Dangerous Rhythm: Why Movie Musicals Matter

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Singin in the Rain, The Sound of Music, Camelot love them or love to hate them, movie musicals have been a major part of all our lives They re so glitzy and catchy that it seems impossible that they could have ever gone any other way But the ease in which they unfold on the screen is deceptive Dorothy s dream of finding a land Somewhere Over the Rainbow was nearly cut, and even a film as great as The Band Wagon was, at the time, a major flop In Dangerous Rhythm Why Movie Musicals Matter, award winning historian Richard Barrios explores movie musicals from those first hits, The Jazz Singer and Broadway Melody, to present day Oscar winners Chicago and Les Miserables History, film analysis, and a touch of backstage gossip combine to make Dangerous Rhythm a compelling look at musicals and the powerful, complex bond they forge with their audiences Going behind the scenes, Barrios uncovers the rocky relationship between Broadway and Hollywood, the unpublicized off camera struggles of directors, stars, and producers, and all the various ways by which some films became our most indelible cultural touchstones and others ended up as train wrecks Not content to leave any format untouched, Barrios examines animated musicals and popular music with insight and enthusiasm Cartoons have been intimately connected with musicals since Steamboat Willie Disney s short Silly Symphonies grew into the instant classic Snow White, which paved the way for that modern masterpiece, South Park Bigger, Longer, Uncut Without movie musicals, Barrios argues, MTV would have never existed On the flip side, without MTV we might have been spared Evita Informed, energetic, and humorous, Dangerous Rhythm is both an impressive piece of scholarship and a joy to read. Best Download Dangerous Rhythm: Why Movie Musicals Matter [ by ] Richard Barrios [ Kindle ePUB or eBook ] – kino-fada.fr Not satisfied with just writing about the birth of musical films A Song in the Dark 1995 , Richard Barrios looks at the importance of movie musicals of all types via a kaleidoscope of lenses In twelve short chapters, an introduction, and epilogue, he discusses the past and future of movie musicals, the origination of the concept of the musical, who have been the stars, the role of music versus plot, etc., not neglecting animated musicals and television musicals.The book and the chapter title Not satisfied with just writing about the birth of musical films A Song in the Dark 1995 , Richard Barrios looks at the importance of movie musicals of all types via a ...A very disappointing book coming after 2 books by Barrios that I liked quite a bit This one is a mess from beginning to end Occasionally he makes an interesting observation about musicals, especially ones of the 20s and 30s, but there are three huge problems 1 There is no strong thesis except for that given in the subtitle, and I don t think he succeeds in proving that they DO matter I firmly believe they do, but not because of anything in this book 2 The structure is thematic music, ac A very disappointing book coming after 2 books by Barrios that I liked quite a bit This one is a mess from beginning to end Occasionally he makes an interesting observation about musicals, especially ones of the 20s and 30s, but there are three huge problems 1 There is no strong thesis except for that given in the subtitle, and I don t think he succeeds in proving that they DO matter I firmly believe they do, but not because of anything in this book 2 The structure is thematic music, actors, material, race and sex rather than chronological or by movie, so there is a LOT of repetition he tells us how great Wizard of Oz is and how terrible Paint Your Wagon is in almost every chapter 3 There are virtually no plot summaries or even descriptions of production numbers or sets he is assuming an audience who has seen every movie he has Two sections of th...Dangerous Rhythm is an extremely enjoyable book It is the equivalent of listening to an interesting person talk about a subject he is passionate and well informed about.The book covers the movie musical from the Twenties to Les Miserables, but instead of taking a chronological approach, Barrios looks at key themes the role of a director, Broadway to Hollywood adaptations, flops, the best musicals, animated musicals and the impact of TV on the musical This last was a topic I hadn t even s Dangerous Rhythm is an extremely enjoyable book It is the equivalent of listening to an interesting person talk about a subject he is passionate and well informed about.The book covers the movie musical from the Twenties to Les Miserables, but instead of taking a chronological approach, Barrios looks at key themes the role of a director, Broadway to ...To begin with, I ll say that Barrios is obviously knowledgeable and passionate with definite opinions when it comes to movie musicals The good thing about a book like this is that it introduce me to many movies that I d never heard of, so it will fun to track them down The problem I had with Dangerous Rhythm is that for the first half of the book, Barrios is so negative in his opinions about musicals, that it s hard to believe he likes them I kept wondering what his criteria for excellence To begin with, I ll say that Barrios is obviously knowledgeable and passionate with definite opinions when it comes to movie musicals The good thing about a book like this is that it introduce me to many movies that I d never heard of, so it will fun to track them down The problem I had with Dangerous Rhythm is that for the first half of the book, Barrios is so negative in his opinions about musicals, that it...I think I would have enjoyed thisif it had been lesssnooty I understand that the author has a vast amount of knowledge about musicals, but the negative overtone of most of the chapters, and the biting way so many musicals that I love were dissed, made this one hard to read I had the feeling that the author felt his opinion of every film discussed was obviously everyone s opinion, and to be honest I wasn t sure he even liked musicals until the very last chapter wherein he finally begin I think I would have enjoyed thisif it had been lesssnooty I understand that the author has a vast amount of knowledge about musicals, but the negative overtone of most of the chapters, and the biting way so many musicals that I love were dissed, m...For a book written by a man who is known for writing such in depth pieces about musicals, much of Dangerous Rhythm sounds like an attack on almost every musical ever put on film Sure, he heaps major amounts of praise on the expected classics, but most of the comments skew towards deriding most of the genre s output That said, it does include a lot of information and it does pose a valid point about the cookie cutter, factory style look and feel of a lot of old school musicals Barrios also doe For a book written by a man who is known for writing such in depth pieces about musicals, much of Dangerous Rhythm sounds like an attack on almost every m...This book was recommended in the recent TCM Ball State online course on musicals I was expecting something a bitenthused about musical films The back story info was interesting, just not enough of it I did discover a fewfilms I d like to watch.Fascinating and personal take on film musicals from a guy who really knows the topic.Don t go into this book expecting a clear explanation of the subtitle, or even a clear explanation of anything I think this book is what it might be like to hang out with Richard Barrios for a couple of hours over coffee, listening to him expound on one hundred years of movie musicals He s totally biased, but he s so smart and witty that I can forgive him for taking jabs at my faves, Judy Garland and Gene Kelly as the cover image implies, Barrios is an Astaire loyalist all the way It took a Don t go into this book expecting a clear explanation of the subtitle, or even a clear explanation of anything I think this book is what it might be like to hang out with Richard Barrios for a couple of hours over coffee, listening to him expound on one hundred years of ...For those of us who love movie musicals, the sad reality is that most of them aren t very good, a few are sublime and the rest have their moments Richard Barrios does an excellent job of explaining why some musicals work so well and others flop Each chapter looks at how different aspects of musicals have evolved through mo...

Dangerous Rhythm: Why Movie Musicals Matter
  • English
  • 25 November 2018
  • Hardcover
  • 276 pages
  • 0199973849
  • Richard Barrios
  • Dangerous Rhythm: Why Movie Musicals Matter