The following listing (in multiple parts) was an attempt to compile a collection of many of the greatest song and dance moments in film history. Though the list appears to be dominated by musicals, other genres were examined and included.

Those that are exceptional examples of the development of song/dance are marked with this symbol:

AFI's 25 Greatest Movie Musicals of All Time are marked with an icon and their ranking number (#)

Another point of reference for this kind of material may be found in the AFI's selections of 100 Years...100 Songs and in this site's genre writeup of "Musical Films".

Gilda (1946)

Gimme Shelter (1970)

The Maysles Brother's haunting concert documentary film covered the 1969 British rockers' Rolling Stones tour that captured the stabbing to death on December 6th of black fan Meredith Hunter (who waved a gun) by Hell's Angels "security" (who were paid with beer) at Altamont Speedway during the Altamont Free Concert, when the Stones were playing Under My Thumb; includes performances of the best-known Rolling Stones songs including Satisfaction, Jumping Jack Flash, Brown Sugar, Honky Tonk Women, Sympathy for the Devil and Gimme Shelter, among others; one section of the film showed the Stones (Mick Jagger) watching film of the events.

Girl Crazy (1943)

This MGM musical adapted from the Broadway hit, by director Norman Taurog, was the best (and last that co-starred the pair) of the Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland feature "let's put on a show" musicals (this was their eighth film together); the film reprised Gershwin songs of the 30s and early 40s (played by the Tommy Dorsey Band); it featured Rooney (as New York playboy Danny Churchill, Jr. at a college in Cody, Wyoming) and Garland (as Ginger Gray) singing I've Got Rhythm (pictured) (directed by Busby Berkeley) in fringed white buckskin in the giant-scale western rodeo finale, the full-scale production number Embraceable You (pictured) with Garland surrounded by white-tuxedoed singers, Garland's heart-rending solo But Not For Me (pictured), and a young June Allyson singing Treat Me Rough (with Rooney).

Godspell (1973)

This off-Broadway hit of the early 70s was adapted for the screen - it was a fresh and innovative musical representation of the gospel of Matthew set in modern-day NY, with its astonishing extreme long shots used in All For the Best, including the climactic dance atop one of the World Trade Center towers (given an added poignant subtext after the 9/11 Tragedy); Lynne Thigpen (in her film debut) belted-out the Psalm 103-derived Bless the Lord in the Central Park Theatre in front of silver mylar curtains; the defiant Alas For You, in which Manhattan hippie Jesus (Victor Garber in his film debut) with mime makeup bitterly argued with a hypocritical Pharisee (voice of John-Michael Tebelak); the popular Day by Day as the disciples (a roving acting troupe) removed their makeup/face paint; the sorrowful On the Willows as Jesus left after the Last Supper; also the scene of Jesus' stylized rock 'n roll death in the Finale as his followers empathically felt his pain ("Oh, God, I'm dying...!" "Oh, God, you're dying...!") as they writhed in agony on a chain link fence, and the magical ending in which the disciples carried Jesus' crucified body aloft while singing Day by Day and Prepare Ye (reprised), turned a corner on the streets of NY, and the once-vacant city sprang to life again.

Going My Way (1944)

This Best Picture-winning sentimental comedy/drama featured Oscar-winning crooner Bing Crosby as a young priest (Father Charles Francis Patrick O'Malley) who revitalized St. Dominic's parish and its elderly Irish priest (Father Fitzgibbon portrayed by Barry Fitzgerald), with Crosby's famous upbeat performance of Academy Award-winning Best Song Swinging on a Star.

The Gold Diggers of Broadway (1929)

One of the earliest, most successful, and most ambitious Warners' musicals using the Vitaphone process, this two-toned Technicolor film (touted as a "talking and singing natural color picture") was the first of the talkie "Gold Digger" films (although it was a remake of the silent film Gold Diggers (1923) - based on the 1919 hit play), and the second all-color talkie; it featured Nick Lucas' (as Himself) music, including the first rendition of Tip-Toe Thru' the Tulips, as well as the elaborate production number Painting the Clouds with Sunshine, and In a Kitchenette; it also featured Mechanical Man sung by Winnie Lightner; only portions of this landmark film now exist.

Gold Diggers in Paris (1938)

The dance productions in this Warner Brothers picture were staged by Busby Berkeley, but they were less memorable set-pieces due to slashed budgets - this was the last "Gold Digger" film; the musical numbers were sung by radio star and crooner Rudy Vallee (Vallee replaced Dick Powell, who turned down reprising his role) who fondly impersonated Maurice Chevalier and FDR; songs included the memorable I Wanna Go Back to Bali, Day Dreaming All Night Long (sung with Rosemary Lane), and The Latin Quarter dance number.

Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)

This was the biggest and most dazzling of the "Gold Digger" films and featured more extravagant Busby Berkeley numbers - this was the second Warner Bros. backstage musical of 1933 - it included the following numbers:
(1) the opening number We're In the Money, with massive money-related sets and over-sized coins (and featuring Ginger Rogers as chorine Fay Fortune in a glittering coin-covered costume, who famously launched into what Pauline Kael called 'Pig Latin' -- just undecipherable nonsense syllables set to the music that was a fad at the time) - this was the first of several melodies penned by Al Dubin and Harry Warren
(2) also the pre-Code, slightly risque and crude production number Pettin' in the Park was set in an outdoor park and featured a leering baby spying on them and viewing rainstorm-drenched chorus girls undressing in silhouette behind semi-transparent screens
(3) the exquisitely-choreographed The Shadow Waltz (with white violins illuminated by neon tubing) featured kaleidoscopic patterns and glow-in-the-dark patterns of the platinum-blonde dancing girls
(4) and the most-remembered, show-stopping song Remember My Forgotten Man - it provided commentary about poverty-stricken veterans suffering from the Depression (and seen marching in silhouette on a half-wheel) - the number was introduced by Joan Blondell as a streetwalking prostitute under a street lamppost.

Gold Diggers of 1935 (1935)

The two major production numbers in this film from choreographer-director Busby Berkeley, considered his best work, were the following:
(1) a moonlight ride in a motorboat, while the tune The Words Are in My Heart was sung by Dick Powell (as New England summer hotel clerk Dick Curtis) to Gloria Stuart (as millionairess' shy daughter Ann Prentiss) - the number featured 56 mostly-blonde evening-gowned chorines pretending to 'play' waltzing/dancing white baby-grand pianos (the lightweight piano shells were moved around by black-clad men manuevering the pianos on their backs while following tape markings on the shiny black floor) that formed geometric arrangements and ultimately came together to form one giant piano top
(2) and the inventive, show-stopping, tap-dancing climactic finale The Lullaby of Broadway - a film within a film - and a day in the life of the Great White Way of New York, with its opening shot (in a dark frame) of a lit, approaching, disembodied, singing, and upturned face (singer Wini Shaw's face) followed by a famous dissolve (into an aerial shot of Manhattan) - and then telling a mordant and cautionary tale of life (and death by falling from a skyscraper balcony) in the hedonistic night-time city.

Gold Diggers of 1937 (1936)