Du Barry was a Lady (1943)

It’s Zeigfeld’s follies gone Rococo crossed with Vargas pin-ups, all set to big band remixes of Cole Porter tunes (well, just 3 of them. The rest are Arthur Freed…).

Ziegfeld Follies (1946)

So…, MGM plans to make a huge sequel: a new Follies to feature the greatest stars and directors in Hollywood! Fred Astaire verses Gene Kelly! Judy Garland at her finest! Ravishing Ziegfeld Girl Lucille Ball! Fannie Bryce, Red Skelton, and Virginia O’Brien appear for comedy! An underwater Esther Williams number, and Cyd Charisse in a soap bubble ballet!

PRODUCER: We’ve signed William Powell to play Ziegfeld again!
MINION: But Sir, Florenz Ziegfeld died at the end of The Great Ziegfeld.
PRODUCER: Right! So…, we’ll open with William Powell in Heaven putting together the next Follies!
MINION: Do you think moviegoers will believe Ziegfeld went to Heaven, Sir?

Xanadu (1980)

Although it’s often compared with Down to Earth, the 1947 musical about a meddling muse starring Rita Hayworth, Xanadu exists firmly in it’s own girly space-time continuum. An era of blousy peasant skirts slit to the waist, rollerskates, leg warmers, and hair ribbons. It marks the death of New York disco, the end of Studio 54 decadence, and harkens the dawn of Southern California, neon clothes, and workout tapes.

Xanadu is as wholesome as breakfast cereal, and had the marketing campaign to match! MCA Records president Bob Singer boasted that by the time Xanadu came out, everyone in America would have heard the name six to eight times. It featured the corn-pop goodness of Olivia Newton-John — a triple threat who could act dance and sing — sprinkled with the high-fructose soundtrack by Electric Light Orchestra. The film was studded with references to art and literature (the title is lifted from the opium-hazed poetry of Samuel Taylor Coleridge), revived the three-part harmony of the Andrews Sisters, paid homage to golden age musicals by Comden and Green, and almost saved a streamline art deco landmark, the Pan Pacific Auditorium. After the success of Saturday Night Fever and Grease, Hollywood musicals seemed to be on the verge of a new platinum age. Gene Kelly was called out of retirement to bless the adventure. It couldn’t fail.
…more about Xanadu

Singing in the Rain (1952)

It’s been voted in the top ten of all films, and the best musical ever, so you’ll have to forgive if this Comden and Green slice of buttercake nostalgia seems oversweet today. Any movie about making a movie is going to be full of inside jokes, actor annecdotes, and trendspotting, but Singing in the Rain plundered MGM’s backlot to find the actual sets and props used in memorable silent films, every dance number is an homage of earlier musicals, meanwhile bigshot producer Arthur Freed bought back the library of songs he’d written during leaner days of the talkie-era.
…more about Singing in the Rain

What a Way to Go! (1964)

Shirley MacClaine is one of the few female stars who was able to get top billing over her male leads. Seeming to flaunt it she appeared in several “vignette” films where she is romantically paired (sequentially) with a string of Hollywood’s top men.
bonus Edith Head Gallery after the jump:
…more about What a Way to Go