Given that throughout 2019 HOME has been celebrating women’s contribution to world cinema, it seems wholly appropriate that as part of our focus on the musical we salute the work of twice Oscar-nominated writer Betty Comden. In collaboration with her writing partner Adolph Green, Comden was a leading figure on Broadway, writing an array of award-winning liberetti, scripts, songs. Together they were also major contributors to some of Hollywood’s most loved musicals. This short season offers the opportunity to come along and enjoy some of the most striking and innovative Hollywood musicals of the post-war era.
Curated by Andy Willis and Rachel Hayward for Celebrating Women in Global Cinema.
Screening as part of BFI Musicals! The Greatest Show on Screen, a UK-wide film season supported by National Lottery, BFI Film Audience Network and ICO.
bfimusicals.co.uk #bfimusicals
Previously in this season
Cinema
The Barkleys of Broadway
The film that saw Astaire and Rogers re-united on screen after 10 years apart.
Cinema
Singin’ in the Rain
With inspired direction from Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen and a dazzling array of show-stopping song and dance sequences, this Hollywood classic remains a triumphant…
Cinema
On the Town
“New York, New York, a wonderful town. The Bronx is up but the Battery’s down”. One of the landmark Hollywood musicals of all time, starring…
Cinema
The Band Wagon
A great example of Comden and Green’s interest in the contrast between popular forms such as the musical theatre and the pretentiousness of dramatic theatre.
Cinema
Bells are Ringing
Judy Holliday reprises her Tony award winning role as Ella, a switchboard operator tangled in an array of amusingly confusing interactions between her and those…
Cinema
It’s Always Fair Weather
It’s Always Fair Weather follows the adventures of three GIs after they leave the army in 1945. Another classic from the imagination of Betty Comden…