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Music Films: Documentaries, Concert Films and Other Cinematic … by Neil Fox (2024)

Today, we can identify a whole repertoire of music films, ranging from straightforward documentaries, concert films (mostly heavily edited), works directly connected to the music industry to promote sales and also the mockumentary, a parody of some of the aforementioned types of movies. But there are distinct features of the music film, depending on the […]

Rock’n’Roll Plays Itself: A Screen History by John Scanlan (2022)

When in the mid-1950s rock’n’roll as both commercial force and incarnation of teenage style invaded the charts and cinema screens, the new category was a bit too much for most common and well-aged (British and American) entertainment shows and representations on screen. In the early days, neither TV nor the film industry would grasp the […]

Movies, Songs, and Electric Sound: Transatlantic Trends by Charles O’Brien (2019)

Sound film changed many ideas and experiences of watching motion pictures; certain aspects that concern the use of songs, musical story lines and content of films from 1930 onward are evaluated here. Author O’Brian selected a corpus of roughly 500 feature films (including musical films) from France, the US, England and Hollywood’s greatest rival at […]

Soundies Jukebox Films and the Shift to Small-Screen Culture by Andrea J. Kelley (2018)

During the 1940s about 1,850 “Soundies” were produced in the US, destined to be played on 5,000 special standalone film machines in circulation nationwide. Those 16mm short films with a musical content were presented in coin-operated movie jukeboxes that were known as “Panorams,” which could be found in consumer places or likely in any place  […]