Making Music in Selznick's Hollywood

Erscheinungsjahr 2017
ISBN: 978-0-19-937111-2
Verlag: OXFORD UNIV PR

Buch, Englisch, 416 Seiten, Format (B × H): 161 mm x 240 mm, Gewicht: 781 g

Iconic images from fiery scenes of catharsis in Gone With the Wind and Rebecca to The Third Man's decadent cinematography have proven inseparable from their accompanying melodies. From the 1910s-50s, producer David O. Selznick depended upon music to distinguish his films from his competitors'. By demonstrating music's value in film and encouraging its distribution through sheet music, concerts, radio broadcasts, and soundtrack albums, Selznick changed audiences' relationship to movie music. But what role did Selznick play in the actual music composition that distinguished his productions, and how was that music made? As the first of its kind to consider film music from the perspective of a producer, this book tells the story of the evolution of Selznick's style through the many artists whose work defined Hollywood sound. Utilizing thousands of archival documents, chapters in this book unearth and analyze Selznick's efforts in the late silent-era, his work at three major Hollywood studios, and his accomplishments as an independent producer, including music-making for King Kong, A Star is Born, Prisoner of Zenda, Duel in the Sun, among many others.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Platte, Nathan

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaften Medienwissenschaften Fernsehen & Rundfunk
• Geisteswissenschaften Theater- und Filmwissenschaft | Andere Darstellende Künste Filmwissenschaft, Fernsehen, Radio Filmtheorie, Filmanalyse
• Geisteswissenschaften Musikwissenschaft Musikgattungen Andere zeitgenössische Musikrichtungen
• Geisteswissenschaften Musikwissenschaft Musikwissenschaft Allgemein Einzelne Komponisten und Musiker

Inhaltsverzeichnis

- Contents

- Foreword by Daniel Goldmark

- About the Companion Website

- Introduction

- Part I: Selznick in the Studio System

- 1. In the Selznick Family Tradition

- 2. "Drama Rising Like Might Music": Selznick and Steiner at RKO

- 3. Variations on a Theme: Selznick and Stothart at MGM

- Part II: Musically Independent

- 4. The Start of Selznick International Pictures

- 5. Music Director Differences: Artful Arbitration through Selznick International's Busiest Years

- Part III: Music for Hollywood's Prestige Producer

- 6. Gone with the Wind, Part I: Producing the Score

- 7. Gone with the Wind, Part II: The Music of "Max Steiner and Co."

- 8. "I know just what she's going through": Rebecca's Music for Interiors

- 9. "Together" for the Last Time in Since You Went Away

- 10. Success in Spite of Itself: The Trouble with Spellbound

- Part IV: Postwar Experiments

- 11. From the Ranch to the Drawing Room: Duel in the Sun and The Paradine Case

- 12. "Our Valedictory to Wild Extravagance": The Curious Portrait of Jennie

- 13. Selznick Beyond Hollywood

- 14. Conclusion

- Acknowledgements

- Select Bibliography

Über Autor(innen)

Nathan Platte teaches music history at the University of Iowa. He is co-author of Franz Waxman's Rebecca: A Film Score Guide (Scarecrow Press, 2012) and co-editor of The Routledge Film Music Sourcebook (Routledge, 2011).