they were fighting for, musical acts like The Andrews Sisters and The Jivin' Jacks & Jills boost morale with their jam sessions and jitterbugging, Bing Crosby and Bob Hope hit the road with a series of musical-comedy confections and Hollywood experiments with bringing black performers like Lena Horne to main screen fare in such films as Stormy Weather and Cabin in the Sky. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Cast
John Badham
UK
Best movies:
Saturday Night Fever (1977)
Pat Boone
USA
Best movies:
Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959)
The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
The Cross and the Switchblade (1970)
Barry Bostwick
USA
Best movies:
Till We Meet Again (1989) (series)
Deceptions (1985) (TV movie)
Incredibles 2 (2018)
Leslie Caron
France
Best movies:
Chocolat (2000)
Daddy Long Legs (1955)
Is Paris Burning? (1966)
George Chakiris
USA
Best movies:
Song of Love (1947)
West Side Story (1961)
The Country Girl (1954)
Carol Channing
USA
Best movies:
Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967)
Snow White in Happily Ever After (1989)
The First Traveling Saleslady (1956)
Bill Condon
USA
Best movies:
Sister, Sister (1987)
Dead Kids (1981)
Strange Invaders (1983)
Arlene Dahl
USA
Best movies:
Three Little Words (1950)
Life with Father (1947)
Reign of Terror (1949)
Rhonda Fleming
USA
Best movies:
Spellbound (1945)
Out of the Past (1947)
Pony Express (1953)
Betty Garrett
USA
Best movies:
On the Town (1949)
Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1949)
The Long Way Home (1998) (TV movie)
Shirley Jones
USA
Best movies:
The Name of the Game (1968) (series)
Bedtime Story (1964)
Gideon (1998)
Joan Leslie
USA
Best movies:
Rhapsody in Blue (1945)
Foreign Correspondent (1940)
Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943)
Shirley MacLaine
USA
Best movies:
Barbra: The Concert (1994) (concert)
The Apartment (1960)
Being There (1979)
Rob Marshall
USA
Liza Minnelli
USA
Best movies:
The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert (1992) (concert)
Cabaret (1972)
Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen (2012) - a.f.
Rita Moreno
Puerto Rico
Best movies:
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
West Side Story (1961)
The King and I (1956)
Debbie Reynolds
USA
Best movies:
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
Heaven & Earth (1993)
Three Little Words (1950)
Mickey Rooney
USA
Best movies:
Captains Courageous (1937)
A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935)
Strike Up the Band (1940)
Jane Russell
USA
Best movies:
Road to Bali (1952)
Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Celebration (2001) (concert)
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
Robert Scheerer
USA