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Best Musical Movies of the 1950s, Ranked by IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and TMDB
43 musical films from the 1950s are in our catalog; the 43 best are ranked below. Top of the list is Rabbit of Seville (1950), at 8.3 on IMDb. The average IMDb score across this list is 7.1. Biggest split between audiences and critics: White Christmas, 7.6 on IMDb against 56 on Metacritic.
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| # | Movie | Genre | IMDb | Tomato | Meta | TMDB | Director |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rabbit of Seville '1950 | Animation / Comedy / Musical | 8.3 | - | - | 7.6 | Chuck Jones |
| 2 | What's Opera, Doc? '1957 | Animation / Comedy / Musical | 8.3 | - | - | 7.6 | Chuck Jones |
| 3 | One Froggy Evening '1955 | Animation / Comedy / Musical | 8.4 | - | - | 7.7 | Chuck Jones |
| 4 | The Court Jester '1955 | Musical / Comedy | 7.8 | 97% | - | 7.3 | Norman Panama |
| 5 | White Christmas '1954 | Comedy / Musical / Romance | 7.6 | 76% | 56 | 7.2 | Michael Curtiz |
| 6 | The Hollywood Bowl '1950 | Animation / Comedy / Musical | 7.9 | - | - | 7.2 | William Hanna |
| 7 | Awaara '1951 | Drama / Musical / Romance | 7.8 | - | - | 7.2 | Raj Kapoor |
| 8 | The Music Room '1958 | Drama / Musical | 7.8 | 100% | - | 7.5 | Satyajit Ray |
| 9 | A Star Is Born '1954 | Drama / Musical / Romance | 7.5 | 98% | 89 | 7.1 | George Cukor |
| 10 | To Joy '1950 | Romance / Drama / Musical | 7.2 | - | - | 6.8 | Ingmar Bergman |
| 11 | Full Spead Ahead '1951 | Comedy / Musical | 8.0 | - | - | 8.5 | Ismael Rodríguez |
| 12 | The Glenn Miller Story '1954 | Drama / Musical / Romance | 7.3 | 89% | - | 7.0 | Anthony Mann |
| 13 | Summer Stock '1950 | Musical / Romance | 7.1 | 100% | - | 6.7 | Charles Walters |
| 14 | Dos tipos de cuidado '1953 | Comedy / Musical / Romance | 8.0 | - | - | 8.5 | Ismael Rodríguez |
| 15 | School for Tramps '1955 | Comedy / Musical / Romance | 8.1 | - | - | 8.0 | Rogelio A. González |
| 16 | Carnival Night '1956 | Musical / Comedy / Romance | 7.4 | - | - | 7.0 | Eldar Ryazanov |
| 17 | French Cancan '1955 | Comedy / Drama / Romance / Musical | 7.3 | 100% | - | 7.2 | Jean Renoir |
| 18 | The Tales of Hoffmann '1951 | Musical / Fantasy / Drama | 7.1 | 85% | - | 7.1 | Michael Powell |
| 19 | Johann Mouse '1953 | Animation / Comedy / Musical | 7.4 | - | - | 6.9 | William Hanna |
| 20 | An American in Paris '1951 | Musical / Romance / Comedy | 7.1 | 95% | 83 | 7.0 | Vincente Minnelli |
| 21 | The Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome '1954 | Fantasy / Musical | 7.0 | - | - | 6.4 | Kenneth Anger |
| 22 | Kiss Me Kate '1953 | Musical / Comedy / Romance | 7.0 | 93% | - | 6.6 | George Sidney |
| 23 | Oklahoma! '1955 | Western / Musical / Romance | 7.0 | 87% | 74 | 6.6 | Fred Zinnemann |
| 24 | Funny Face '1957 | Musical / Comedy / Romance | 7.0 | 85% | 75 | 7.0 | Stanley Donen |
| 25 | King Creole '1958 | Drama / Musical / Crime | 7.0 | 96% | - | 6.4 | Michael Curtiz |
| 26 | High Society '1956 | Musical / Comedy / Romance | 6.9 | 88% | 65 | 6.8 | Charles Walters |
| 27 | Les Girls '1957 | Comedy / Musical / Romance | 6.6 | 89% | - | 6.4 | George Cukor |
| 28 | The Girl Can't Help It '1956 | Comedy / Musical | 6.8 | 84% | - | 6.3 | Frank Tashlin |
| 29 | Royal Wedding '1951 | Musical / Comedy / Romance | 6.7 | 91% | - | 6.4 | Stanley Donen |
| 30 | Brigadoon '1954 | Musical / Fantasy / Romance | 6.8 | 75% | 49 | 6.6 | Vincente Minnelli |
| 31 | The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. '1953 | Fantasy / Musical | 6.7 | 83% | - | 6.2 | Roy Rowland |
| 32 | The Pajama Game '1957 | Musical / Comedy / Romance | 6.6 | 81% | - | 6.2 | Stanley Donen |
| 33 | Pal Joey '1957 | Musical / Romance / Comedy | 6.6 | 89% | - | 6.3 | George Sidney |
| 34 | South Pacific '1958 | Musical / Romance / War | 6.8 | 75% | - | 6.1 | Joshua Logan |
| 35 | Road to Bali '1952 | Comedy / Musical / Romance | 6.4 | 75% | 64 | 6.2 | Hal Walker |
| 36 | The Caddy '1953 | Comedy / Musical | 6.3 | 83% | 60 | 6.4 | Norman Taurog |
| 37 | Free Radicals '1958 | Animation / Musical | 6.3 | - | - | 6.0 | Len Lye |
| 38 | Carousel '1956 | Musical / Romance | 6.6 | 63% | - | 5.3 | Henry King |
| 39 | Tom Thumb '1958 | Musical / Fantasy | 6.5 | 100% | - | 6.4 | George Pal |
| 40 | Jailhouse Rock '1957 | Musical / Drama | 6.5 | 67% | 68 | 6.3 | Richard Thorpe |
| 41 | There's No Business Like Show Business '1954 | Musical / Comedy | 6.4 | 67% | - | 6.1 | Walter Lang |
| 42 | Jack and the Beanstalk '1952 | Comedy / Fantasy / Musical | 5.8 | 43% | - | 5.7 | Jean Yarbrough |
| 43 | Love Me Tender '1956 | Romance / Musical / Western / Drama | 6.2 | 58% | - | 6.3 | Robert D. Webb |
Our catalog covers roughly the 8,800 most-rated films on TMDB, so lesser-known titles may be missing. Order uses a confidence-weighted IMDb score so a perfect score from a handful of votes does not beat a well-established classic; the scores shown are the raw ones.
All musical movies
All movies of the 1950s
Musical in other decades
Other genres in the 1950s
Action of the 1950s Animation of the 1950s Comedy of the 1950s Crime of the 1950s Drama of the 1950s Fantasy of the 1950s Horror of the 1950s Mystery of the 1950s Romance of the 1950s Sci-Fi of the 1950s Thriller of the 1950s War of the 1950s Western of the 1950s
Directors on this list
Chuck Jones Michael Curtiz William Hanna Satyajit Ray George Cukor Ingmar Bergman Ismael Rodríguez Anthony Mann Charles Walters Eldar Ryazanov Jean Renoir Michael Powell
Actors on this list
Mel Blanc Arthur Q. Bryan Bing Crosby William Hanna Judy Garland James Mason Pedro Infante James Stewart Gene Kelly Jean Gabin Audrey Hepburn Fred Astaire