Gene Kelly in Singin' in the Rain. Image courtesy of MGM / THE KOBAL COLLECTION

Film Society of Lincoln Center has announced our Family Films for July and August, a lineup celebrating legendary hoofer Gene Kelly! These upcoming films will feature Kelly's work with some of his greatest collaborators—like Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, and Vincente Minnelli—one of his few forays into non-musical drama, as well as his very first film performance. 

But first, a bit of rescheduling. Because we had to cancel our screenings of it last month, July will begin with the Disney's follow up to Fantasia, the animated Make Mine Music, featuring music ranging from Benny Goodman and Dinah Shore to Prokofiev.

Our Gene Kelly series will then start off with Busby Berkley's Take Me Out to the Ball Game, starring Kelly and Frank Sinatra as off-season baseball players wooing a non-swimming Esther Williams. The film features choreography by Kelly and Stanley Donen, who would go on to collaborate on the classics On the Town and Singin' in the Rainboth of which are also screening.


Lana Turner and Gene Kelly in The Three Musketeers. Image courtesy of MGM / THE KOBAL COLLECTION

Other highlights include a pair of swashbucklers: The Three Musketeers and The Pirate. Kelly himself counted The Three Musketeers—featuring such co-stars as Vincent Price, Lana Turner, June Allyson, and Angela Lansbury—as his favorite of his non-musical films. The Pirate, released the same year, is a return to the movie musical with three-time collaborator Judy Garland, Vincente Minnelli (another three-time collaborator, with whom he made An American in Paris and August entry Brigadoon), and a clever Cole Porter score.

Tickets are now on sale and, as always, they are just $6… for everyone! Don't miss out on some of the most charming films classic Hollywood has to offer.

Make Mine Music (1946) 75m
Director: Bob Cormack
Country: USA
Disney’s follow-up to Fantasia combines shorts set to the popular music of the time: Benny Goodman, Dinah Shore and Prokofiev's “Peter and the Wolf,” among others. From ballet to baseball, dancing hat racks to singing whales, there is something for everyone. Ages 6+
July 6 at 2:00pm
July 7 at 2:00pm

Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1949) 93m
Director: Busby Berkeley
Country: USA
Kelly and Frank Sinatra are baseball players who work off-season as song-and-dance men and fall hard for the team’s new owner (Esther Williams) in this wildly popular Busby Berkeley musical (featuring choreography by Kelly and Stanley Donen).
July 13 at 2:00pm
July 14 at 2:00pm

For Me and My Gal (1942) 104m
Director: Busby Berkeley
Country: USA
Kelly made his screen debut alongside Judy Garland (in her first adult role) in this rousing celebration of vaudeville and USO troopers, cited by legendary director-choreographer Berkeley as his favorite film.
July 20 at 2:00pm 
July 21 at 2:00pm

Brigadoon (1954) 108m
Director: Vincente Minnelli
Country: USA
A charming CinemaScope musical set in Scotland, shot in an MGM studio, choreographed by Kelly, and adapted from the Lerner & Loewe Broadway hit about an enchanted 18th-century village that reawakens annually for only one day.
August 3 at 2:00pm 
August 4 at 2:00pm

On the Town (1949) 98m
Directors: Gene Kelly & Stanley Donen
Country: USA
The Bronx is up and the Battery’s down in this first directorial collaboration between Kelly and Stanley Donen, notable for its extensive location filming, stunning use of modern dance techniques, and seamless integration of musical numbers.
August 10 at 2:00pm
August 11 at 2:00pm

The Three Musketeers (1948) 125m
Director: George Sidney
Country: USA
Kelly is D’Artagnan opposite Van Heflin’s Athos, Vincent Price’s Richelieu, Angela Lansbury’s Queen Anne and Lana Turner’s Lady de Winter in director Sidney’s rousing version of the Dumas swashbuckler.
August 17 at 2:00pm
August 18 at 2:00pm

The Pirate (1948) 102m
Director: Vincente Minnelli
Country: USA
Pretty Caribbean islander Judy Garland dreams up a famous pirate, and an actor on tour (Gene Kelly) pretends to be the notorious buccaneer in this sumptuously costumed and choreographed circus of Cole Porter numbers based on an S.N. Bherman play.
August 24 at 2:00pm
August 25 at 2:00pm

Singin’ in the Rain (1952) 102m
Director: Stanley Donen
Country: USA
This beloved musical, which tells the story of the arrival of sound to the big screen, is widely considered the best and most enjoyable in its genre for its combination of comical humor, engaging performances and sparkling choreography.
August 31 at 2:00pm
September 1 at 2:00pm
September 2 at 2:00pm