Ethel Merman Movies

Judy Garland: Duets collects several television appearances by the singer in which she performs with fellow celebrities. The release includes collaborations with Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Bobby Darin, and Lena Horne. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

Sinatra: The Classic Duets features the beloved crooner singing with a variety of other famous performers including Louis Armstrong, Elvis Presley, and Ethel Merman, as well as his daughter Nancy Sinatra. Also featured are numbers with his old Rat Pack buddies Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. Among the songs performed are "You Make Me Feel So Young," "Me and My Shadow," "High Hopes," "Nice Work If You Can Get It," and over a dozen more. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

This performance video is a tribute to the American musical theatre. Includes a collection of memorable songs from various Broadway shows. ~ Rovi

This spoof of the Airport series of disaster movies relies on ridiculous sight gags, groan-inducing dialogue, and deadpan acting -- a comedy style that would be imitated for the next 20 years. Airplane! pulls out all the clichés as alcoholic pilot Ted Striker (Robert Hays), who's developed a fear of flying due to wartime trauma, boards a jumbo jet in an attempt to woo back his stewardess girlfriend (Julie Hagerty). Food poisoning decimates the passengers and crew, leaving it up to Striker to land the plane, with the help of a glue-sniffing air traffic controller (Lloyd Bridges) and Striker's vengeful former captain (Robert Stack), who must both talk him down. Along the way, we meet a clutch of stock disaster movie passengers like the guitar-strumming nun, a sick little girl, a frightened old lady, and two African-American travelers whose "jive" has to be subtitled. Leslie Nielsen portrays the plane's doctor, launching a new phase of the actor's career that carried him through the next two decades in several similarly comedic roles. The trio of directors Jim Abrahams, Jerry Zucker, and David Zucker responsible for the film would eventually go on to solo careers, but not before making Top Secret! and Ruthless People. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

In this animated follow-up to the classic fantasy The Wizard Of Oz, Dorothy (voiced by Liza Minnelli, whose mother Judy Garland played the same role in the 1939 film) decides to return to the land of Oz to pay a visit to her good friend The Scarecrow (voice of Mickey Rooney). However, shortly after her arrival Dorothy discovers all is not well in the land of magic; the evil witch Mombi (voice of Ethel Merman) has arrived to pick up where the Wicked Witch of the West left off, and is using her sinister powers to rob Scarecrow of her powers. Dorothy realizes it's up to her to save Oz from Mombi's machinations, and she teams up with Woodenhead (voice of Herschel Bernardi) and Pumpkinhead (voice of Paul Lynde) to see justice done. Produced in 1964 but not released until 1971, Journey Back To Oz also features the voice talents of Milton Berle, Danny Thomas, Paul Ford and Margaret Hamilton. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Two bohemians come up with a get-rich-quick scheme that goes awray in this comedy scripted by Carl Reiner. Paul (Dick Van Dyke and Casey (James Garner) are two American expatriates living in Paris; Paul is an artist and Casey a writer. Both have been trying to make a career, but with little success; Paul's girlfriend Nikki (Angie Dickinson), who is still in America, believes in his work and pays his rent. But Paul has reached the end of his tether and wants to go back home; Casey is horrified at the prospect of losing a rent-free home, so he comes up with an idea to help Paul's career and make some money. Since works by dead artists tend to fetch higher price tags and command more interest than work by living painters, Paul will fake his death with Casey's help and they'll both clean up. The plan works at first, until Casey finds he's been accused of murdering Paul. Ethel Merman has a supporting role as a madam with a habit of bursting into song. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In the conclusion of a two-part story, Broadway legend Ethel Merman has agreed to perform in the Boy Scout variety show. Eagerly looking forward to sharing the stage with La Merman, Lucy (Lucille Ball) and Viv (Vivian Vance) are crestfallen when their Boy Scout sons arrange for the two ladies to remain offstage as wardrobe mistresses. Suffice to say that everyone--even Mr. Mooney (Gale Gordon!--gets into the act before the final curtain. Ethel Merman sings "Everything's Coming Up Roses", Vivian Vance performs "On the Good Ship Lollipop", Gale Gordon warbles "Tiptoe Thru the Tulips", and the whole cast joins in for the finale, "There's No Business Like Show Business". ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

With this all-star Cinerama epic, producer/director Stanley Kramer vowed to make "the comedy that would end all comedies." The story begins during a massive traffic jam, caused by reckless driver Smiler Grogan (Jimmy Durante), who, before (literally) kicking the bucket, cryptically tells the assembled drivers that he's buried a fortune in stolen loot, "under the Big W." The various motorists setting out on a mad scramble include a dentist (Sid Caesar) and his wife (Edie Adams); a henpecked husband (Milton Berle) accompanied by his mother-in-law (Ethel Merman) and his beatnik brother-in-law (Dick Shawn); a pair of comedy writers (Buddy Hackett and Mickey Rooney); and a variety of assorted nuts including a slow-wit (Jonathan Winters), a wheeler-dealer (Phil Silvers), and a pair of covetous cabdrivers (Peter Falk and Eddie "Rochester" Anderson). Monitoring every move that the fortune hunters make is a scrupulously honest police detective (Spencer Tracy). Virtually every lead, supporting, and bit part in the picture is filled by a well-known comic actor: the laughspinning lineup also includes Carl Reiner, Terry-Thomas, Arnold Stang, Buster Keaton, Jack Benny, Jerry Lewis, and The Three Stooges, who get one of the picture's biggest laughs by standing stock still and uttering not a word. Two prominent comedians are conspicuous by their absence: Groucho Marx refused to appear when Kramer couldn't meet his price, while Stan Laurel declined because he felt he was too old-looking to be funny. Available for years in its 154-minute general release version, the film was restored to its roadshow length of 175 minutes on home video; the search goes on for a missing Buster Keaton routine, reportedly excised on the eve of the picture's premiere. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Francis Albert Sinatra (1915-1998) went a long way for a kid from Hoboken, NJ. He became one of the world's most admired singers, a recording star, a radio star, and an Academy Award-winning actor. Part of a ten-tape collection, this program features the television guest appearance of famed Broadway diva Ethel Merman on The Frank Sinatra Show, his Friday night ABC musical variety series that ran just a single season in 1957-1958. ~ Steve Blackburn, Rovi

This 1953 television special was produced in celebration of the 50th birthday of Ford Motor Corporation and brought together two dissimilar vocalists, Mary Martin and Ethel Merman in one rare performance together. ~ Cammila Collar, Rovi