The best Bing Crosby’s documentary movies

Bing Crosby

Bing Crosby

03/05/1903- 14/10/1977
If you love cinema, you will share this ranking of the best Bing Crosby’s movies, although you may have ordered them differently. In any case, we hope you love it and with a little luck discovering a movie that you still don’t know about Bing Crosby.
Available on:

And the Oscar Goes To...

And the Oscar Goes To...
7.1/10
The story of the gold-plated statuette that became the film industry's most coveted prize, AND THE OSCAR GOES TO... traces the history of the Academy itself, which began in 1927 when Louis B. Mayer, then head of MGM, led other prominent members of the industry in forming this professional honorary organization. Two years later the Academy began bestowing awards, which were nicknamed "Oscar," and quickly came to represent the pinnacle of cinematic achievement.

That's Entertainment, Part II

That's Entertainment, Part II
7.3/10
Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire present more golden moments from the MGM film library, this time including comedy and drama as well as classic musical numbers.

That's Entertainment! III

That's Entertainment! III
7.5/10
Some of MGM'S musical stars review the studios history of musicals. From The Hollywood Revue of 1929 to Brigadoon, from the first musical talkies to Gene Kelly in Singin' in the Rain.

That's Entertainment!

That's Entertainment!
7.8/10
Various MGM stars from yesterday present their favorite musical moments from the studio's 50 year history.

Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?

Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
7.1/10
  • Genre: Documentary
  • Release: 06/08/1975
  • Character: (archive footage)
Period music, film clips and newsreel footage combined into a visual exploration of the American entertainment industry during the Great Depression.

Dean Martin: King of Cool

Dean Martin: King of Cool
7.8/10
  • Genre: Documentary
  • Release: 14/11/2021
  • Character: Self (archive footage)
Dean Martin had a laid-back charm that made him successful in everything from big-screen comedies to television variety shows to live acts in Las Vegas. Filmmaker Tom Donahue explores Martin’s varied career, including his complicated relationships with Jerry Lewis, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr, and others. We hear from admirers such as critic Gerald Early, actor Jon Hamm, and Hip-Hop artist RZA who testify to Martin’s enduring mystique.

Show-Business at War

Show-Business at War
7/10
  • Genre: Documentary
  • Release: 21/05/1943
  • Character: Self
A multi-studio effort to show the newsreel audience the progress of the Hollywood war effort.

This Is Bob Hope...

This Is Bob Hope...
7.9/10
During his career, Bob Hope was the only performer to achieve top-rated success in every form of mass entertainment. American Masters explores the entertainer’s life through his personal archives and clips from his classic films.

The Best of Bob Hope: 50 years of Laughter Volume 2

The Best of Bob Hope: 50 years of Laughter Volume 2
This Bob Hope Special called “Highlights of a Quarter Century” begins his 26th year with NBC in 1975 (he began with NBC radio in 1937) celebrating 25 years of Bob Hope Specials and the many celebrities that appeared on them The clips begin with his very first special, for Frigidaire, on April 9, 1950 and putting his way through the years to 1975

It's Showtime

It's Showtime
6.2/10
A collection of film clips profiling animal actors.

Bing Crosby: Rediscovered

Bing Crosby: Rediscovered
  • Genre: Documentary
  • Release: 02/12/2014
  • Character: Himself
Bing Crosby was, without a doubt, the most popular and influential multi-media star of the first half of the twentieth century, pulling audiences in with his intimate, laid-back voice and innate charm. Narrated by Stanley Tucci and directed by Robert Trachtenberg, this film explores the life and legend of this iconic performer, revealing a personality far more complex than the image the public had only thought they'd known.

Grace Kelly: Destiny of a Princess

Grace Kelly: Destiny of a Princess
6.5/10
In 1956, actress and Hollywood star Grace Kelly (1929-82), then at the height of her film career, unexpectedly dropped everything to marry Prince Rainier III of Monaco. Jinx, an American journalist and friend of the future princess, accompanied her on her journey to the wedding and covered the sensational event.

The Hollywood Clowns

The Hollywood Clowns
8.9/10
Glenn Ford narrates this hilarious look back at the greatest comedians in movie history.

A Bing Crosby Christmas

A Bing Crosby Christmas
6.9/10
The program on this DVD is basically a retrospective produced in the early 1990s for public television that was originally called «A Bing Crosby Christmas: Just Like the Ones You Used to Know» that was narrated by Gene Kelly and hosted by Bing's widow, Kathryn Crosby. The program itself features clips from fifteen of Bing's classic television specials, concentrating on the period from the early 1960s onwards when he included Kathryn and their three children in the programs.

The Best of Bob Hope: 50 years of Laughter Volume 1

The Best of Bob Hope: 50 years of Laughter Volume 1
This Bob Hope Special called “Highlights of a Quarter Century” begins his 26th year with NBC in 1975 (he began with NBC radio in 1937) celebrating 25 years of Bob Hope Specials and the many celebrities that appeared on them The clips begin with his very first special, for Frigidaire, on April 9, 1950 and putting his way through the years to 1975

The Shining Future

The Shining Future
6.4/10
Documentary short film intended to drum up support for the Fifth War Loan Campaign. It shows a happy family in the future of 1960 enjoying the prosperity and advantages made possible by the successful prosecution of the war, and how the sacrifices of 1944 have made the world a better place.

Hollywood Musicals of the 40's

Hollywood Musicals of the 40's
Highlights from the great musicals of the 1940s. Stars featured include Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Bing Crosby, Doris Day, Danny Kaye, Jimmy Durante and Frank Sinatra.

Hollywood and the Stars

Hollywood and the Stars
  • Genre: Documentary
  • Release: 04/05/1964
  • Character: (Archive footage)
NBC's pioneering documentary series, produced by the David L. Wolper Production Company, in association with United Artists Television. Each 30-minute show concentrated on a Hollywood genre, film or legendary star. This series ran from September 30, 1963 until May 18, 1964, and many of its individual episodes were released into the home gauge market in shortened form. Certain episodes would focus on films being made at the time, notably Preminger's The Cardinal and Huston's Night of the Iguana.

Hollywood My Home Town

Hollywood My Home Town
7.6/10
Ken Murray narrates his 16mm home movies shot over 35 years in Hollywood.

Cinerama's Russian Adventure

Cinerama's Russian Adventure
7/10
  • Genre: Documentary
  • Release: 03/03/1966
  • Character: Narrator (voice)
Following an introduction by Bing Crosby, the Cinerama screen widens for scenes of landscapes, cities, peoples, and entertainments of the Soviet Union. Highlights include the historic buildings and churches of Moscow, as the Kremlin; its subway and streets, a spring carnival, the seaside resorts on the Black Sea, a trip down the Voga River, skiers, a troika racing along a snow-covered road, a helicopter view of the North Pole, an Antarctic whale hunt, the capture of a wild boar in the Moyun-Kum of Central Asia, a race by reindeer-drawn sleds, divers in the Sea of Okhotsk, battling an octopus, the capture of antelopes, rafting logs down the Tisza River, and the development of new towns in Siberia. Other scenes include a visit to the Moscow Circus, where the renowned clown Oleg Popov performs, the dancing of the Moiseyev and Piatnitsky companies, and excerpts from the repertoire of the Bolshoi Theater Ballet.

Related actors