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"This book is to be recommended as a good, informative, broad-based
survey, useful for students of film, media, drama and cultural
studies who are looking for an entry into this broad genre and to
use this text as a general resource." Christine Etherington-Wright,
Studies in Musical Theatre "Mundy is an unabashed aficionado of the
British musical film, and his expertise and knowledge in this area
are evident in this encyclopedic volume. The book follows an
easy-to-read, chronological format and covers all major and many
minor British musical films from inception of sound to the
present." W.W Dixon, University of Nebraska Lincoln Choice Current
Reviews for Academic Libraries March 2008 Vol. 45 No. 07 The
British musical film is the first book to examine a neglected area
of British cinema as it developed from the early so-called 'silent'
period to the present. Offering a comprehensive survey of musical
films across the decades, it also includes detailed critical
analysis of individual films and the creative personnel, including
directors, stars, lyricists, composers and musical directors, who
worked on them. Scholarly but clearly written, the book traces the
development of a distinctive genre within British cinema, noting
ways in which it differs from the Hollywood musical and setting the
films in their historical and cultural context. Adopting a
chronological approach, the book starts with the importance of
music to the cinema-going experience before the coming of
synchronised sound in the late 1920s and then examines the
explosion of musical films featuring British musical talent in the
1930s, and the role of musical films during the years of the Second
World War. The book examines the transition in musical taste
reflected in musical films during the 1950s, and the importance of
pop music on-screen in the 1960s. Important innovations in the
British musical film of the 1970s and 1980s are analysed, as are
examples of contemporary musical films that reflect an increasingly
heterogeneous British culture. As well as analysing Oscar-winning
musicals such as The Red Shoes and Oliver!, this study also
uncovers musical films that have been unjustly neglected for far
too long. In asserting the importance of the musical film and its
relationship with a vibrant British popular music culture, this
study makes a significant contribution to the growing awareness of
the rich distinctiveness of British cinema. -- .
Popular Music on Screen examines the relationship between popular
music and the screen, from the origins of Hollywood musical to
contemporary developments in music television and video. Through
detailed examination of films, television programmes and popular
music, together with analysis of the economic, technological and
cultural determinants which impact upon their production and
consumption, the book argues that popular music has been
incresingly influenced by its visual economy. Though engaging with
the debates which surround postmodernism, the book suggests that
what most characterizes the relationship between popular music and
the screen media is a strong sense of continuity, expressed through
institutional structures, representational strategies and the
ideology of entertainment.
Laughing Matters takes an analytic approach to film, television and
radio comedy and provides an accessible overview of its forms and
contexts. The introduction explains the value of studying comedy,
concisely outlines the approach taken and summarises the relevant
theories. The subsequent chapters are divided into two parts. The
first part examines the specific forms comedy has taken as a
constant and key element in film and broadcast comedy from their
origins to the present. The second part shows how the genre
gravitates towards contentious issues in British and American
culture as it finds humour in the boundaries of class, gender,
sexuality, race and logic. The authors cover silent cinema comedy
including Chaplin, Lloyd and Keaton, sound film comedies including
the Marx Brothers and Laurel and Hardy, Romantic film comedy,
radio, television situation and sketch comedy, comedy and genre
(including parody and spoof), animations from cartoons to CGI,
issues of gender and sexuality from drag comedy to queer reading,
issues of taste and humour from Carry On to contemporary
'gross-out' , and issues of race and ethnicity including a case
study of African-American screen comedy. Numerous opportunities for
following up are highlighted and advice on further reading, writing
academically about comedy and an extensive bibliography add to the
value of this textbook. -- .
"This book is to be recommended as a good, informative, broad-based
survey, useful for students of film, media, drama and cultural
studies who are looking for an entry into this broad genre and to
use this text as a general resource." Christine Etherington-Wright,
Studies in Musical Theatre "Mundy is an unabashed aficionado of the
British musical film, and his expertise and knowledge in this area
are evident in this encyclopedic volume. The book follows an
easy-to-read, chronological format and covers all major and many
minor British musical films from inception of sound to the
present." W.W Dixon, University of Nebraska Lincoln Choice Current
Reviews for Academic Libraries March 2008 Vol. 45 No. 07 The
British musical film is the first book to examine a neglected area
of British cinema as it developed from the early so-called 'silent'
period to the present. Offering a comprehensive survey of musical
films across the decades, it also includes detailed critical
analysis of individual films and the creative personnel, including
directors, stars, lyricists, composers and musical directors, who
worked on them. Scholarly but clearly written, the book traces the
development of a distinctive genre within British cinema, noting
ways in which it differs from the Hollywood musical and setting the
films in their historical and cultural context. Adopting a
chronological approach, the book starts with the importance of
music to the cinema-going experience before the coming of
synchronised sound in the late 1920s and then examines the
explosion of musical films featuring British musical talent in the
1930s, and the role of musical films during the years of the Second
World War. The book examines the transition in musical taste
reflected in musical films during the 1950s, and the importance of
pop music on-screen in the 1960s. Important innovations in the
British musical film of the 1970s and 1980s are analysed, as are
examples of contemporary musical films that reflect an increasingly
heterogeneous British culture. As well as analysing Oscar-winning
musicals such as The Red Shoes and Oliver!, this study also
uncovers musical films that have been unjustly neglected for far
too long. In asserting the importance of the musical film and its
relationship with a vibrant British popular music culture, this
study makes a significant contribution to the growing awareness of
the rich distinctiveness of British cinema. -- .
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