This is a unique study of the film musical, a global cinema tradition. The musical is one of cinema's few genuinely international genres but it has never been studied as a global sensation. This book fills this critical gap in film studies as it brings together musicals from 15 nations in order to highlight running themes. Musicals are often studied as part of distinct national traditions that are interpreted as native. However this anthology will dispute previous approaches to reveal the influence of the Hollywood model in musicals from around the world. It includes lists of key resources for additional information. It ends with a coda by Rick Altman, one of the genre's most prominent scholars. It provides case studies that include Great Britain, France, Germany, Portugal, Greece, Russia, Spain, Italy, Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, China, India, Egypt, Turkey. Coverage includes Mambo Girl (1957), Sing As We Go (1934), It's the End of the Song (1930), Downward Slope (1934), The Broadway Melody (1929), The Hole (1997), Joyful Beginning (1955), and, The Heart is Crazy (1997).

Shirley Temple, Clark Gable, Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Bette Davis, Joan Crawford and Norma Shearer, Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo, William Powell and Myrna Loy, Jean Harlow, and Gary Cooper-"Glamour in a Golden Age" presents original essays from eminent film scholars that analyze movie stars of the 1930s against the background of contemporary American cultural history.
Stardom is approached as an effect of, and influence on, the particular historical and industrial contexts that enabled these actors and actresses to be discovered, featured in films, publicized, and to become recognized and admired-sometimes even notorious-parts of the cultural landscape. Using archival and popular material, including fan and mass market magazines, other promotional and publicity material, and of course films themselves, contributors also discuss other artists who were incredibly popular at the time, among them Ann Harding, Ruth Chatterton, Nancy Carroll, Kay Francis, and Constance Bennett.