The Hollywood Film Musical

This revealing history of the American film musical synthesizes the critical literature on the genre and provides a series of close analytical readings of iconic musical films, focusing on their cultural relationship to other aspects of American popular music. Offers a depth of scholarship that will appeal to students and scholars Leads a crucial analysis of the cultural context of musicals, particularly the influence of popular music on the genre Delves into critical issues behind these films such as race, gender, ideology, and authorship Features close readings of canonical and neglected film musicals from the 1930s to the present including: Top Hat, Singin' in the Rain, Woodstock, Gimme Shelter, West Side Story, and Across the Universe

List of Plates ix Acknowledgments xiii Introduction 1 1 Historical Overview 7 2 Critical Overview 38 3 Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933) 55 4 Top Hat (1935) 70 5 The Pirate (1948) 85 6 West Side Story (1961) and Saturday Night Fever (1977) 99 7 Woodstock (1970) 116 8 Phantom of the Paradise (1974) 131 9 Pennies from Heaven (1981) and Across the Universe (2007) 146 References 165 Index 171