Entertainment
The Best Musical Movies Of All Time
The best musical movies of all time, ranked by fans and critics. This list includes both the best original musical films and those adapted from stage musicals and other materials. Good musical movies have a long tradition in cinema, dating back to the 1930s, when most musical soundtracks were played alongside otherwise silent pictures. Could a classic musical movie be the top film musical? Since the 1950s and 60s, popular movie musicals such as Singin' in the Rain, Mary Poppins, and The Sound of Music have been favorites of children and adults alike. But which one of these great musicals deserves to be crowned the greatest musical movies of all time? You get to help decide with your votes.
And if you love hilarious famous musicals, be sure to check out our list of funny musicals.
Ranked by
- 11964
- Actors: Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke, Glynis Johns, David Tomlinson, Ed Wynn
- Directed by: Robert Stevenson
When Jane (Karen Dotrice) and Michael (Matthew Garber), the children of the wealthy and uptight Banks family, are faced with the prospect of a new nanny, they are pleasantly surprised by the arrival ...more - 21992
- Actors: Scott Weinger, Robin Williams, Linda Larkin, Jonathan Freeman, Frank Welker
- Directed by: Ron Clements, John Musker
When street rat Aladdin frees a genie from a lamp, he finds his wishes granted. However, he soon finds that the evil has other plans for the lamp -- and for Princess Jasmine. But can Aladdin save ...more - 3
- Actors: Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Eleanor Parker, Richard Haydn, Peggy Wood
- Directed by: Robert Wise
This is also one of the best musicals for kids.
A tuneful, heartwarming story, it is based on the real life story of the Von Trapp Family singers, one of the world's best-known concert groups in the era immediately preceding World War II. Julie ...more - 41994
- Actors: Matthew Broderick, Jeremy Irons, James Earl Jones, Madge Sinclair, Moira Kelly
- Directed by: Roger Allers, Rob Minkoff
This Disney animated feature follows the adventures of the young lion Simba (Jonathan Taylor Thomas), the heir of his father, Mufasa (James Earl Jones). Simba's wicked uncle, Scar (Jeremy Irons), ...more - 5
- Actors: Paige O'Hara, Robby Benson, Richard White, Jerry Orbach, David Ogden Stiers
- Directed by: Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise
An arrogant young prince (Robby Benson) and his castle's servants fall under the spell of a wicked enchantress, who turns him into the hideous Beast until he learns to love and be loved in return. ...more - 61939
- Actors: Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley
- Directed by: Victor Fleming
When a tornado rips through Kansas, Dorothy (Judy Garland) and her dog, Toto, are whisked away in their house to the magical land of Oz. They follow the Yellow Brick Road toward the Emerald City to ...more - 7
- Actors: Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, Donald O'Connor, Jean Hagen, Millard Mitchell
- Directed by: Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly
A spoof of the turmoil that afflicted the movie industry in the late 1920s when movies went from silent to sound. When two silent movie stars', Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont, latest movie is made into ...more - 8
- Actors: Jodi Benson, Pat Carroll, Christopher Daniel Barnes, Rene Auberjonois, Hamilton Camp
- Directed by: Ron Clements, John Musker
In Disney's beguiling animated romp, rebellious 16-year-old mermaid Ariel (Jodi Benson) is fascinated with life on land. On one of her visits to the surface, which are forbidden by her controlling ...more - 91978
- Actors: John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing, Jeff Conaway, Didi Conn
- Directed by: Randal Kleiser
Experience the friendships, romances and adventures of a group of high school kids in the 1950s. Welcome to the singing and dancing world of "Grease," the most successful movie musical of all time. A ...more - 10
- Actors: Topol, Norma Crane, Leonard Frey, Molly Picon, Paul Mann
- Directed by: Norman Jewison
A lavishly produced and critically acclaimed screen adaptation of the international stage sensation tells the life-affirming story of Tevye (Topol), a poor milkman whose love, pride and faith help ...more - 11
- Actors: Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron, Michelle Williams, Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya
- Directed by: Michael Gracey
Growing up in the early 1800s, P.T. Barnum displays a natural talent for publicity and promotion, selling lottery tickets by age 12. After trying his hands at various jobs, P.T. turns to show ...more - 121961
- Actors: Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, George Chakiris, Rita Moreno
- Directed by: Jerome Robbins, Robert Wise
A musical in which a modern day Romeo and Juliet are involved in New York street gangs. On the harsh streets of the upper west side, two gangs battle for control of the turf. The situation becomes ...more - 131956
- Actors: Deborah Kerr, Yul Brynner, Rita Moreno, Martin Benson, Terry Saunders
- Directed by: Walter Lang
In this film adaptation of the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical, widowed Welsh mother Anna Loenowens (Deborah Kerr) becomes a governess and English tutor to the wives and many children of the stubborn ...more - 141954
- Actors: Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, Vera-Ellen, Dean Jagger
- Directed by: Michael Curtiz
Singers Bob Wallace (Bing Crosby) and Phil Davis (Danny Kaye) join sister act Betty (Rosemary Clooney) and Judy Haynes (Vera-Ellen) to perform a Christmas show in rural Vermont. There, they run into ...more - 152002
- Actors: Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renée Zellweger, Richard Gere, Queen Latifah, John C. Reilly
- Directed by: Rob Marshall
Nightclub sensation Velma (Catherine Zeta-Jones) murders her philandering husband, and Chicago's slickest lawyer, Billy Flynn (Richard Gere), is set to defend her. But when Roxie (Renée Zellweger) ...more - Actors: Gene Wilder, Jack Albertson, Peter Ostrum, Roy Kinnear, Julie Dawn Cole
- Directed by: Mel Stuart
The last of five coveted "golden tickets" falls into the hands of a sweet but very poor boy. He and his grandpa then get a tour of the strangest chocolate factory in the world. The owner leads five ...more- 171967
- Actors: Phil Harris, Sebastian Cabot, Louis Prima, George Sanders, Sterling Holloway
- Directed by: Wolfgang Reitherman
In this classic Walt Disney animation based on Rudyard Kipling's book, Mowgli, an abandoned child raised by wolves, has his peaceful existence threatened by the return of the man-eating tiger Shere ...more - 181964
- Actors: Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison, Stanley Holloway, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Gladys Cooper
- Directed by: George Cukor
In this beloved musical, pompous phonetics professor Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison) is so sure of his abilities that he takes it upon himself to transform a Cockney working-class girl into someone who ...more - 192012
- Actors: Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Helena Bonham Carter
- Directed by: Tom Hooper
Les Misérables is a 2012 musical drama film directed by Tom Hooper, based on the 1862 French novel of the same name by Victor Hugo, which also inspired a 1980 concept album and 1985 musical by Alain ...more - 201992
- Actors: Whoopi Goldberg, Maggie Smith, Kathy Najimy, Wendy Makkena, Mary Wickes
- Directed by: Emile Ardolino
When lively lounge singer Deloris Van Cartier (Whoopi Goldberg) sees her mobster beau, Vince LaRocca (Harvey Keitel), commit murder, she is relocated for her protection. Set up in the guise of a nun ...more - 21
- Actors: Dick Van Dyke, Sally Ann Howes, Lionel Jeffries, Gert Fröbe, Anna Quayle
- Directed by: Ken Hughes
While truant from school, young siblings Jeremy and Jemima meet the beautiful Truly Scrumptious (Sally Ann Howes), who falls for their widowed father, Caractacus Potts (Dick Van Dyke), and his ...more - 22
- Actors: Peggy Lee, Barbara Luddy, Larry Roberts, Bill Thompson, Bill Baucom
- Directed by: Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske
This Disney animated classic follows a pampered cocker spaniel named Lady (Barbara Luddy) whose comfortable life slips away once her owners have a baby. When, after some tense circumstances, Lady ...more - 232007
- Actors: John Travolta, Nikki Blonsky, Amanda Bynes, Christopher Walken, Zac Efron
- Directed by: Adam Shankman
In 1960s Baltimore, dance-loving teen Tracy Turnblad (Nikki Blonsky) auditions for a spot on "The Corny Collins Show" and wins. She becomes an overnight celebrity, a trendsetter in dance, fun and ...more - 242007
- Actors: Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, James Marsden, Timothy Spall, Idina Menzel
- Directed by: Kevin Lima
Banished by an evil queen, Princess Giselle (Amy Adams) from a fairy-tale world lands in modern Manhattan, where music, magic and "happily ever after" are sorely lacking. She is adrift in this ...more - 25
- Actors: Rick Moranis, Ellen Greene, Steve Martin, Vincent Gardenia, Tichina Arnold
- Directed by: Frank Oz
Meek flower shop assistant Seymour (Rick Moranis) pines for co-worker Audrey (Ellen Greene). During a total eclipse, he discovers an unusual plant he names Audrey II, which feeds only on human flesh ...more
