Details

List of Plates ix <p>Acknowledgments xiii</p> <p>Introduction 1</p> <p>1 Historical Overview 7</p> <p>2 Critical Overview 38</p> <p>3 Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933) 55</p> <p>4 Top Hat (1935) 70</p> <p>5 The Pirate (1948) 85</p> <p>6 West Side Story (1961) and Saturday Night Fever (1977) 99</p> <p>7 Woodstock (1970) 116</p> <p>8 Phantom of the Paradise (1974) 131</p> <p>9 Pennies from Heaven (1981) and Across the Universe (2007) 146</p> <p>References 165</p> <p>Index 171</p>

<p>“Summing Up: Recommended.  Lower-and upper-division undergraduates; general readers.”  (<i>Choice</i>, 1 November 2012)</p>

<b>Barry Keith Grant</b> is Professor of Communication, Popular Culture, and Film at Brock University in Ontario, Canada. He is the author or editor of more than two dozen books, including <i>Auteurs and Authorship: a Film Reader </i>(2008)<i> Film Genre: From Iconography to Ideology</i> (2007), <i>Film Genre Reader </i>(2003), and <i>The Dread of Difference: Gender and the Horror Film</i> (1996). As well as being an elected fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, he is the series editor of the <i>New Approaches to Film Genre</i> series for Wiley-Blackwell.

American film musicals are a central genre in the evolution of cinema as an art form and popular entertainment.  With an impressive range of films produced to meet an ever-growing consumer demand, musicals proved to be a powerful formula for box office success. With an accessible style and substantial depth of analysis, this engaging new title offers an overview of the history of, and the critical literature on, this popular genre.<br /> <br /> <p><i>The Hollywood Film Musical</i> examines the synergy between the genre and the popular music industry, tracing the function of this relationship in aesthetic, ideological and industrial terms, and outlining the influence of minstrel shows, vaudeville, the Broadway stage, the recording industry, and stardom. The book also provides a selection of close readings of iconic  musicals from the golden age of the 1930s right up to the new century: from <i>Top Hat</i> and <i>Singin' in the Rain</i> to <i>Woodstock, Gimme Shelter, West Side Story</i> and <i>Across the Universe</i>. As well as providing illuminating new readings of popular films, these detailed analyses reflect on critical issues such as race, gender, ideology, and authorship.</p>

"Barry Grant gracefully articulates the pleasures of that most joyous of Hollywood’s genres.  A must read for anyone who loves musicals and, especially, for those who think they don’t."<br /> -<i>David Desser, University of Illinois</i> <br /> <br /> <p>"Elegantly conceived and beautifully illustrated, The Hollywood Film Musical introduces the genre with all its problematic glories.  Grant is meticulous as a historian and scrupulous as a cultural critic.  Did I mention the beautiful illustrations?"<br /> -<i>Krin Gabbard, Stony Brook University</i></p>

GB