Singing in the Movies: The Best Scenes, Part I

Movies have employed music for many decades, and there are a few films that have used songs to great effect. This is a short list of the best movie scenes featuring singing:

Cabaret - “Tomorrow Belongs to Me”

An upstanding-looking young boy sings a beautiful song that very quickly turns into something rather ugly. The fact that hate groups have adopted this song adds to its intended meaning and purpose. Version with English subtitles here.

Magnolia - “Wise Up”

Many people, including me, thought this montage of all the characters singing laughable — but on a subsequent viewing I realized that the scene showed successfully the whole of the film: many lives intertwined in hopelessness and despair.

Singing in the Rain - “Singing in the Rain”

This is iconic for several reasons — one is that Gene Kelly was insanely skillful at his craft, and he shows the range of his talent here.

Modern Times - “Tia Tua”

Its jibberish, sure — but this is the first and last time that the world was able to hear the Tramp’s voice. When the Tramp loses his cuffs (and the song lyrics written on them), there is no way to anticipate that this classic scene would be the result. A version with, er, subtitles is here.