Best movies like Piccolo, Saxo & Cie

In the Swedish city of Lethe, people from different walks of life take part in a series of short, deadpan vignettes that rush past. Some are just seconds long, none longer than a couple of minutes. A young woman (Jessica Lundberg) remembers a fantasy honeymoon with a rock guitarist. A man awakes from a dream about bomber planes. A businessman boasts about success while being robbed by a pickpocket and so on. The absurdist collection is accompanied by Dixieland jazz and similar music.

A band-leader has arranged seven chairs for the members of his band. When he sits down in the first chair, a cymbal player appears in the same chair, then rises and sits in the next chair. As the cymbal player sits down, a drummer appears in the second chair, and then likewise moves on to the third chair. In this way, an entire band is soon formed, and is then ready to perform.

Connie Ward is in seventh heaven when Gene Morrison's band rolls into town. She is swept off her feet by trumpeter Bill Abbot. After marrying him, she joins the band's tour and learns about life as an orchestra wife, weathering the catty attacks of the other band wives.

A bandleader, desperate to get his band's instruments out of hock, promises the pawnshop clerk--an aspiring songwriter--that he'll let the band's female singer do the clerk's songs at a local club if he will let the band "borrow" their instruments at night. The clerk's girlfriend, however, thinks that the band singer is after more than her boyfriend's songs.

A young Irishwoman comes to the United States to live and work with her mother as a cleaning lady at Carnegie Hall. She becomes attached to the place as the people she meets there gradually shape her life. The film also includes a variety of performances from some of the foremost musical artists of the times: conductors Bruno Walter & Leopold Stokowski, solists Arthur Rubinstein & Jascha Haifetz, singers Lily Pons & Jan Peerce and bandleader Vaughn Monroe among many others.

Tom enters from stage left in white tie and tails, sits at the piano, gets his focus as the orchestra in the pit beneath him warms up, and begins to play Liszt's "Hungarian Rhapsody". Unbeknownst to Tom and the audience, Jerry is asleep across several of the high-note keys inside the instrument, so Tom's playing eventually wakes him. Jerry is pummeled by hammers, bounced by wires, and squeezed by Tom as the cat tries to play the concerto while dispensing with Jerry. Jerry's defensive antics add to the brio of the program and answer Tom with Jerry's own skillful musical attack. By the concerto's end, the duet leaves only one animal standing for the audience's applause.

Blending lively music and brilliant animation, this sequel to the original 'Fantasia' restores 'The Sorcerer's Apprentice' and adds seven new shorts.

On another planet in the distant past, a Gelfling embarks on a quest to find the missing shard of a magical crystal and restore order to his world, before the grotesque race of Skeksis find and use the crystal for evil.

A comedy that follows the chaos that ensues when a meteor hits the Earth carrying alien life forms that give new meaning to the term "survival of the fittest." David Duchovny, Orlando Jones, Seann William Scott, and Julianne Moore are the only people standing between the aliens and world domination... which could be bad news for the Earth.

A dance band leader finds love and success in Brazil.

A group of students pay their way through school by forming a pop band called Toomorrow. Sonic vibrations from a special instrument called a ‘tonaliser’ cause an extraterrestrial to abduct the group, and have them entertain the Alphoid population.

Sir Guy Grand, the richest man in the world, adopts a homeless man, Youngman. Together, they set out to prove that anyone--and anything--can be bought.

An uptight bachelor tries his luck with a computer dating service and gets matched up with his polar opposite.

A struggling young singer falls for a nightclub owner whose father, a millionaire, is trying to shut it down.

In this short subject (which mostly represents a departure from Disney's traditional approach to animation), a stuffy owl teacher lectures his feathered flock on the origins of Western musical instruments. Starting with cavepeople, whose crude implements could only "toot, whistle, plunk and boom," the owl explains how these beginnings led to the development of the four basic types of Western musical instruments: brass, woodwinds, strings, and percussion.

In this Puppetoon animated short film (an Academy Award Best Short Subject, Cartoons nominee), Tubby the Tuba is disappointed that his sound limits what he's permitted to do in an orchestra of self-playing instruments that, unlike him, get to play pretty melodies. A chance meeting with a bullfrog changes everything.

When Tubby the Tuba sets out to find a melody all of his own, his journey results in this enchanting and exciting musical tale. Tubby joins the circus and striving to be part of an orchestra, he travels to the Singing City where along the way he encounters many wonderful characters.

Queen Poppy and Branch make a surprising discovery — there are other Troll worlds beyond their own, and their distinct differences create big clashes between these various tribes. When a mysterious threat puts all of the Trolls across the land in danger, Poppy, Branch, and their band of friends must embark on an epic quest to create harmony among the feuding Trolls to unite them against certain doom.

Southern California's Hotel Coronado caters to and is frequented by members of the social upper-crust. Although she lives on the wrong side of the San Diego track, in a tent-city with her father. Otto, and ditzy sister, Violet, June Wray is a singer with the Eddy Duchin Orchestra appearing to the hotel. Johnny Marvin, an aspiring songwriter and the son of a wealthy automobile manufacturer, is staying at the hotel and, from they moment June and Johnny meet, they fall instantly in love. Trouble arises when Johnny's father objects to the romance, and complications and help arrive in the form of two Marine-hating sailors,Chuck Hornbostel and "Pinky" Falls, when Chuck marries June's ditzy sister.

In this musical comedy, a motley band of musicians have only their extreme poverty in common. They end up writing a hit and getting a recording contract. The trouble is, the composer's works are never played without another band member doctoring them up to make them swingier. Fortunately, the composer isn't too averse to the changes as he has just won the heart of the beauty who sings his revamped songs.

A mother afflicted with depression comes into conflict with own mother and children when she refuses to seek professional health care.

The Galactic Patrol is back - but they've lost Deputy Rod Allbright's body. It's been stolen by B'KR, the most fiendish villain in the galaxy, which leaves Rod's mind sharing one body with his annoying cousin Elspeth. Stranded on a mysterious alien planet, our young heroes embark on a mission to find the only being who can stop B'KR once and for all, the legendary time-strider himself; Art Allbright - who also happens to be Rod's dad. The Galactic Patrol's high-flying adventures continue in this thrilling second film based on the global best-selling book series from acclaimed author Bruce Coville and Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing. This rip-roaring sequel draws the crew of the Good Ship Ferkel into a web of alien plots that will test their courage to the utmost -- and ultimately bring them face-to-face with one of the galaxy's most guarded secrets.

Sergei Prokofiev's symphonic masterpiece, first performed in Russia in 1936, has been lauded not only for the spectacular musical score, but also for the story itself--of a young boy who outwits a wily wolf. George Daugherty brings this timeless tale to modern audiences by seamlessly weaving live-action with animation and music by the RCA Symphony Orchestra. The story opens as a grandfather (Lloyd Bridges) hosts his daughter (Kirstie Alley) and grandson (Ross Malinger from Sleepless in Seattle) during a visit to his country cottage. After lunch, the trio settles in as grandfather recounts "The Story" of Peter's adventures with a bird, cat, and dizzy duck on the outskirts "of a very dark forest." The film morphs into a clever cartoon designed by the legendary Chuck Jones (of Wile E. Coyote fame). The "story within a story" leaps to life while the accompanying musical instruments also emerge as playful personalities.

Barnum the musical traces Phineas Taylor Barnum's career from 1835 to 1881 when he joined James A. Bailey to form the circus which was called The Greatest Show on Earth. Barnum is a defender of "the noble art of humbug" with a philosophy, and has a free wheeling ambition to make a fortune. He buys the oldest woman in the world, named Joyce Heath, as a sideshow attraction. Barnum builds a museum of curiosities supported by his wife Charity, who would like him to settle down.

B.G. Bruno, a rich bachelor, the head of a successful greeting-card company in Scotland, is essentially a kind man but respectable to the point of stodginess and extreme stuffiness. An American troupe visiting Edinburgh wants to produce a musical in town but has trouble getting backers. Bruno meets several of the leading ladies of the show; through a misunderstanding he doesn't correct they think that he's a newspaper reporter. He falls in love with one of the women, who reciprocates; he grows more lively and friendly, to the surprise of his employees. After a series of mishaps and comic incidents comes a happy ending: a successful show and true love.

Tribute pays musical homage to India on several songs; Greek-born composer and keyboardist Yanni describes the album as a tribute to the builders of the Taj and the Forbidden City, as well as to the people of India and China. Yanni's ethereal keyboard work is backed by orchestra, vocalists, a choir, and various world instruments including didgeridoo, duduk, charango, and bamboo saxophone.

A profile of the Hippest band of the 60's and 70's as they prepare for a reunion gig.

With this project Pat Metheny has created a whole new way to make music. Based on a childhood fascination with his grandfather's player piano, Metheny commissioned new inventors to build an exciting array of acoustic mechanical musical instruments capable of responding to his touch on the guitar, resulting in a completely unique approach to solo performance.

Six-year-old "Mike" goes to live with her pregnant older sister, Babs, who plays string bass in José Iturbi's orchestra. And the orchestra is rapidly turning completely female, what with the draft. As the orchestra travels around the country, Babs' fellow orchestra members intercept and hide her War Office telegram to protect the baby.

Trumpet player Roy Allen starts anew as a music teacher in a school full of kids with little exposure to music. Roy connects with a talented virtuoso in need of a father figure. Through the journey of launching a school band and learning to reach kids on their own terms, Nate reconnects with his own estranged son, becoming the father he always wanted to be.

On a sunny day in September 2014, Jeff Lynne, head honcho of 70s hit-making band ELO, took to the stage in London's Hyde Park and, with the help of his backing band and the strings of the BBC Concert Orchestra, brought to a close Radio 2's Live in Hyde Park annual festival. After an absence from the live stage for 28 years, this headline set by Jeff Lynne's ELO was a much-anticipated and talked-about event. In front of 50,000 people, Jeff Lynne delivered a rousing and crowd-pleasing string of the Electric Light Orchestra's chart-topping hits, including Livin' Thing, Sweet Talkin' Woman, Don't Bring Me Down, Mr Blue Sky, and Roll Over Beethoven. And there was also Jeff's touching tribute to his band buddies from Traveling Wilburys, in his performance of their 1988 hit Handle With Care.

A former bootlegger is now the prosperous owner of a popular nightclub. A hustling promoter manages to pass off a young singer as the heir to a fortune and gets her booked at the club.

In early 2010 the Alloy Orchestra was commissioned an original score, based on a musical setting drawn on a 3-foot long sheet of squared notebook paper. Its operating principle was a fixed tempo - 60 beats per minute - to be strictly followed by the musicians throughout the piece. Within this grid, the performers were given complete freedom to determine the timbre, the volume and the sequence of themes to be chosen for their work. Two artists - a drummer and a draughtsman - listened to the recording of the music without any knowledge of the instructions provided for its creation. Unbeknownst to each other, both were given the task of playing along with their respective instruments: one with a drum in front of a camera, the other with pen, brushes, ink and colored pigments on 35mm film strips. The footage was assembled and edited in strict adherence to the criteria adopted for the music. The Alloy Orchestra was then asked to accompany the film with their own score

Scattergood Baines, Coldriver's most popular citizen, neighborly counselor and sly old fox, entices a Broadway producer to Coldriver to see the gay musical extravaganza Baines is staging for the benefit of the U.S.O. He is also promoting the singing career of his latest local protégé, Betty Palmer. There are a few problems but the Sage of Coldriver manages to keep pulling the right strings.

In a warehouse in the heart of Los Angeles, a dwindling handful of devoted craftspeople maintain more than 80,000 student musical instruments, the largest remaining workshop in America of its kind. Meet four unforgettable characters whose broken-and-repaired lives have been dedicated to bringing so much more than music to the schoolchildren of this city.