All in Cinematters

Carousel: How Does the Film of the Rodgers and Hammerstein Classic Hold-up?

There is nothing like going into a movie theatre and seeing an old Hollywood classic on the big screen. Oftentimes, what we have been looking at on our television for years, looks and feels very differently when we see how its proportions, framing and colors were meant to be seen. I am so grateful to cinemas and film distributors who get this concept and who make the concerted effort to bring the films of “days gone by” to new audiences while availing those of us who have been around for a while a chance to swim in our nostalgia.

La La Land: Did I La-La-Love It or Did It La-La-Lose Me?

Going into the film La La Land, I had a narrow understanding of what it was exactly going to be. Previews did very little to let on that that the film was going to be a musical, and not much was hinted-at in the way of a plot. It looked colorful and magical and that was all I had to go on. The imagery must have captured me somehow because I knew immediately that I wanted to see it. When I learned that it was, in fact, a musical, I was all-the-more interested in this intangible La La Land.

How Judy Garland Shaped A Showtune Into a Holiday Classic

If you love your movie musicals like I do, you have no doubt fallen in love with that special niche known as "The Judy Garland Musicals." Not many fans of classic Hollywood can get away with not having at least one Garland film amongst their favorites. In fact, many of us consider Judy Garland to be the premiere female star of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer years, with her tender and deeply felt interpretations of songs such as “You Made Me Love You”, "Over the Rainbow", "The Boy Next Door" and "The Man That Got Away". And yet, of all her great performances, arguably her most heartfelt and heartbreaking came from a song she herself helped to shape.

Holiday Tidings and Irving Berlin

Irving Berlin's “White Christmas” is one of the most-recorded Christmas carols of all-time and the most-recorded of the Twentieth Century. Irving Berlin was one of the greatest composers of songs for film and Broadway musicals, many of which are associated with Christmas. With the holidays approaching, I thought I'd put together my top-ten favorite Irving Berlin songs from musicals. Are your favorites on this list?