Product Description
<b>An analysis of Hollywood films that blend elements of musicals and film noir, from the author of <i>Blackout: World War II and the Origins of Film Noir</i>.</b><br /><br />Welcome to the world of “noir musical” films, where tormented antiheroes and hard-boiled musicians battle obsession and struggle with their music and ill-fated love triangles. Sultry divas dance and sing the blues in shrouded nightclubs. Romantic intrigue clashes with backstage careers.<br /><br />In her pioneering study, <i>Music in the Shadows</i>, film noir expert Sheri Chinen Biesen explores musical films that use film noir style and jazz to inhabit a disturbing underworld and reveal the dark side of fame and the American Dream. While noir musical films like <i>A Star Is Born</i> (1954) include musical performances, their bleak tone and expressionistic aesthetic more closely resemble the visual style of film noir. Their narratives unfold behind a stark noir lens: distorted, erratic angles and imbalanced hand-held shots allow the audience to experience a tortured, disillusioned perspective.<br /><br />While many musicals glamorize the quest for the Hollywood spotlight, brooding noir musical films such as <i>Blues in the Night</i>,<i> Gilda</i>,<i> The Red Shoes</i>,<i> West Side Story</i>, and <i>Round Midnight</i> stretch the boundaries of film noir and the musical as film genres collide. Deep shadows, dim lighting, and visual composition evoke moodiness, cynicism, pessimism, and subjective psychological points of view.<br /><br />Biesen draws on extensive primary research in studio archives to situate her examination within a historical, industrial, and cultural context.<br /><br /><b>“Biesen builds a fascinating and quite convincing case for a genre hybrid, the noir musical, that took root in the 1940s but has continued to evolve ever since.” —Thomas Schatz, The University of Texas at Austin</b>
