The Ultimate Movie Musicals Bracket - Round Six, Day One
My sword! I must fly to her side!
Friends, they said we’d never do it, but they were wrong. (Who are “they”, you ask? Well, uh…oh, hey, would you look at the time.) We’ve arrived at the Final Four of the Ultimate Movie Musicals Bracket. What that means is that we’re merely a few days away from crowning a winner, and we have some truly remarkable films that may take that prize.
Funny thing, though: just one of the top-seeded musicals has made it this far, and it’s got at least one hurdle left. We can be more reflective of which films did or didn’t get to the Top Two in a couple days. For now, let us vote.
(1) Singin’ in the Rain vs. (2) Mary Poppins: For all of the debates regarding what does or does not constitute a musical, we can at least say that with this half of the Final Four, we have two full-throated, old-fashioned musicals. And really, none of the films in the Final Four are anything less than old-fashioned, though at least one of the titles is light on dancing (but that’s what happens when you’re an animated film).
Now, you know that my answer is Singin’ in the Rain, because it’s my favorite film of all time. Mary Poppins is often brilliant, but it’s also messy and overlong. (I obviously cannot argue that Mary Poppins is light on dancing, but I think of sequences such as “Step in Time” and I wonder if it’s, in fact, too heavy on dancing.) At various intervals in this bracket, I have wondered if the blog being largely Disney-focused means that a Disney film may win the whole megillah. But for me, the answer cannot be anything other than the romantic adventures of Don Lockwood, Kathy Selden, and Cosmo Brown as they traverse an era of cinema with talking pictures. Julie Andrews is wonderful as Mary Poppins, and many of the songs in the film are equally wonderful.
Put it this way. Mary Poppins is, like its title character, practically perfect. Singin’ in the Rain is perfect. No qualifications needed.
How do you vote?
Singin’ in the Rain
Mary Poppins
Comfortable predicting that whoever wins here wins it all.
Singin’ in the Rain might be the objective better film (although it would be even better without the modern ballet sequence), but Mary Poppins has the best selection of songs written for a feature. That’s what makes this a tough choice for me.