Best Music Movies of 1966

The second annual TV special thrills from start to finish, with unforgettable performances of signature songs "Fly Me To The Moon," "Luck Be A Lady" and "That's Life." Frank is joined by daughter Nancy in a playful duet in this delightful hour of music.

Barbra Streisand's second television special, aired in 1966 just after the singer-songwriter had completed a successful Broadway run of hit show 'Funny Girl'. Streisand sings surrounded by animals in a circus dream sequence and wanders the Philadelphia Museum of Art in a moody eight-minute piece. Filmed in spectacular colour, this companion piece to her first special is one for the ages. The vibrant colours become a metaphor for imagination, inventiveness, fantasy, and sheer brilliance.

In this feature-length film based on the "Flintstones" TV show, secret agent Rock Slag is injured during a chase in Bedrock. Slag's chief decides to replace the injured Slag with Fred Flintstone, who just happens to look like him. The trip takes Fred to Paris and Rome, which is good for Wilma, Barney, and Betty, but can Fred foil the mysterious Green Goose's evil plan for a destructive missile without letting his wife and friends in on his secret?

Matt Helm is called out of retirement to stop the evil Big O organization who plan to explode an atomic bomb over Alamagordo, NM, and start WW III.

A young poet gets the brilliant idea to live in a department store, hiding by day, and courting his muse by night where it's quiet, and he can have all his needs met. But, to his surprise, he learns his brilliant idea's not exactly original; there are other residents who dodge the night watchmen, and who keep their existence secret at all costs. And one of them is a young woman who wants to leave, but is too frightened to go. And Charles finds that he wants to show her the larger world outside.

Down a dusty road in the deep South, wanders a young man, Arlin Grove, with a guitar and his earthly belongings on his back, just released from the U. A. Army, with no place to go. When a Hootenanny comes to town, it just discovered that Arlin not only has an exciting voice, he also is a gifted guitar player. He is soon appearing on the Grand Ole Opry stage in Nashville.

Classic ballet by Kenneth MacMillan to the music of Prokofiev.

In this short animation film the triangle achieves the distinction of principal dancer in a geometric ballet. The triangle is shown splitting into some three hundred transformations, dividing and sub-dividing with grace and symmetry to the music of a waltz. The film's artist and animator is René Jodoin, whose credits include Dance Squared and several collaborations with Norman McLaren.

Belgian nun Sister Ann is sent to another order where she's at first committed to helping troubled souls, like Nichole and little Dominic. When Father Clementi hears Sister Ann's uplifting singing style, he takes her to a talent contest. Sister Ann is signed to a record deal and everyone is listening to her lighthearted songs. She is unprepared for her newfound fame (like appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show) and unwanted side effects, including a wrongful attraction to an old friend.

Johnny is a riverboat entertainer with a big gambling problem. After a fortune-teller tells Johnny how he can change his luck, the appearance of a new 'lady luck' soon causes a cat fight with Johnny's girlfriend, Frankie.

Band singer/race driver Mike McCoy must choose between marrying a beautiful rich girl and driving her father's car in a prestigious race.

Blacklisted by the major airlines for endlessly chasing female staff, pilot Rick Richards returns to Hawaii to set up a helicopter charter company with his friend Danny. Having a girl on every island is a good way to get business but it becomes clear that romance and flying don't always mix.

The film depicts a rehearsal of The Velvet Underground including Nico, and is essentially one long loose improvisation.

A famous jazz trumpeter finds himself unable to cope with the problems of everyday life.

Multi-faceted artist Phil Niblock captures a brief moment of an interstellar communication by the Arkestra in their prime. Black turns white in a so-called negative post-process, while Niblock's camera focuses on microscopic details of hands, bodies and instruments. A brilliant tribute to the Sun King by another brilliant supra-planetary sovereign. (Eye of Sound)

Grev Rambow har mistet sin formue og må nu bo til leje sammen med sine tre døtre, Beate, Marie og Annette. Grevens eneste håb er, at døtrene gifter sig tilbage til fordums rigdom. Så da tre bejlere melder sig, bliver de nøje målt og vejet. Alt går som planlagt, indtil den rige Hertuginde de Groos vil have sit skvat af en søn gift med Beate. Den desperate greve slår straks til. Men Beate er forelsket i en anden, og nu må pigerne stå sammen, så de alle kan få den, de elsker. Det er en sand stjernebesætning, der stiller op til den sang-, sjov- solfyldte ”Tre Små Piger” - baseret på Walter Kollos operette fra 1927. Instruktør Ebbe Langberg har æren af at instruere Poul Bundgaard, Susse Wold, Malene Schwartz, Daimi, Ove Sprogøe, Bodil Udsen, Karl Stegger og ikke mindst sin 26-årige lillebror, Jesper Langberg i en film, der er lige dele underholdende lystspil og imponerende flot udstyrsstykke. Stærke kræfter bag en musikalsk storfilm - på DVD i Nordisk Films 100-års jubilæumsår.

Herbie is a short 16mm black and white film by George Lucas and Paul Golding made in 1966 as part of their USC film school course. It is an abstract film with no story and no actors, that graphically depicts the reflections of moving light streaks and light flashes from traffic at night. It is set to a piece of jazz music by Herbie Hancock, whose first name was used for the title.

Alice returns to Wonderland through the looking glass in this TV musical.

In this hybrid of live-action and stop-motion animation, a young Hans Christian Andersen goes in search of knowledge in the Garden of Paradise in order to make his studies easier. Each time he falls asleep, he experiences in his dreams the different characters he would later write about in fairy tales including The Little Mermaid, Thumbelina and The Emperor's New Clothes.

Follows the life of Hull folk group The Watersons, which is made up of brothers and sisters Michael Waterson, Norma Waterson, Elaine Waterson (more commonly known as Lal Waterson), and their cousin John Harrison, as they spend a large amount of their time on the road in their van travelling between one folk club and the next.

A loose adaptation and parody of the Lewis Carroll tale by Hanna-Barbera Productions. A modern-day teenager doing a book report on Alice is accidentally sucked into her television set and ends up in a wacky version of Wonderland.

The film is made up of one single take. The camera pans to the left, focusing on a dilapidated fence in a rural field, as Ella Fitzgerald's "All My Life" plays on the soundtrack. At the end of the 3 minute film, the camera tilts up to the blue sky just as the song ends.

A prototype of modern music videos, this is an animated film set to the music of two popular tunes recorded by Herb Alpert and his Latin-flavored brass ensemble - "Spanish Flea" and "Tijuana Taxi".

Teenage beach party/spy spoof/musical comedy about a plot to bomb a music fair. As his boss is on vacation, a superspy's butler must come to the rescue, while being pursued by a trio of gorgeous assassins who're agents of F.L.U.S.H. Features George Barris hotrods, along with the musical talents of Gary Lewis and the Playboys, The Astronauts, The Knickerbockers, Freddy and the Dreamers, and the only film appearance of The Turtles.

Cliff Richard and the Shadows arrive in a small Spanish town for a concert when a U.S. plane accidentally drops a mini-bomb on it. The Shadows look for the bomb to return it.

The Anthony Newley/Leslie Bricusse London and Broadway musical hit Stop the World, I Want to Get Off is given literal treatment in this filmization. Newley stars as Littlechap, whose allegorical rise to success is countered by the instability of his private life. Like the play, the film is staged impressionistically, with Newley decked out in mime makeup and periodically stopping the action to address the audience, and with all the women in his life -- German, American and "Typically English" -- played by a single actress (Millicent Martin, taking over from the stage version's Anna Quayle). In Wizard of Oz fashion, the play itself is lensed in color, while the brief prologue, showing the actors preparing for their performance, is in black-and-white. The production includes such standards (and perennial audition pieces) as What Kind of Fool Am I? and Gonna Build a Mountain.

A version of Benjamin Britten's opera based on the Melville story. Will the virtuous young sailor Billy Budd be hanged for murder?

Jazz Pianist on the Creative Process & Self-Teaching. Here is the late, brilliantly original jazz pianist in intense conversation with his composer brother, Harry, on the nature of creativity in jazz. Occasionally, they stroll to the piano for a musical illustration (Evans play splendidly).

Carol + 2 was the title of the second of a multi-year series of television variety specials starring Carol Burnett which aired on the CBS Television network in the United States between 1962 and 1989. The first special was produced in 1962, featuring Burnett and Julie Andrews. Carol + 2 premiered on March 22, 1966, with Carol joined by actor Zero Mostel and the legendary Lucille Ball. The program was such a critical and ratings success that CBS rebroadcast it on January 15, 1967.

The infamous "Black Suits Concert," shot in Tokyo on 30 June 1966, featuring an uncharacteristically poor performance from The Beatles. The group's performance and demeanor was much improved for the following day's show, also videotaped by NHK. Songs include: "Paperback Writer," "Day Tripper," "Yesterday," and more.

The Eurovision Song Contest 1966 was the 11th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Télédiffusion (CLT), the contest was held at the Villa Louvigny on Saturday 5 March 1966 and was hosted by Luxembourgish television presenter Josiane Chen.

Live performances by some of the top rock-and-roll acts of the mid 60s. Includes Ray Charles, The Byrds, Joan Baez, Ike and Tina Turner, Donovan, The Lovin' Spoonful, and several more.

In this musical gem, big-hearted Jubal Bristol (Arnold Stang) takes it upon himself to mount a country and western benefit concert after the opera company that his wife (Pamela Hayes) booked suddenly backs out. Along with country icons Minnie Pearl, Dottie West, Connie Smith and Faron Young, the film features great tunes such as "Born to Lose," "Abilene" and "Young Love." Huntz Hall and Leo Gorcey (of Bowery Boys fame) portray stagehands.

A young man of modest means romances a spoiled rich girl at the behest of her father. Complications, sparks and romance ensue.

A boy makes a reckless wish, and everybody in the world stops moving. A wizard's daughter tries to help him get the world restarted again.

The Beatles' second videotaped concert at the Budokan Hall, Tokyo, shot on July 1, 1966. The group, wearing powder blue pinstriped suits, turns in a powerful performance; their final professionally recorded concert until their 1969 "rooftop" session. The Beatles' performance is preceded by that of the local Tokyo opening acts, Yuya Uchida, Isao Bito, The Blue Jeans and Jackie Yoshikawa and His Blue Comets. Songs include Rock and Roll Music, She's a Woman, If I Needed Someone, Day Tripper, Baby's in Black, I Feel Fine, Yesterday, I Wanna Be Your Man, Nowhere Man, Paperback Writer and I'm Down.

A singer determined to make it in country-western music lets nothing stand in his way, including stealing. The girl who loves him and a female preacher try to straighten him out and help him make it legitimately.

Low-budget beach party rip-off relocated to the slopes, with the plot of Taming of the Shrew loosely pasted on and with beats by the Beau Brummels.

Born into an impoverished family in a Southern community of tobacco growers, Nadine Bolton (Rachel Romen) tries to escape from the only life she knows. But her abundance of persistent and shiftless boyfriends makes that endeavor difficult. When an escaped convict arrives on the scene, however, everything changes. Singing cowboy Tex Ritter plays Nadine's father, Preacher Bolton. Ron and June Ormond produced this drive-in staple.

Alawi is a theater director, who lives an unstable family life, as his wife does not understand the nature of his profession, and seems very jealous over him, as it does not lead him to the requirements of the home as he likes, which causes Alawi to spend most of his time outside the home, while during his discharge he plays one of the plays invading Dosa, Which finds her innocence something different from his wife, and feelings of love grow between the two, the wife knows about the relationship, so she requests a divorce, and the women crowd with him after separating from his wife.

A Hillbilly hits the big time in Las Vegas.

This film captures a bit of their environment, which includes the Lower East Side, the Waldorf Astoria, the MacDougal Street scene, police harassment, show biz, humanity, their audiences and the film-maker.

Some of the problems facing Giuseppi are juxtaposed with his music, Satan's Dance. The pictures depict the opposite view which is fortuitously any sunny day in the park with his wife and son. The joy of the boy is the inspiration of the father. A straight-forward, simple documentary.

Documentary/performance-film hybrid about the famed music scene in Nashville. Features performances from many stars of the day.

Velvet Underground's first public appearance.

The Bonanza star hosts this yuletide half-hour with the UNICEF Children's Choir on their imaginary trip to the Charles Dickens-era of England.

The film depicts a rehearsal of The Velvet Underground and Nico at the Factory, 231 East 47th St., (loft on 4th floor), New York City. It is essentially a one long loose improvisation including some private conversations and a brief visit from the NYPD.

An ex-GI returns home from overseas and tries to take up where he left off with his family and friends.

Combining the forces of two of the 20th century's greatest musicians - Yehudi Menuhin and Herbert von Karajan in their only recorded performance together - this magnificent programme marks a high point in filmed classical music, directed by master filmmaker and long-time Karajan collaborator Henri-Georges Clouzot. Herbert von Karajan conducts the Wiener Symphoniker and the Berliner Philharmoniker in performances of Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 5, and Dvorak's Symphony No. 9, filmed in 1966 by film director Henry-Georges Clouzot.