Spectacle in "Classical" Cinemas: Musicality and Historicity in the 1930s

292 Pages·2016·2.289 MB·English

by  Brown, Tom

Spectacle in “Classical” Cinemas
Spectacle is not often considered to be a significant part of the style of “clas-
sical” cinema. Indeed, some of the most influential accounts of cinematic
classicism define it virtually by the supposed absence of spectacle. Spectacle
in “Classical” Cinemas brings a fresh perspective on the role of the spec-
tacular in classical sound cinema by focusing on one decade of cinema (the
1930s), in two “modes” of filmmaking (musical and historical films), and in
two national cinemas (the US and France). This not only brings to light the
special rhetorical and affective possibilities offered by spectacular images
but refines our understanding of what “classical” cinema is and was.
Tom Brown is Senior Lecturer in the Film Studies Department at King’s
College London, UK.
Routledge Advances in Film Studies
1 Korea’s Occupied Cinemas, 9 European Civil War Films
1893–1948 Memory, Conflict,
The Untold History of the and Nostalgia
Film Industry Eleftheria Rania Kosmidou
Brian Yecies with
Ae-Gyung Shim 10 The Aesthetics of Antifascist Film
Radical Projection
2 Transnational Asian Identities Jennifer Lynde Barker
in Pan-Pacific Cinemas
The Reel Asian Exchange 11 The Politics of Age and
Edited by Philippa Gates and Disability in Contemporary
Lisa Funnell Spanish Film
Plus Ultra Pluralism
3 Narratives of Gendered Dissent Matthew J. Marr
in South Asian Cinemas
Alka Kurian 12 Cinema and Language Loss
Displacement, Visuality and
4 Hollywood Melodrama the Filmic Image
and the New Deal Tijana Mamula
Public Daydreams
Anna Siomopoulos 13 Cinema as Weather
Stylistic Screens and
5 Theorizing Film Acting Atmospheric Change
Edited by Aaron Taylor Kristi McKim
6 Stardom and the Aesthetics 14 Landscape and Memory in
of Neorealism Post-Fascist Italian Film
Ingrid Bergman in Cinema Year Zero
Rossellini’s Italy Giuliana Minghelli
Ora Gelley
15 Masculinity in the
7 Postwar Renoir Contemporary
Film and the Memory Romantic Comedy
of Violence Gender as Genre
Colin Davis John Alberti
8 Cinema and Inter-American 16 Crossover Cinema
Relations Cross-Cultural Film from
Tracking Transnational Affect Production to Reception
Adrián Pérez Melgosa Edited by Sukhmani Khorana
17 Spanish Cinema in the 26 American Documentary
Global Context Filmmaking in the Digital Age
Film on Film Depictions of War in Burns,
Samuel Amago Moore, and Morris
Lucia Ricciardelli
18 Japanese Horror Films and
Their American Remakes 27 Asian Cinema and the
Translating Fear, Use of Space
Adapting Culture Interdisciplinary Perspectives
Valerie Wee Edited by Lilian Chee
and Edna Lim
19 Postfeminism and Paternity in
Contemporary US Film 28 Moralizing Cinema
Framing Fatherhood Film, Catholicism and Power
Hannah Hamad Edited by Daniel Biltereyst and
Daniela Treveri Gennari
20 Cine-Ethics
Ethical Dimensions of 29 Popular Film Music and
Film Theory, Practice Masculinity in Action
and Spectatorship A Different Tune
Edited by Jinhee Choi and Amanda Howell
Mattias Frey
30 Film and the American
21 Postcolonial Film Presidency
History, Empire, Resistance Edited by Jeff Menne and
Edited by Rebecca Weaver- Christian B. Long
Hightower and Peter Hulme
31 Hollywood Action Films
22 The Woman’s Film of the 1940s and Spatial Theory
Gender, Narrative, and History Nick Jones
Alison L. McKee
32 The Western in the Global South
23 Iranian Cinema in a Edited by MaryEllen Higgins,
Global Context Rita Keresztesi, and Dayna
Policy, Politics, and Form Oscherwitz
Edited by Peter Decherney and
Blake Atwood 33 Spaces of the Cinematic Home
Behind the Screen Door
24 Eco-Trauma Cinema Edited by Eleanor Andrews,
Edited by Anil Narine Stella Hockenhull, and Fran
Pheasant-Kelly
25 American and Chinese-
Language Cinemas 34 Spectacle in “Classical” Cinemas
Examining Cultural Flows Musicality and Historicity
Edited by Lisa Funnell and in the 1930s
Man-Fung Yip Tom Brown
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Spectacle in “Classical”
Cinemas
Musicality and Historicity in
the 1930s
Tom Brown
First published 2016
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2016 Taylor & Francis
The right of Tom Brown to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him
in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any
form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks,
and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Brown, Tom, 1978-
Spectacle in “classical” cinemas : musicality and historicity in the 1930s / by Tom Brown.
pages cm. — (Routledge advances in film studies)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Spectacular, The, in motion pictures. 2. Musical films—United States—History—
20th century. 3. Musical films—France—History—20th century. 4. Historical films—
United States—History—20th century. 5. Historical films—France—History—20th
century. I. Title.
PN1995.9.S66953B86 2015
791.43'67—dc23 2015009705
ISBN: 978-1-138-85294-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-72313-6 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by codeMantra
This book is dedicated to Edith and Mel Brown, who give it
all meaning.
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Contents
List of Figures xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction and Critical Contexts 1
PART I
Musicality
1 Performance Space 51
2 Emotional Topoi 111
3 Entertainment and Dystopia? 136
PART II
Historicity
4 Monumental History 155
5 Spectacular Vistas and the Décor of History 192
6 Critical History? 230
Conclusion 252
References 259
Index 273