Easter Parade

"The Happiest Musical Ever Made is..."

1948 1h 43m EN

👍

7.0

SOLID

🔥

91%

CERTIFIED FRESH

⭐

7.3

IMDB

★7.0TMDB · 157🍅91%Rotten Tomatoes★7.3IMDB · 12,184

RomanceMusic

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

On the day before Easter in 1911, Don Hewes is crushed when his dancing partner (and object of affection) Nadine Hale refuses to start a new contract with him. To prove Nadine's not important to him, Don acquires innocent new protege Hannah Brown, vowing to make her a star in time for next year's Easter parade.

“The Happiest Musical Ever Made is...”

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Cast

Judy Garland
Hannah Brown
Fred Astaire
Don Hewes
Peter Lawford
Jonathan Harrow III
Ann Miller
Nadine Hale
Jules Munshin
François
Clinton Sundberg
Mike
Richard Beavers
Singer
Lola Albright
Hat Model / Showgirl (uncredited)

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Charles Walters
Writers: Sidney Sheldon, Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett
Languages: English, French, Italian
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

78 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 3 languages: English, French, Italian.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Charles Walters, shot by Harry Stradling Sr.. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Irving Berlin. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Albert Akst shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Judy Garland and Fred Astaire and Peter Lawford carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "The Happiest Musical Ever Made is...".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0040308 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Charles Walters directs. Harry Stradling Sr. behind the camera. Irving Berlin scores. Albert Akst cuts. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English, French, Italian.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

178 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
2Dialogue crosses 3 languages: English, French, Italian.
3Directed by Charles Walters, shot by Harry Stradling Sr.. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Irving Berlin. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Albert Akst shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Judy Garland and Fred Astaire and Peter Lawford carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "The Happiest Musical Ever Made is...".
8IMDB entry: tt0040308 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 9 themes, including "show business", "musical", "man woman relationship", "stage show".
10Released under 35 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Harry Stradling Sr.
Original score: Irving Berlin
Editing: Albert Akst
Costume design: Irene
Makeup / hair: Sydney Guilaroff
Runtime: 103 min · 1h 43m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: Easter Parade (1948)
Rotten Tomatoes: 91% 🍅 Fresh
IMDB rating: 7.3/10 · 12,184 votes
MPAA: Approved

Awards

Won 1 Oscar. 5 wins total

Academy Award for Best Original Musical Score

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Charles Walters

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

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Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2024-12-26
★ 7/10
After he's left a bit high and dry by his established partner "Nadine" (Ann Miller), acclaimed song and dance man "Hewes" (Fred Astaire) makes a rather drunken promise to their pal "Jonathan" (Peter Lawford) that her replacements are ten-a-penny. The words are barely out of his mouth when he encounters "Hannah" (Judy Garland) who's making $15 a week as a dancer on the stage in a club. She has potential, thinks he, and so he ups her wages a bit and invites her to train with him. From here on in, this plot is fairly predictable so don't expect anything remotely left-field. What we do get, though, is a classy and charming romance that's peppered with half a dozen energetically choreographed routines that prove quite a feat for a woman usually wearing six-inch heels and an ankle-length skirt! Obviously, everyone does their own singing - to the likes of Irving Berlin's "It Only Happens When I Dance With You"; "A Couple of Swells" and the title track and these songs showcase not just the powerful voice of Garland, but also of the fainter but equally soothing dulcets of the dapper Astaire too. Lawford doesn't really trouble the scorers but does enough and Miller plays the increasingly irked "Nadine' - "Shakin' the Blues Away", quite entertainingly as the film gathers pace. It's precision film-making at it's most natural, is colourful, lively, occasionally quite pithily written and well worth a watch.

Production companies