West Hollywood International Film Festival 2008

'Hollywood Singing and Dancing' is the most entertaining and comprehensive documentary about the Hollywood Musical ever produced. Hosted by Academy Award winning stage, screen and television icon, Shirley Jones, it is a celebration of song and dance beginning with the Busby Berkeley era through the first musical to win an Academy Award in more than 30 years, 'Chicago,' and ending with the highly acclaimed 2007 box office smash 'Dreamgirls.'The best films from every studio, every decade and the most influential stars are included. The journey begins with the dawn of sound on film, to the patriotic feel-good musicals of World War II, through the development of the 'intergrated' musical in which songs became an important story-telling ingredient, through the near-death of the medium when the studio system collapsed, to the genre?s recent resurgence and multi-generational embrace. Fresh, new interviews with stars like Liza Minnelli, Shirley MacLaine, Mickey Rooney, Rita Moreno, Debbie Reynolds, Leslie Caron, Joel Grey and directors Bill Condon ('Dreamgirls') and Rob Marshall ('Chicago') among many, many others give an insider?s insight into the world that helped shape these filmed masterpieces.Mesmerizing sequences interspersed with rarely seen footage and interviews with stars including Busby Berkley, Vincent Minnelli, Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly also help us to understand the creative processes that make their films works of art. Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History is a grand historical look at the magic of Hollywood.