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".

Pin-Up Girl (1944)

During the early 40s (the war years), one of the most popular stars at the film box-office was 20 Century Fox's' 'pin-up girl' with her famous long-legged gams -- Betty Grable -- who starred in a number of entertaining but mindless musicals such as this one (named to take advantage of her status) - one of the most lightweight of her many starring vehicles; she took the role of canteen lady Lorry Jones who passed out autographed pin-up photos to the soldiers; one of her songs in this film was You're My Little Pin-Up Girl (pictured).

The Pirate (1948)

Director Vincente Minnelli's and MGM's musical romance with a Cole Porter score, adapted from S.N. Behrman's 1942 play (starring the sophisticated acting team of Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne) set in 1830s West Indies, told about notorious 'pirate' or 'sea wolf' Mack the Black (or Macoco) - a strolling actor named Serafin (Gene Kelly) (played as swashbuckling Douglas Fairbanks or Errol Flynn with a mustache and black hair) who fooled naive and moony Caribbean girl Manuela (Judy Garland) into believing that she had to 'sacrifice' herself; it was the only Garland MGM film that lost money; it featured the famous tune in the final number Be a Clown (pictured) - reprised in a song-and-dance number by Kelly and Garland in clown makeup and earlier acrobatically danced with the Nicholas Brothers, and Kelly's splendid rumba-rhythmed opening debonair number Nina in which he danced with various senioritas; the other Porter songs performed by Garland and cast included the ballet Mack the Black (pictured), You Can Do No Wrong and Love Of My Life.

Pocahontas (1995)

This under-rated Disney animated feature film (its first one to highlight an actual historical figure) with Alan Menken/Stephen Schwartz musical production numbers (with Academy Awards for Best Song and Score), included the dramatic, show-stopping, imaginative and poignant Oscar-winning number Colors of the Wind sung by Pocahontas (voice of Irene Bedard, singing voice of Broadway star Judy Kuhn) to Captain John Smith (voice of Mel Gibson), to show him the ways of her naturalistic world in the forest; Pocahontas also sang Just Around the Riverbend.

Poor Little Rich Girl (1936)

Fox Studios' greatest moneymaker in the 30s was young Shirley Temple; in this film (loosely based on the 1917 silent feature of the same name with Mary Pickford) with music and lyrics by Mack Gordon and Harry Revel, Shirley (as Barbara Barry) performed an intricate military tap routine in uniform to Military Man (pictured) in the song-and-dance finale with Alice Faye and Jack Haley (who starred as unemployed vaudeville entertainers); she also joined with them for You Gotta Eat Your Spinach, Baby and was featured in the solo Oh, My Goodness (pictured) (sung to her dolls at bedtime): ("I wanna make mud pies, In fact I'd like to be a mess, I wanna make mud pies I know that I'd find happiness...").

Porgy and Bess (1959)

Postcards From the Edge (1990)

In this Mike Nichols' film, cocaine-addicted film actress/daughter Suzanne Vale (Meryl Streep) gave a rousing performance of the Oscar-nominated country-western song I'm Checking Out (by Shel Silverstein) during the end credits; there's also the scene of her heavy-drinking star mother Doris Mann's (Shirley MacLaine) sexily exuberant cabaret-style performance of the Sondheim song I'm Still Here following Suzanne's own sheepish rendition of You Don't Know Me.

The Producers (1968)

Pulp Fiction (1994)

Director Quentin Tarantino's Oscar-winning independent film was capped by the famous dance scene at the Jack Rabbit Slim restaurant (with a 50s retro atmosphere) in which mob strongman Vincent Vega (John Travolta) danced with the mob boss' moll Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman) - they entered the Twist dance contest in which they danced to Chuck Berry's You Never Can Tell, as Vincent attempted to recreate the Batusi (made famous by Adam West in the campy mid-1960's television show Batman), by making a horizontal V-sign with his index and middle fingers of both hands, and drawing them across in front of his eyes, one hand at a time, with the eyes roughly between the fingers.

Purple Rain (1984)

This electrifying semi-autobiographical rock musical drama/concert film starred pop singer Prince as The Kid, who performed such classic rock songs in the soundtrack, such as Let's Go Crazy, When Doves Cry, and the title track Purple Rain.

Radio Days (1987)

There were many nostalgic 30's and 40's hit standards (such as In the Mood and That Old Feeling) sung and danced to by radio personalities and heard in the lives of Rockaway Beach New Yorkers in the early 40s in this Woody Allen film; in one scene, Aunt Ciel (Renée Lippin) pretended she was Carmen Miranda as South American Way played on the radio; at the film's end, Diane Keaton also performed Cole Porter's You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To.