julian_craster

THE BRITISH MUSICAL FILM
John Mundy
From Manchester University Press
272 pages
12 b/w illus.


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.

Contents
Introduction
1. Reclaiming the silence
2. The 1930s: A most musical of decades
3. The 1940s: Constructing communities
4. The 1950s: From tradition to innovation
5. The 1960s: Youth, home-grown talent and American money
6. The 1970s and beyond: Signs of success
Postscript
Index

John Mundy is Professor in Media in the School of Media, Music and
Performance at the University of Salford

234x156mm 272pp

ChristineCB

Good news. Thanks for the tip, JC.

Wee Sonny MacGregor

I'm always wary of university press books written by media studies types, Very often these academics are pursuing their own hobby horses and seeing meanings in films that are simply not there. The notion that a filmmaker was simply out to provide entertainment is often completely overwhelmed by over-analysis and sociological claptrap. I therefore make it a rule to look at a book before I buy wherever I see the words "media studies" and "university press"!

julian_craster

But academics get promotion from 'Lecturer' to 'Professor' on the basis of such books - and a book without 'theory' would not have the desired effect...that is the reason why they are written and published ! Though to be fair, this Musicals book avoids film theory jargon, and is very readable ....

orpheum

Sorry to disagree with you on this.I bought this book and am about half way through.What should be a great read is spoilt by just the jargon highlighted above.Lots of"multitextural""privalledged performances".Lots of theorising.Pity he cant get simple things right.Leslie Howard appeared in "Brief Enctounters".Flanagan and Allen appeared in a 1933 film for ATP called"The Dreamers" and Will Hays character in Radio Parade is called "Garlon" instead of "Garland"thereby missing the whole point of the pun on the name.Wee Sonnie you were right to be suspicious.There is a good book to be written on the subject but this is not it.

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julian_craster

But the book has had its desired effect as far as the author is concerned....

Before publication - lecturer at FE College

Now - media studies Professor at Salford University !

Who cares [apart from people like us with a genuine interest in the subject] if a book is full of shoddy research, typos, mis-spelling of names, and factual errors (which is certainly the case....) - it has served its purpose...

Solidly researched and accurate reference books (such as those by Robert Ross, Stephen Bourne, Allen Eyles) that do not feature academic jargon unfortunately don't carry much weight with university presses, the BFI, or academic appointments committees (who are unlikely to have read the book anyway, and have little or no knowledge of the subject matter...).

The mere fact of publication by a University Press 'ticks the right boxes' for them !

orpheum

You know i have got to page 180 and i am totally bored with this book.He is consistently using words which i cannot even find in my edition of the concise oed!I will just put it back on amazon in the hope that someone will relieve me of this academic waffle.He calls the ABC Film Review a "trade paper" when i used to buy it inbthe foyer of the ABC Goldres Green for 6d.What a plank.

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