aren’t we due for a Moulin Rouge thread or something?
A day late, for which I apologize (I’ve been confessing so I’d feel like a virgin before posting it), but it’s here.
A reminder that New York, New York is coming up this weekend, with NAF1138 as OP.
(I got it from Netflix last week, and it’s just sitting next to the TV, because I’ve been obsessively watching Six Feet Under an episode or three at a time, and waiting for a good place to take a break from it. I’m a couple of episodes into season four and hope to find such a break sometime this week.)
Got it in on Saturday and am looking forward to watching it. It’s the only film on the list I hadn’t seen at least once before, and it’s a Martin Scorsese flick starring DeNeiro and Liza. It should be interesting.
As I mentioned upthread, I saw it on the big screen. This was 30 years or so ago and chemicals were involved – I’m guessing I’ll have a slightly different experience this time.
Got a PM from NAF1138 saying he (? I think he’s a he, my apologies if I’m wrong) is having company from out of town this weekend, so the OP for NYNY won’t go up till Sunday or Monday.
It’s he.
The new thread is up here and I am really interested in what you all thought.
A reminder, as people fine-tune their holiday weekend plans, that Pennies from Heaven is coming up early next week, with lissener as OP.
Pennies from Heaven discussion here.
I’m a great fan of earlier musicals so I’m hoping that in the future some of the following classics could be included?
42nd Street
Footlight Parade
Gold Diggers of 1933
The Great Ziegfeld
Dames
Gold Diggers of 1935
Showboat (1936 version)
Yankee Doodle Dandy
It might be interesting too to discuss the very first film musical,* Broadway Melody *(1929)
Give me Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell and Jimmy Cagney, as in *Footlight Parade
*, and I’m in heaven! 
Thanks for the suggestions, aldiboronti – if the group makes it out of this set of films intact (the last two choices have been pretty unpopular), we’ll certainly consider your ideas.
Speaking of more popular films – next up is Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, which I’ll be writing in OP for in about a week.
Well bless your beautiful hide.
All great movies. But the James Whale *Show Boat *of 1936 is not available.
The Seven Brides for Seven Brothers discussion commences here.
A reminder that the next film up is Stormy Weather, with Archive Guy writing an OP as soon as he mops up all his holidaying.
I’ve watched it already, and look forward to a discussion of the racial politics of it (in contrast to the issues around sexual politics that came up with Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.
We’re finishing up this round of films. Archive Guy will be posting an OP on Stormy Weather any minute now (ahem), to be followed by Sampiro on 1776. (The latter was originally scheduled for 1/15, but I’m guessing it may be a bit later than that.
Which leads us to the question, do we want to continue with another group of films? There are a couple of possibilities if we do: the two other “unused” lists put together by Archive Guy, Lamia, and myself:
I. Politics of Transformation (male protagonists forced to take stock in their lives and the changes in themselves they’ve witnessed):
*All That Jazz
Cabaret
Cabin in the Sky
Guys and Dolls
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
It’s Always Fair Weather
The Music Man
The Pirate
Shall We Dance? *(1995 Japanese original, not the Richard Gere-JLo remake)
II. The Vagaries of Love:
*Bride and Prejudice
Bye Bye Birdie
Oklahoma!
Shall We Dance *(Astaire-Rogers)
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
**Note: **This list is obviously shorter than the other two – if you’d like to nominate additional films for it, please do!
Plus my somewhat more recent idea of one oriented towards dance, where we choose one film each by a few major choreographers:
III. That’s Dancing!
Busby Berkeley:* Footlight Parade, 42nd Street, Million Dollar Mermaid*
Bob Fosse: All That Jazz, Cabaret
Gene Kelly: Anchors Aweigh, Brigadoon, Singin’ in the Rain
Michael Kidd: The Band Wagon, Guys and Dolls
Kenny Ortega: Dirty Dancing, Newsies, High School Musical
Hermes Pan: *Pal Joey, Silk Stockings, Top Hat *
Jerome Robbins: West Side Story
Twyla Tharp: Hair, White Nights
(Note, more than one film mentioned for everyone but Jerome Robbins – this is to give you an idea of who did what, for those of you for whom “choreographer” isn’t a fundamental category. We’d pick one film each.)
There were also calls for a “politics of female transformation” category, plus nominations for a slew of specific films (aldiboronti’s list was very Busby Berkeley heavy, and I don’t think we need more than one of his; and several people mentioned Hairspray). If someone would like to put together another list of 8-10 films around one theme or another and put it into nomination, that would be great.
All of this is, of course, premised on the idea that people would like to continue with the musicals group, which I don’t think is actually a given.
So – should we continue with the group after we finish this slate of films? and if so, which list would you like to tackle next?
Thanks everyone for your patience, and stay tuned!
I am in for another round. I know I haven’t been participating much in the threads, but I have been reading them.
I still like catagory 1 best, but catagory 3 would get my second vote.
I like the politics of transformation category
I’m doing more reading than posting in these threads, but I’m enjoying them. I vote for list #1.