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".

The Lemon Drop Kid (1951)

This early 50's Paramount film with Bob Hope (as the title character named Sidney Milburn, a small-time racetrack hustler) was most notable for Marilyn Maxwell's debut singing of the enduring Yuletide hit ballad Silver Bells ("Silver Bells, Silver Bells, It's Christmas time in the city, Ring-a-ling, hear them sing, Soon it will be Christmas day...") (first sung in the film by William Frawley, better known in the I Love Lucy TV show), with words and music by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans.

Let It Be (1970)

This biopic documentary was originally made to show the 'live' making of the Beatles' next album Let It Be in early 1969 in the studio, but became more of a record of their contentious friction and impending breakup; the film included their studio performances of Let It Be and Two of Us, and the sad The Long and Winding Road with singer Paul McCartney's beseeching, moving look toward the camera at the conclusion: "Don't leave me standing here, lead me to your door..."; it also poignantly captured the final public appearance of the band in their archetypal live, mid-day rooftop concert performance at their Abbey Road studio (concluding with Get Back) with the crowd below on the sidewalk and the ensuing traffic jam.

Let's Make Love (1960)

(Monty Python's) Life of Brian (1979)

This Terry Jones-directed irreverent satire of religious films and religious intolerance featured the incongruously upbeat song (Always Look on the) Bright Side of Life that was performed during reluctant Messiah Brian's (Graham Chapman) crucifixion that ended the film.

Lili (1953)

The Lion King (1994)

The Little Colonel (1935)
and
The Littlest Rebel (1935)

The Little Mermaid (1989)

Little Miss Broadway (1938)

Little Shop of Horrors (1986)

This satirical musical film, based upon Roger Corman's 1960 classic B-film black comedy of the same name and the off-Broadway stage hit musical in the early 80s, told about a timid florist shop clerk named Seymour Krelborn (Rick Moranis) who discovered a carnivorous (and singing) venus flytrap plant from outerspace named Audrey II; the film featured a trio of doo-wop singers (a girl group "Greek Chorus" comprised of Michelle Weeks, Tichina Arnold and Tisha Campbell) who sang the title song Little Shop of Horrors (pictured) and later The Meek Shall Inherit; one of the funniest numbers was Steve Martin's (as sadistic dentist Orin Scrivello) Elvis-like performance of Dentist! (pictured); also included was the the show-stopping rock-bop tune Downtown (Skid Row) (pictured) sung by the cast - the entire neighborhood of bums, drunks, prostitutes, and lower class apartment dwellers, and Seymour's heart-felt plea to his new-found plant Grow for Me; there were three great songs by the giant Audrey II (voice of The Four Tops' Levi Stubbs) - Feed Me!, Suppertime and the Oscar-nominated song specially made for the film -- the show-stopping Mean Green Mother From Outer Space (pictured). [Preview audiences did not like the nihilistic, downbeat conclusion of the original version of the film (a 23-minute alternate ending) - so the ending was re-shot to include the death of Audrey II and an upbeat 'Sandra Dee' ending, rather than keeping Audrey II's eating of Seymour and takeover of Earth. Three songs were eliminated by the reshoot: Audrey's tearjerking dying reprise of Somewhere That's Green, the Greek Chorus' foreboding Subsequently, and the awe-inspiring finale Don't Feed the Plants, as giant Audrey II's conquered the Earth.]

Love Actually (2003)

Love Me Tonight (1932)

This innovative musical masterpiece from Paramount and director Rouben Mamoulian, that set the pattern for future integrated musicals, starred Maurice Chevalier (as Parisian tailor mistaken for a baron Maurice Courtelin) and Jeanette MacDonald (as melancholy and frustrated noblewoman Princess Jeanette), with their classic rendition of Isn't it Romantic? (pictured) - the catchy tune was passed through time and space and linked together by different characters (a taxi driver, a composer, marching soldiers, a gypsy violinist) - from hero Chevalier's apartment to heroine MacDonald in her castle; other songs included the lilting Rodgers and Hart tune Lover (sung by MacDonald in her carriage), and Chevalier's trademark song Mimi.