Singin' in the Rain is a 1952 American musical romantic comedy film. It offers a lighthearted depiction of Hollywood in the late 1920s, with the three stars portraying performers caught up in the transition from silent films to "talkies". Yes, cameras were housed in soundproof booths, and microphones were almost hidden in plain sight. And preview audiences did laugh when they heard the voices of some famous stars for the first time. The film opens and closes with sneak previews, has scenes on sound stages and in dubbing studios, and shows children how studios manufactured romances between their stars.

When it was first released, the film was only a minor success. O'Connor received the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, Betty Comden and AdolphGreen received the Writers Guild of America Award for their screenplay, and Jean Hagen was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. However, it topped the AFI's list of the Greatest Movie Musicals and is ranked as the fifth-greatest American motion picture of all time in the AFI's 2007 list of the greatest American films.

Singin' in the Rain was one of the first 25 films chosen for preservation in the National Film Registry by the United States Library of Congress in 1989 for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." The British Film Institute included it in its list of 50 films to see by the age of 14 in 2005. Empire magazine ranked it as the eighth-best film of all time in 2008. Singin' in the Rain was ranked 20th on Sight & Sound magazine's list of the 50 greatest films of all time in 2012.

Detailed information:

Directed by: Gene Kelly, Stanley Donen

Starring: Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Jean Hagen

Release dates: March 27, 1952

Running time: 103 minutes

West Side Story is a 1961 musical romantic drama film made in the United States. The film is an adaptation of the 1957 Broadway musical of the same name, which was inspired by Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet, with a screenplay by Ernest Lehman. Leonard Bernstein composed the music, and Stephen Sondheim wrote the lyrics.

The film received widespread acclaim from critics and audiences alike, and it went on to become the highest-grossing film of 1961. It was nominated for 11 Academy Awards and won ten of them, including Best Picture (along with a special award for Robbins), setting a record for the most wins for a musical. West Side Story is widely considered to be one of the greatest musical films of all time. The Library of Congress designated the film as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant," and it was added to the United States National Film Registry in 1997.

Detailed information:

Directed by: Robert Wise, Jerome Robbins

Starring: Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno

Release date: October 18, 1961

Running time: 152 minutes

The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film directed by Frank Capra and produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Herbert Stothart composed the musical score and incidental music. The Wizard of Oz was a moderately successful film upon its initial release on August 25, 1939, thanks to its use of Technicolor, fantasy storytelling, musical score, and memorable characters. The film was a critical success, receiving six Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, and winning in two categories: Best Original Song for "Over the Rainbow" and Best Original Score by Stothart.

Many quotes from The Wizard of Oz can be found in contemporary popular culture. The film is frequently ranked among the greatest films of all time by critics and is the most commercially successful adaptation of L. Frank Baum's work.

Detailed information:

Directed by: Victor Fleming

Starring: Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger

Release date: August 25, 1939

Running time: 101:35

The Sound of Music is a 1965 musical drama film directed and produced by Robert Wise. The film is based on Richard Rodgers' 1959 stage musical of the same name, with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. The film, based on Maria von Trapp's 1949 memoir The Story of the Trapp Family Singers, is about a young Austrian postulant in Salzburg, Austria, in 1938 who is sent to the villa of a retired naval officer and widower to be governess to his seven children. She marries the officer after introducing love and music into the family's lives, and together with the children, they find a way to survive the Nazis' takeover of their homeland.

The Sound of Music won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, Wise's second pair of both honors after West Side Story in 1961. The film was also nominated for two Golden Globes, for Best Motion Picture and Best Actress, as well as the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement and the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Written American Musical.

Detailed information:

Directed by: Robert Wise

Starring: Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Richard Haydn

Release date: March 2, 1965

Running time: 174 minutes

Cabaret is an American musical drama film released in 1972. The film is loosely based on the 1966 Broadway musical Cabaret by Kander and Ebb, which was adapted from Christopher Isherwood's semi-autobiographical novel The Berlin Stories (1945), and the 1951 play I Am a Camera, which was adapted from the same work. It is set in Berlin during the Weimar Republic in 1931, under the presence of the growing Nazi Party.

The film also gave Minnelli, the daughter of Judy Garland and Vincente Minnelli, her first opportunity to sing on screen, and she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance. Cabaret holds the record for the most Oscars won by a film that was not nominated for Best Picture, with Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor (Grey), Best Director (Fosse), Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Sound, Best Original Song Score and Adaptation, and Best Film Editing.

Detailed information:

Directed by: Bob Fosse

Starring: Liza Minnelli, Michael York, Helmut Griem

Release date: February 13, 1972

Running time: 124 minutes

The Sherman Brothers wrote and composed the songs for the 1964 American musical fantasy film Mary Poppins, which was directed by Robert Stevenson and produced by Walt Disney. Bill Walsh and Don DaGradi wrote the screenplay, which is based on P. L. Travers' book series Mary Poppins. The live-action/animation film stars Julie Andrews in her feature film debut as Mary Poppins, who visits a dysfunctional family in London and uses her unique brand of lifestyle to improve the family's dynamic. The film was entirely shot at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California, with painted London backdrops.

It was the highest-grossing film of 1964 and, at the time of its release, the highest-grossing film ever made by Disney. It was nominated for 13 Academy Awards, including Best Picture – a record for any Walt Disney Studios film – and won five: Best Actress for Andrews, Best Film Editing, Best Original Music Score, Best Visual Effects, and Best Original Song for "Chim Chim Cher-ee". Mary Poppins is widely regarded as Walt Disney's crowning live-action achievement, and it is the only one of his films to receive a Best Picture nomination during his lifetime.

Detailed information:

Directed by: Robert Stevenson

Starring: Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke, David Tomlinson

Release dates: August 27, 1964

Running time: 139 minutes

Moss Hart wrote the 1954 American musical drama A Star Is Born. Hart's screenplay is an adaptation of the original 1937 film, which was based on the original screenplay by Robert Carson, Dorothy Parker, and Alan Campbell, as well as the same story by William A. Wellman and Carson, with uncredited contributions from six other writers: David O. Selznick, Ben Hecht, Ring Lardner Jr., John Lee Mahin, Budd Schulberg, and Adela Rogers St. Johns.

Garland hadn't made a film since she negotiated a release from her MGM contract shortly after filming on Royal Wedding began in 1950, and the film was heavily promoted as her comeback. Garland was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in A Star Is Born.

It was the second of four official adaptations of A Star Is Born, with the first in 1937 starring Janet Gaynor and Fredric March, the third in 1976 starring Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson and the fourth in 2018 starring Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper.

Detailed information:

Directed by: George Cukor

Starring: Judy Garland, James Mason, Jack Carson

Release date: September 29, 1954

Running time: 182 minutes (premiere)

My Fair Lady is a 1964 American musical comedy-drama film based on the 1956 Lerner and Loewe stage musical Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw. The film, directed by George Cukor and written by Alan Jay Lerner, depicts a poor Cockney flower seller named Eliza Doolittle who overhears an arrogant phonetics professor, Henry Higgins, casually wagering that he could teach her to speak "proper" English, thereby making her presentable in Edwardian London's high society.

It became the second highest-grossing film of 1964 and won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Director. The American Film Institute named it the 91st best American film of all time in 1998.

Detailed information:

Directed by: George Cukor

Starring: Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison, Stanley Holloway

Release date: October 21, 1964

Running time: 170 minutes

An American in Paris is a 1951 American musical comedy film based on George Gershwin's 1928 orchestral composition An American in Paris. The music is by George Gershwin, with lyrics by his brother Ira, and additional music by the music directors, Johnny Green and Saul Chaplin.

The plot of the film is interspersed with Gene Kelly-choreographed dance numbers set to Gershwin's music. Some of the songs in this catalog, such as "I Got Rhythm" and "Love Is Here to Stay," were featured in the film. The film's climax is "The American in Paris," a 17-minute dialogue-free dance featuring Kelly and Caron set to George Gershwin's An American in Paris, shooting the ballet sequence cost nearly half a million dollars.

An American in Paris was a huge success, earning eight Academy Award nominations and six wins (including Best Picture), as well as other industry accolades. It was chosen for preservation in the National Film Registry by the United States Library of Congress in 1993 for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Detailed information:

Directed by: Vincente Minnelli

Starring: Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron, Oscar Levan

Release dates: October 4, 1951

Running time: 113 minutes

Meet Me in St. Louis tells the story of a year in the life of the Smith family in St. Louis, beginning with Summer 1903 and culminating with the opening of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition (more commonly known as the World's Fair) in the spring of 1904. Irving Brecher and Fred F. Finklehoffe adapted the film from a series of short stories by Sally Benson, which were first published in The New Yorker magazine under the title "5135 Kensington" and later in novel form as Meet Me in St. Louis.

Meet Me in St. Louis was a critical and commercial success upon its initial release. It was MGM's most successful musical of the 1940s, and it became the second-highest-grossing film of 1944, trailing only Going My Way. The Library of Congress designated the film as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" in 1994, and it was added to the United States National Film Registry.

Detailed information:

Directed by: Vincente Minnelli

Starring: Judy Garland, Margaret O'Brien, Mary Astor

Release dates: November 22, 1944

Running time: 113 minutes