London in Film - Musical London

Musical London

Cliff Richard was a film star with three successful musical comedies in the early 1960s. The first of these, The Young Ones (1961), was set in London. Cliff, The Shadows, and others need money to save their youth club, so they set up a pirate radio station to generate publicity for the show. Although Cliff's second hit, Summer Holiday (1963), mostly took place while driving across Europe, it prominently featured a red London Routemaster bus.

The success of some of these 1960s films helped to make up for London Town, Britain's first Technicolor musical, which was a high-profile flop in 1946.

Mary Poppins (1964) was a critical and popular success, winning multiple Oscars for its editing, music (including Best Song for "Chim Chim Cher-ee"), and visual effects (notably the scene combining live action and animation). Lead actress Julie Andrews won an Academy Award for Best Actress.

Also in 1964, Audrey Hepburn starred in My Fair Lady, the film of the musical of the George Bernard Shaw play Pygmalion. George Cukor's decision to award the role of Eliza Doolittle to Hepburn was perceived by many as a snub to Julie Andrews, who had played the part to great acclaim on Broadway. This is another film with some famous songs, including Wouldn't it be Loverly, I Could have Danced all Night and Get Me to the Church on Time. Marni Nixon's voice was used in place of Audrey Hepburn's for the songs.

In Half a Sixpence (1967), professional cheery cockney Tommy Steele plays Arthur Kipps, a cockney who unexpectedly comes into some money, in a musical version of H. G. Wells's novel Kipps.

Oliver! (1968), the musical based on Oliver Twist, includes the songs Food, Glorious Food, Consider Yourself and You've Got To Pick A Pocket Or Two. Two more Dickens stories turned into musicals were A Christmas Carol (filmed as Scrooge in 1970) and The Old Curiosity Shop, which became Mr Quilp in 1975.

The musical adaptation of Goodbye, Mr. Chips with Peter O'Toole and Petula Clark made use of several London locations, including the dining room at the Savoy Hotel and the Salisbury pub in the heart of the West End.

Quadrophenia (1979) draws its soundtrack from the album of the same name, a rock opera by The Who. It tells the story of Jimmy, a disaffected teenager, taking his scooter to Brighton for the August bank holiday with a group of Mods, and taking part in one of the notorious 'battles' between Mods and Rockers.

Punk, one of London's notable contributions to pop music, is the subject of Sid and Nancy (1986), a biopic of Sid Vicious, bassist with the Sex Pistols. Gary Oldman stars as Vicious. Also see the punk-rockumentaries directed by Julien Temple, the first being band manager Malcolm McLaren's take on 'his' invention of punk in his The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle and the more recent return volley by the estranged band members in The Filth and the Fury.

The South London reggae scene is notably represented in Babylon (1980).

SpiceWorld (1997) was a comedy starring pop girl group the Spice Girls. It was a commercial success but widely panned by critics.

Early Victorian London was the setting for 2007's musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.