The Golden Age of MGM: The Freed Unit & the MGM Musical

Friday, August 20 through Thursday, September 2

To mark the diamond jubilee of the movie musical (it all began with THE BROADWAY MELODY in 1929), AFI Silver brings back the cream of the crop: the fabulous MGM musicals.

Lyricist Arthur Freed [1894-1973] was given a tryout as an associate producer on THE WIZARD OF OZ. Almost immediately, MGM gave him his own department. The legendary "Freed Unit" created the longest string of movie musical blockbusters in history. If the MGM musical of the 1940s and 1950s represents the peak of the genre, its biggest hits were Freed's: dazzling Technicolor productions scored by some of the 20th century's greatest songwriters: Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, the Gershwins, Oscar Hammerstein, Johnny Mercer, Harry Warren, Leonard

"The most gifted producer in the history of Hollywood" -critic David Shipman

Bernstein and Freed himself (his songs had appeared in THE BROADWAY MELODY and became the basis of SINGIN' IN THE RAIN). Employing the studio's top technical and creative talents, Freed hired directors Vincente Minnelli, Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly, George Sidney, and Charles Walters; screenwriters Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Alan Jay Lerner and Sidney Sheldon; choreographers Robert Alton, Jack Cole, Kelly and Donen; and perhaps the Unit's unsung (except for his songs) hero-associate producer and musical jack-of-all-trades, Roger Edens. And then there was the on-screen talent, including the Big Three: Fred Astaire, Judy Garland and Gene Kelly, the latter two of whom were nurtured to super-stardom by Freed. Claiming neither creativity nor intellectuality himself, Freed had an unerring eye for those qualities in others, and gave his artists the freedom to ascend the heights in a golden era not likely to be recaptured.

SINGIN' IN THE RAIN

The switch to talkies proves a smooth one for silent swashbuckler Gene Kelly, but the nasal screech of perennial co-star Jean Hagen ("a shimmering, glowing star in the cinema firm-a-mint!") calls for dubbing by Debbie Reynolds, while Donald O'Connor literally knocks himself out to "make 'em laugh." Betty Comden and Adolph Green borrow the early songs of Nacio Herb Brown and producer Arthur Freed to script the CITIZEN KANE of movie musicals.

Directed by Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly; written by Betty Comden and Adolph Green; produced by Arthur Freed. US, 1952, color, 103 min.

THE BANDWAGON

Washed-up Hollywood song-anddance man Fred Astaire aims for a Broadway comeback, but battles first with artsy director Jack Buchanan, then co-star Cyd Charisse, until they "dance in the dark" in Central Park. Add Fred's Shine on Your Shoes, the hilarious Triplets, the Spillane-spoofing Girl Hunt Ballet, still more great songs by Dietz and Schwartz and a scintillating Comden and Green screenplay. Now that's entertainment.

Directed by Vincente Minnelli; written by Betty Comden and Adolph Green; produced by Arthur Freed. US, 1953, color, 111 min.

MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS

In turn-of-the-century St. Loo-ee, Judy Garland sings about trollies and pines for "Boy Next Door" Tom Drake; Margaret O'Brien braves the terrors of Halloween; Mom Mary Astor looks lovely in Technicolored middle-age; and Dad Leon Ames debates taking that Gotham job as the 1903 World's Fair beckons.

Directed by Vincente Minnelli; written by Irving Brecher and Fred F. Finklehoffe; produced by Arthur Freed. US, 1944, color, 113 min.

ON THE TOWN

"New York, New York," warble adventuresome sailors Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Jules Munshin throughout their dazzling, all-location- shot opening montage, eventually cavorting from the Bronx to the Battery with Miss Turnstiles of the Month (Vera-Ellen), man-hungry cabbie Betty Garrett and passionate paleontologist Ann Miller. "The great liberating musical of the American cinema."-critic David Shipman.

Directed by Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly; written by Betty Comden and Adolph Green; produced by Arthur Freed. US, 1949, color, 98 min.

AN AMERICAN IN PARIS

Starving artist Gene Kelly finds love on the Left Bank with a shop-girl, the debuting Leslie Caron. This multiple Oscar-winner-eight in all, including Best Picture-features a great Gershwin score, including I Got Rhythm sung and tapped by Gene with the neighborhood street urchins; Our Love Is Here to Stay danced Seine-side by Kelly and Caron; and a ballet finale inspired by the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists. "18 minutes of screen magic, unsurpassed in the boldness of its design and the dazzle of its execution."-Clive Hirschhorn, author, The Hollywood Musical.

Directed by VincenteMinnelli;written by Alan Jay Lerner;produced by Arthur Freed.US, 1951, color, 113 min.

EASTER PARADE

Crushed when dancing partner Ann Miller decides to shake the blues away and go solo, despairing Fred Astaire looks for a new face, and gets Judy Garland! Featuring the Garland/Astaire hobo duet, A Couple of Swells, an all-time peak. "To see it now is to marvel at their talents, and that of Irving Berlin."-David Shipman.

Directed by Charles Walters; written by Sidney Sheldon, Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett; produced by Arthur Freed. US, 1948, color, 107 min.

THE PIRATE

Judy Garland, bored by fiancé Walter Slezak, mistakes traveling player Gene Kelly for her idol, daredevil pirate Mack the Black. This over-the-top spoof of Fairbanks-brand swashbuckling features a Cole Porter score and Kelly cavorting over, under and through the set, then clowning around with the fabulous Nicholas Brothers.

Directed by VincenteMinnelli; written by FrancesGoodrich and AlbertHackett; produced by Arthur Freed.US, 1948, color, 102 min.

IT'S ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER

In a variation of ON THE TOWN ten years later, wartime buddies Gene Kelly, Dan Dailey and Michael Kidd find their reunion a frost, but still manage to stop the show with their widescreen trisecting "garbage-can ballet." On top of the film's brilliant use of cinemascope, its cast features knockout Cyd Charisse, Dolores Gray's hilarious spoof of a TV hostess and Gene's dazzling dance on roller skates.

Directed by Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly; written by Betty Comden and Adolph Green; produced by Arthur Freed. US, 1955, color, scope, 102 min.