Subject Librarian
Lucinda M. Hall
Contact:
Evans Map Room
6025 Baker/Berry Library, 2nd Level
Dartmouth College
Hanover, NH 03755
6025 Baker/Berry Library, 2nd Level
Dartmouth College
Hanover, NH 03755
(603) 646-0962
Website Skype Contact: d1128r8@kiewit.dartmouth.edu
Other library resource(s)
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Musicals from Oxford Bibliographies Online by
Call Number: Electronic resourceThe film musical is usually identified almost exclusively with Hollywood, specifically those lavish star-filled films made during the heyday of the studio era. Furthermore, it has often been considered a genre that sings volumes about the American character and national sensibility, and for this reason, the film musical has also been taken to be an American “invention” tied to American show business traditions. ... -
Call Number: Electronic resourceCommercial film production in the United States developed rapidly after World War I. Theater programs focused on full-length narrative feature films along with secondary one-to-two-reel films such as newsreels, comedy shorts, travelogues, and (by the late 1920s) cartoons. Industry consolidation favored efficient large-scale production practices. ...
Internet resource(s)
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AFI's 100 Years of Musicals... A jury of over 500 film artists, composers, musicians, critics and historians selected the Gene Kelly song-and-dance classic SINGIN' IN THE RAIN as the most memorable movie musical of all time.
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History of Screen MusicalsFrom The Cyber Encyclopedia of Musical Theatre, TV and Film.
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Musical Movies at the Box OfficeTop grossing, live action musicals from 1974 to the present.
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Musicals101.comThe Cyber Encyclopedia of Musical Theatre, TV and Film.
Keeping up with Film Studies journal literature
Want an easy way to keep up with the journal literature for all facets of Film Studies? And you use a mobile device? You can install the BrowZine app and create a custom Bookshelf of your favorite journal titles. Then you will get the Table of Contents (ToCs) of your favorite journals automatically delivered to you when they become available. Once you have the ToC's, you can download and read the articles you want from the journals for which we have subscriptions.
You can get the app from the App Store or Google Play.
Don't own or use a mobile device? You can still use BrowZine! It's now available in a web version. You can get to it here. The web version works the same way as the app version. Find the journals you like, create a custom Bookshelf, get ToCs and read the articles you want.
A quick definition for musical films
An internationally popular film genre, featuring music, song, and dance in varying combinations, often intertwined with a romance plot with a happy ending. Film versions of operas and stage musicals made in the silent era were usually screened with live musical accompaniment, often as part of theatrical entertainments featuring musical acts (see music). Some scholars contend that it was the popularity of these shows with audiences that prompted the development of synchronized sound after the mid 1920s.
In film studies, the Hollywood musical has long been the subject of analysis and investigation across a range of topics: these include the various ways in which plot and musical numbers are integrated in a film's narrative; issues of gender, sexuality, and spectacle; questions of studio style (MGM's lavish Technicolor musicals of the 1950s are a case in point); the contributions of key creative personnel (such as directors Ernst Lubitsch and Vincente Minnelli, choreographer Busby Berkeley, and performers Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers); and investigations of the genre's industrial, social, and cultural contexts.
Kuhn, A. and Westwell, G. (2012). "Musical." In A Dictionary of Film Studies. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 23 Dec. 2015
Getting started
To find musical films in the Library's collections, you can click on the subject headings below. The collections are split between Baker Stack Level 4 and Paddock Music Library.
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musical filmsLook at the call number range PN 1995.9 .M86 on Baker Level 4.
Introductory reading(s)
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American Film Musical Themes and Forms
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Call Number: Baker Berry PN 1995.9 .M86 D86 2004ISBN: 078641877XThe musical has been called the most popular form of entertainment in the world. This work examines the subjects, themes, and contemporary relevance of Hollywood musicals through their long popularity, placing each show in historical and political context and analyzing it in detail. ... -
Film it with music : an encyclopedic guide to the American movie musical
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Call Number: Paddock PN 1995.9 .M86 H57 2001ISBN: 0313315388This encyclopedic reference to the American movie musical identifies and describes the musicals and the artists who made them. Film entries range from the legendary "The Jazz Singer" in 1927 to "Fantasia 2000." Artists ranging from Gene Kelly to Elvis Presley, Busby Berkeley, and John Travolta are included, as are musicians as varied as Irving Berlin, Paul Williams, and the Beatles. Entries also detail animated musicals, studios, perettas, rock documentaries, sequels and remakes, and dance movies. As a reference work or as a book for browsing, this encyclopedia serves as a valuable companion to Stage It with Music: An Encyclopedic Guide to the American Musical Theatre and will appeal to film scholars and fans alike. Information is cross referenced throughout. A chronological list of musicals and an appendix of Academy Award-winning musicals are included. -
The musical : a research and information guide
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Call Number: Paddock ML 128 .M78 E84 2011ISBN: 0415994217This research guide includes more than 1,400 annotated entries related to the genre as it appears on stage and screen. It includes reference works, monographs, articles, anthologies, and websites related to the musical. Separate sections are devoted to sub-genres (such as operetta and megamusical), non-English language musical genres in the U.S., traditions outside the U.S., individual shows, creators, performers, and performance. The second edition reflects the notable increase in musical theater scholarship since 2000. In addition to printed materials, it includes multimedia and electronic resources. -
The musical : race, gender and performance
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Call Number: Paddock ML 2054 .S65 2005ISBN: 1904764371This study explores one of the most popular and successful of genres, yet one that has not fully enjoyed critical recognition to match. Combining a detailed analysis of individual musicals with an in-depth consideration of racial and gender issues, Susan Smith examines the rich interactions that occur between music, performance and narrrative, as well as the use of the female voice and the female singer in certain 'Pygmalion'/'Svengali'-style narratives.
Selected book titles
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The first Hollywood musicals : a critical filmography of 171 features, 1927 through 1932 byCall Number: Baker Berry PN 1995.9 .M86 B73 1996
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Hollywood musicals year by year
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Call Number: Baker Berry PN 1995.9 .M86 G74 1990ISBN: 0881886106What movie was the first to combine live action with animated cartoon characters? What movie did Marion Brando first sing in? This book answers these and thousands of other interesting facts about Hollywood's favorite musicals. Provides facts and trivia for more than 300 movies. Each entry includes the screenplay writer, producer, director, choreographer, cast list, song list, release date, plot summary and interesting notes surrounding the production, cast and spin-offs that the movie inspired. -
Musicals on the silver screen
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Call Number: Baker Berry PN 1995.9 .M86 K56 2013ISBN: 1937589307Musicals adapted to the big screen—from West Side Story to The Phantom of the Opera—have enjoyed a staggering amount of success since the 1940s, and this guide is especially tailored to library patrons looking for help selecting the right flick to watch. The book is organized by decade, allowing readers to learn about the nuances of each era of musical movie production, and a description is paired with each film along with an explanation of why it is worth viewing. -
Singing a new tune : the rebirth of the modern film musical, from Evita to De-lovely and beyond
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Call Number: Baker/Berry PN 1995.9 .M86 M85 2005ISBN: 1557836108Critics the world over have often loudly lamented that the movie musical is a dead art form. However, the old razzle-dazzle has had a comeback. Author and film expert John Kenneth Muir faces the music in Singing a New Tune, a rollicking study that traces the rebirth of the film musical from the dark days of the early 1990s - when all the musical numbers were cut from the film I'll Do Anything due to preview audience hostility - to the current heyday of Moulin Rouge, Chicago (Academy Award winner for Best Picture 2002), and Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera. ... -
A song in the dark : the birth of the musical film
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Call Number: Baker/Berry PN 1995.9 .M86 B37 2010ISBN: 0195377346Drawing on meticulous research, sharp wit, and insightful analysis, Richard Barrios illuminates the origins of the movie musical in this extensively revised and updated edition of his highly acclaimed A Song in the Dark. From Warner Bros. and Jolson, to the Oscar-winning Broadway Melody and beyond, here is the whole funny and peculiar history of these films, their creators, and their audiences. -
The Sound of Musicals
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Call Number: Baker Berry PN 1995.9 .M86 S68 2010ISBN: 1844573478This new collection addresses the film musical, a central genre in the Hollywood studio system, which has also been important within British, Hindi and Chinese cinema. Leading international scholars explore key issues, traditions, subgenres, stars and films of the musical film from the 1930s to the present. -
Through the screen door : what happened to the Broadway musical when it went to Hollywood
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Call Number: Paddock ML 1711 .H42 2004ISBN: 0810850184In this personal and opinionated book Tom Hischak takes a close look at what happens when a Broadway musical goes to Hollywood, and less often when Hollywood comes to Broadway. The musicals discussed range from 'The Desert Song' (1927), the first sound film of a Broadway musical, to 'Chicago,' the 2002 film made from the 1975 Broadway hit. Film musicals that became Broadway shows range from 'Lili' (1953) to 'Never Gonna Dance' (2003). The book assumes a basic familiarity with famous musicals but lesser known works are fully explained. -
White Gypsies : race and stardom in Spanish musical films
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Call Number: Baker Berry PN 1995.9 .R67 W77 2012ISBN: 081664585XLittle has been written about the Spanish film musical, a genre usually associated with the early Franco dictatorship and dismissed by critics as reactionary, escapist fare. A timely and valuable corrective, White Gypsies shows how the Spanish folkloric musical films of the 1940s and '50s are inextricably tied to anxious concerns about race--especially, but not only, Gypsiness. ...
Finding articles & journals
Articles and other writings about musicals can be found in many publications. We don't have journals that look exclusively at musicals. However, you can use either Film & Television Literature Index to find relevant articles or the SUMMON box below.
Dartmouth Users: Using Summon from off-campus? You'll need VPN for access to full-text.
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Film & television literature index
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Call Number: Electronic resourceUse this index to find articles about this genre.
A Selected list of musical films
Find more musical films.
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Across the universe
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Call Number: Jones Media DVD #6216Jude is a dock worker from Liverpool who travels to the United States in the 1960s to find his estranged father. There, he falls in love with sheltered American teenager Lucy. When her brother, Max, is drafted to fight in the Vietnam War, they become involved in peace activism. -
The Blues Brothers
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Call Number: Paddock PN 1997 .B584 2005ISBN: 1417034742After Jake Blues is released from prison, he and brother Elwood go to visit the old home where they were raised by nuns. They learn the church is no longer supporting the institution and will sell the place to the education authority. The only way to keep the place open is if the $5000 tax on the property is paid within the next 11 days. The brothers want to help and decide to put their blues band back together and raise the money by staging a big show. As they set off on their "mission from god" they seem to make more enemies than friends along the way. -
Bombay talkie
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Call Number: Jones Media DVD #10691A troubled romance laced with barbed wit and pointed melodrama and an affectionate view of the Indian film industry (aka Bollywood). A visiting English author becomes involved with a married Indian movie star; when the romance fizzles she flees to an ashram. -
Bride & prejudice
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Call Number: Jones Media DVD #2926ISBN: 0788858467Based on Jane Austen's classic novel, Pride and Prejudice, with a Bollywood twist. In Ammritsar, the determined Mrs. Bakshi sets out to find matches for her four daughters. Second sister, Lalita, meets American Will Darcy - is it love? -
Brigadoon
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Call Number: Paddock M 1500 .L84 B75 2005Two Americans stumble upon a Scottish village which comes to life for only one day a century. One of the men falls in love with a townswoman, and has to decide where his heart lies. -
The Buddy Holly story
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Call Number: Jones Media DVD #10352ISBN: 9780767827850Biographical drama of Buddy Holly, the 1950's rock musician from Lubbock, Texas, who changed Rock'n'Roll history. -
The Busby Berkeley collection
Call Number: Paddock PN 1995.9 .M86 B8739 2006 v. 1 - 6ISBN: 9781419823190Five remastered classics include: 42nd Street (1933), Gold Diggers of 1933, Footlight Parade (1933), Dames (1935), Gold Diggers of 1935, plus a bonus disc with more than 20 complete musical numbers from Busby Berkeley. -
Cabaret
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Call Number: Paddock M 1500 .K36 C3 2000ISBN: 9780790782225Sally Bowles, an American singer in 1930s Berlin, falls in love with bi-sexual Brian. They are both then seduced by Max, a rich playboy. Sally becomes pregnant, and Brian offers to marry her... All the characters are linked by the Kit-Kat club, a nightspot where Sally sings. Around them the Nazi Party rises to power. -
Crazy heart
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Call Number: Jones Media DVD #9973The powerful story of a country music star's rocky road to redemption. Bad Blake is a boozy, broken-down singer who reaches for salvation with the help of Jean, a journalist who discovers the real man behind the music. But will Bad's hard-livin' ways and crazy heart cost him his last chance at a comeback? -
Hotel alojamiento
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Call Number: Jones Media DVD #13168Thirteen couples conduct extra-marital affairs in a hotel. -
Irving Berlin's White Christmas
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Call Number: Paddock DVD PN 1997 .I78 2009The classic musical about two guys that become a popular song and dance team and play at a resort for charity. -
Meeting Venus
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Call Number: Jones Media DVD #14462International opera star Karin Anderson and married conductor Zoltan Szanto begin a passionate affair and discover that, unlike opera, love and the lunacy it inspires have no rehearsals. -
Pitch perfect
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Call Number: Jones Media DVD #6187Arriving at her new college, Beca finds herself not right for any clique but somehow is muscled into one that she never would have picked on her own: alongside mean girls, sweet girls and weird girls whose only thing in common is how good they sound when they sing together. When Beca leads this a cappella singing group out of their traditional arrangements and perfect harmonies into all-new mash-ups, they fight to climb their way to the top of college music competitions. -
The Sapphires
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Call Number: Jones Media DVD #16449Inspired by a true story, it's 1968, and four young, talented Australian Aboriginal girls learn about love, friendship and war when their all girl group The Sapphires entertain the US troops in Vietnam.
