Every musical movie streaming on Criterion Channel in the US right now — 17 films ranked by rating, checked against Criterion Channel’s live catalog.
Updated July 2026 · Availability refreshed from Criterion Channel US
Directed by Charlie Chaplin
✦ MovieMuse AI takeChaplin's pantomime-to-song transitions dissolve the boundary between silent comedy and musical expression, making physical movement itself the primary musical instrument.
A fading music hall comedian tries to help a despondent ballet dancer learn to walk and to again feel confident about life.
Directed by D. A. Pennebaker
✦ MovieMuse AI takeD.A. Pennebaker's cinema-vérité captures Dylan's refusal to perform scripted numbers, turning documentary footage into avant-garde anti-musical that deconstructs the form.
In this wildly entertaining vision of one of the twentieth century’s greatest artists, Bob Dylan is surrounded by teen fans, gets into heated philosophical jousts with journalists, and kicks back with fellow musicians Joan Baez, Donovan, and Alan Price.
Directed by Naoko Yamada
✦ MovieMuse AI takeThe film transforms a high school band's final concert into transcendent catharsis, using layered harmonies and ensemble synchronicity to visualize deep emotional connection.
With graduation right around the corner, every member of the Light Music Club except for Azusa will be leaving for good. But the girls aren’t going to let something as silly as graduation tear them apart! For their final hurrah, the girls are going on the ultimate vacation tour— all the way to London! Their overseas journey will lead them on a trip of discovery and friendship as they take the stage one last time for their final encore together.
Directed by Wim Wenders
✦ MovieMuse AI takeCooder's production interweaves documentary realism with performance footage, proving how music itself becomes the emotional narrative in this late-career resurrection.
In this fascinating Oscar-nominated documentary, American guitarist Ry Cooder brings together a group of legendary Cuban folk musicians (some in their 90s) to record a Grammy-winning CD in their native city of Havana. The result is a spectacular compilation of concert footage from the group's gigs in Amsterdam and New York City's famed Carnegie Hall, with director Wim Wenders capturing not only the music -- but also the musicians' life stories.
Directed by Richard Lester
✦ MovieMuse AI takeThe Beatles' kinetic energy drives every narrative beat—cutting, choreography, and editing sync perfectly to the music, making the band the authentic story.
Capturing John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr in their electrifying element, 'A Hard Day's Night' is a wildly irreverent journey through this pastiche of a day in the life of The Beatles during 1964. The band have to use all their guile and wit to avoid the pursuing fans and press to reach their scheduled television performance, in spite of Paul's troublemaking grandfather and Ringo's arrest.
Directed by René Clair
✦ MovieMuse AI takeThe factory sequence deploys synchronized sound and movement as satirical commentary, where industrial rhythm becomes both music and social critique.
In this classic French satire, Louis, a convict, escapes from prison and takes on legitimate work, making his way up in the business world. Eventually becoming the head of a successful factory, Louis opts to modernize his company with mechanical innovations. But when his friend Émile finally leaves jail years later and reunites with Louis, the past catches up with them. The two, worried about being apprehended by police, long to flee the confines of industry.
Directed by Agnès Varda
✦ MovieMuse AI takeMozart's opera structure—arias advancing plot, ensemble chaos creating meaning—remains theatrically intact, preserving the genre's marriage of music and narrative.
The intertwined lives of two women in 1970s France, set against the progress of the women's movement in which Agnes Varda was involved. Pomme and Suzanne meet when Pomme helps Suzanne obtain an abortion after a third pregnancy which she cannot afford. They lose contact but meet again ten years later. Pomme has become an unconventional singer, Suzanne a serious community worker - despite the contrast they remain friends and share in the various dramas of each others' lives, in the process affirming their different female identities.
Directed by Ingmar Bergman
✦ MovieMuse AI takeBergman's operatic staging transforms Mozart's supernatural narrative into pure cinematic enchantment through innovative set design and intimate close-ups.
The Queen of the Night enlists a handsome prince named Tamino to rescue her beautiful kidnapped daughter, Princess Pamina, in this screen adaptation of the beloved Mozart opera. Aided by the lovelorn bird hunter Papageno and a magical flute that holds the power to change the hearts of men, young Tamino embarks on a quest for true love, leading to the evil Sarastro's temple where Pamina is held captive.
Directed by Mike Leigh
✦ MovieMuse AI takeGilbert-Sullivan's witty lyrics and ornate staging showcase how operetta orchestrates comedy, patter songs, and satire into unified theatrical experience.
For nearly a decade, Gilbert and Sullivan’s collaborations have delighted the English people. But in 1884, as a London heat wave cuts into the theater trade, their latest work, "Princess Ida", receives lukewarm press. In an effort to reconcile their creative differences and drawing inspiration from Japanese culture, they went on to create the hit opera "The Mikado", one of the duo's greatest successes.
Directed by Jean Renoir
✦ MovieMuse AI takeThe Moulin Rouge finale's explosive can-can number explodes narrative containment, proving Renoir understood dance as cinema's most purely musical visual language.
Nineteenth-century Paris comes vibrantly alive in Jean Renoir’s exhilarating tale of the opening of the world-renowned Moulin Rouge. Jean Gabin plays the wily impresario Danglard, who makes the cancan all the rage while juggling the love of two beautiful women—an Egyptian belly-dancer and a naive working girl turned cancan star.
Directed by René Clair
✦ MovieMuse AI takeThe film's playful sound design treats dialogue, music, and object-noise equally, creating a comedic symphony where every element has rhythmic weight.
Debt-ridden painter Michel is overcome with joy at discovering that he has just won 1 million florins in the Dutch lottery, but almost immediately, he discovers that his softhearted girlfriend, Béatrice, has given away his jacket containing the winning ticket to an elderly petty thief. Soon Michel, Beatrice and Michel's artistic rival, Prosper, are hurtling through the streets of Paris on the trail of the missing jacket.
Directed by Franc Roddam
✦ MovieMuse AI takeThe Who's rock opera structure demands visual equivalents for its thematic arcs—scooter culture becomes the music's physical manifestation onscreen.
Based on the 1973 rock opera album of the same name by The Who, this is the story of 60s teenager Jimmy. At work he slaves in a dead-end job. While after, he shops for tailored suits and rides his scooter as part of the London Mod scene.
Directed by G.W. Pabst
✦ MovieMuse AI takePabst weaponizes Weill's acidic score against sentiment, making sardonic melody the true protagonist in this cynical inversion of operetta.
In London at the turn of the century, underworld kingpin Mack the Knife marries Polly Peachum without the knowledge of her father, the equally enterprising 'king of the beggars'.
Directed by Ingmar Bergman
✦ MovieMuse AI takeA violinist's artistic crisis plays out through chamber music performance sequences that allow internal torment to emerge through instrumental expression.
A young orchestra violinist’s fear of mediocrity and drive for artistic success strain his marriage to a fellow musician. Told largely in flashback and shaped by Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, the film examines ambition, love, and loss in early Ingmar Bergman.
Directed by Aki Kaurismäki
✦ MovieMuse AI takeThe Leningrad Cowboys' absurdist journey across America becomes a deadpan musical comedy where their outsider polka sensibility drives every surreal set piece.
The Leningrad Cowboys, a group of Siberian musicians, and their manager, travel to America seeking fame and fortune. As they cross the country, trying to get to a wedding in Mexico, they are followed by the village idiot, who wishes to join the band.
Directed by Perry Henzell
✦ MovieMuse AI takeJimmy Cliff's reggae recordings don't interrupt narrative—they *are* the narrative, collapsing the boundary between song and lived experience in Jamaica.
Ivanhoe Martin arrives in Kingston, Jamaica, looking for work and, after some initial struggles, lands a recording contract as a reggae singer. He records his first song, "The Harder They Come," but after a bitter dispute with a manipulative producer named Hilton, soon finds himself resorting to petty crime in order to pay the bills. He deals marijuana, kills some abusive cops and earns local folk hero status. Meanwhile, his record is topping the charts.
Directed by Agnieszka Smoczyńska
✦ MovieMuse AI takeThe mermaids' nightclub performances collapse genre boundaries—horror, musical numbers, and grotesque body horror merge into singular, disorienting aesthetic vision.
Two mermaid sisters, who end up performing at a nightclub, face cruel and bloody choices when one of them falls in love with a beautiful young man.
MovieMuse finds the perfect movie for tonight across your streaming services —
swipe through musical picks matched to your taste.
Founding period: everything is free — early members keep Premium free for a year.