Synopses & Reviews
From the coming of sound to the 1960s, the musical was central to Hollywood production. Exhibiting - often in spectacular fashion - the remarkable resources of the Hollywood studios, musicals came to epitomise the very idea of 'light entertainment'. Films like Top Hat and 42nd Street, Meet Me in St. Louis and On the Town, Singin' in the Rain and Oklahoma!, West Side Story and The Sound of Music were hugely popular, yet were commonly regarded by cultural commentators as trivial and escapist. It was the 1970s before serious study of the Hollywood musical began to change critical attitudes and foster an interest in musical films produced in other cultures. Hollywood musicals have become less common, but the genre persists and both academic interest in and fond nostalgia for the musical shows no signs of abating. 100 Film Musicals provides a stimulating overview of the genre's development, its major themes and the critical debates it has provoked. While centred on the dominant Hollywood tradition, 100 Film Musicals includes films from countries that often tried to emulate the Hollywood style, like Britain and Germany, as well as from very different cultures like India, Egypt and Japan. Jim Hillier and Douglas Pye also discuss post-1960s films from many different sources which adapt and reflect on the conventions of the genre, including recent examples such as Moulin Rouge! and High School Musical, demonstrating that the genre is still very much alive.
Synopsis
The musical is one of the key genres of both Hollywood and international cinema. It was central to Hollywood in the studio period and remains for many one of the defining forms of popular cinema—the embodiment of “light entertainment.” Although Hollywood has made far fewer musicals since the 1960s (like the Western, the musical is often thought of as being in terminal decline), the genre continues to evolve, both in the U.S. and elsewhere. At the same time, there remains an abiding sense of affection and nostalgia for those Hollywood musicals made in the studio period. This new addition to the BFI Screen Guides series provides a guide to the classic movie musicals of Hollywood cinema, but also addresses musicals from countries including France, Spain, India, Japan, and the United Kingdom. Films addressed range from An American in Paris to High School Musical, and from Les Demoiselles de Rochefort to Nashville. The volume is richly illustrated with images from the movies discussed
Synopsis
A selection of 100 films from one of the best-loved genres of Hollywood and world cinema, with entries ranging from 'Gold Diggers of 1933' to 'High School Musical' of 2006, and from the Reggae classic 'The Harder They Come' to Guru Dutt's 'Pyaasa' (1957). The authors' introduction outlines the history and key features of the film musical.
About the Author
Jim Hillier is the coauthor of two volumes in the BFI Screen Guides series: 100 Documentary Films and 100 Film Noirs. He is the author of The New Hollywood and the coauthor of The Film Studies Dictionary and Studies in Documentary. His edited books include American Independent Cinema and two volumes of selected criticism from Cahiers du Cinema.
Douglas Pye is the coeditor of Style and Meaning: Studies in the Detailed Analysis of Film.