Musical Film Index

Musical Film Index: M

**** - Exceptional
*** - Very good entertainment
** - Mediocre
* - Just plain bad
NO STARS - Beyond bad

Ma, He's Making Eyes At Me (1940)
Mack the Knife (1989) NO STARS - A brain dead adaptation of Kurt Weill's Threepenny Opera.
Mad About Music (1938) **** - Deanna Durbin is a lonely schoolgirl in one of her most entertaining films.
Madam Satan (1930) ** - Pitiful plot & songs -- but the bizarre party aboard a Zeppelin has to be seen!
Magic of Lassie, The (1978) NO STARS- Woof.
Main Street to Broadway (1953) ** - Meager backstage musical offers a parade of Broadway legends in cameos, including Rodgers and Hammerstein.
Make a Wish (1937)
Make Believe Ballroom (1949)
Make Mine Laughs (1949)
Make Mine Music (1946) *** - Ten animated Disney shorts, some better than others. Best bits include "Peter and the Wolf" and an operatic whale.
Mame (1974) ** - Lucille Ball is miscast in the lead, but thanks to a stellar supporting cast this one is not nearly as bad as some critics suggest.
Mammy (1930) * - Jolson's musical numbers can't overcome a brain dead story.
Man About Town (1939)
Man of La Mancha (1972) NO STARS - Repulsive perversion of the stage hit based on Cervantes' tale of Don Quixote. Everyone involved in this should have been publicly flogged.
Manhattan Angel (1948)
Manhattan Merry Go Round (1937)
Manhattan Parade (1932)
Many Happy Returns (1934)
Mardi Gras (1958) ** - Pat Boone is a cadet who wins a date with a movie star. Cute moments.
Margie (1946)
Marianne (1929) *** - French maiden Marion Davies and her pet pig are pursued by three soldiers during WW I.
Married in Hollywood (1929)
Mary Lou (1948)
Mary Poppins (1964) **** - Julie Andrews as a magical nanny in Disney's sparkling live-action musical. Glorious Sherman Brothers score and superb production help make this a classic.
Mayor of 44th Street, The (1942) NO STARS - Teen hoods try to blackmail dance bands. Awful.
Maytime (1937) **** - Eddy and MacDonald as ill-fated lovers in the 19th Century opera world. One of the team's finest, with a scene stealing performance by John Barrymore.
Medium, The (1951) ** - Uneven adaptation of Menotti's Broadway opera.
Meet Danny Wilson (1952) ** - Frank Sinatra plays a nightclub singer contending with a troublesome club owner. Your call.
Meet Me After the Show (1951) * - Betty Grable's weakest show biz musical, strictly for her die-hard fans.
Meet Me At the Fair (1952)
Meet Me at the Fair (1953) ** - Dan Dailey song and dance vehicle – not his best.Miss Sadie Thompson *** - Rita Hayworth and Jose Ferrer star in this effective musical remake of Somerset Maugham's Rain.
Meet Me in Las Vegas (1956)
Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) **** - Judy Garland romances "The Boy Next Door" and keeps her family together in this enchanting valentine to the early 1900s. Director Vincent Minnelli turned this okay idea into one of the best screen musicals of the 1940s. Meet Me On Broadway (1946)
Meet Miss Bobby Socks (1944) NO STARS - Don't.
Meet the People (1944)
Melody and Moonlight (1940)
Melody Cruise (1933)
Melody in Spring (1934)
Melody Lane (1929)
Melody Lane (1941)
Melody Parade (1943)
Melody Ranch (1940)
Melody Time (1948)
Merry Andrew (1958) ** - Danny Kaye as a British scholar in love with a circus performer – not his funniest, but some good bits.
Merry Monahans, The (1944) ** - Donald O'Connor stars in an unimaginative vaudeville family saga.
Merry Widow, The (1934) **** - Jeanette MacDonald and Maurice Chevalier reunite in MGM's lavish version of Lehar's romantic operetta. Bears limited resemblance to the original, but delicious anyway. Lorenz Hart's lyrics are superb.
Merry Widow, The (1952) ** - Lavish production values are the chief attraction as a miscast Lana Turner stars in this weak remake of Lehr's classic operetta.
Metropolitan (1935)
Mexicana (1945)
Million Dollar Mermaid (1952)
Millions in the Air (1935)
Minstrel Man (1944)
Mississippi (1935)
Mister Cinders (1934) - British screen version of long running London stage musical
Montana Moon (1930)
Monte Carlo (1930)
Moon Over Las Vegas (1944)
Moon Over Miami (1941) *** - Betty Grable & friends hunt for men -- with enjoyable results.
Moonlight and Cactus (1944) - A short Andrews Sisters vehicle.
Moonlight and Pretzels (1933)
Moonlight In Havana (1942)
Moonlight in Hawaii (1941)
Moonlight in Vermont (1943)
Moonlight Masquerade (1942)
Mother Wore Tight (1947)s *** - Betty Grable and Dan Dailey in one of their better backstage love stories. Colorful production, great score, and lots of vaudeville atmosphere.
Mother's Boy (1929)
Moulin Rouge (1934) *** - Constance Bennett poses as her own sister to seduce husband Franchot Tone.
Moulin Rouge (2001)** - Lavish, imaginative, but ultimately frustrating tale of romance in old-time Paris. Too hyper for my taste!
Mountain Music (1937)
Mr. Big (1943)
Mr. Imperium (1951) * - Heir to throne puts duty before love in this lame Student Prince rip-off with a weak Harold Arlen score. A rare chance to catch Ezio Pinza on film.
Mr. Music (1950)
Mrs. Henderson Presents (2006) *** - Delightful fun, with Judi Dench as a wealthy widow producing a nudie show in World War II London. Witty, touching screenplay, with endearing, campy stagings of period songs.
Mulan (1997) ** - Political correctness makes for so-so entertainment in this animated tale of a girl who goes to war in a man's clothing.
Muppet Christmas Carol, The (1992) *** - Michael Caine is Scrooge in this fun Muppetized version of the Dickens classic.
Muppet Movie, The (1979) *** - Kermit & Miss Piggie lead the Muppets across America to their first big screen triumph.
Muppet Treasure Island (1996) *** - Forgettable score does not prevent this from being a fun time for the kiddies.
Murder at the Cabaret (1936)
Murder at the Vanities (1934) *** - Backstage murder plagues a Broadway opening. Enjoyable film based on Earl Carroll's stage success.
Music For Madame (1937)
Music for Millions (1944) ** - June Allyson is a cellist and war bride. Jimmy Durante's one number is a winner.
Music Goes Round, The (1936)
Music in Manhattan (1944)
Music in My Heart (1940) ** - Singer Tony Martin pursues Rita Hayworth.
Music in the Air (1934) *** - Small town teacher brings his musical to the big city -- Vienna. Gloria Swanson a hoot as egotistical stage star, great Kern score.
Music Is Magic (1935)
Music Man, The (1962) **** - A trifle long, but Robert Preston and Shirley Jones are sensational in Meredith Willson's stage hit about a con artist flim flamming an Iowa town in 1912. Not to be missed!
My Best Gal (1943)
My Blue Heaven (1950) ** - Betty Grable and Dan Dailey re-team as radio celebrities looking to adopt a child – some fun moments.
My Dream Is Yours (1949) ** - Doris Day becomes a radio star and even hangs out with Bugs Bunny.
My Fair Lady (1964) **** - A bit long, but who cares? Lerner & Loewe's stage hit about a professor who turns a London street urchin into a lady is wonderful entertainment, with Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn giving luminous performances.
My Favorite Spy (1942) NO STARS - Bandleader Kay Kyser as a spy. Someone got paid for thinking up this stinker – scary, ain't it?
My Gal Loves Music (1944)
My Gal Sal (1942) *** - Victor Mature stars as songwriter Paul Dresser, wooing singer Rita Hayworth. Period songs and sumptuous production make this a winner.
My Lips Betray (1933)
My Lucky Star (1938)
My Man (1928) - Fanny Brice finds romantic heartbreak on the road to Broadway stardom. No known copies survive.
My Sister Eileen (1955) *** - Betty Garrett stars in a fun musical version of the same story that inspired the stage hit Wonderful Town.
My Weakness (1933)
My Wild Irish Rose (1947)
Myrt and Marge (1934)