Saying It with Songs: Popular Music and the Coming of Sound to Hollywood Cinema

摘要

Saying It with Songs: Popular Music and the Coming of Sound to Hollywood Cinema is a detailed history of the integration of music within film during the 1920s and early 1930s. Dr. Katherine Spring takes a unique approach, examining both the economic implications of including music in film and the impact of the use of songs on the narrative in 'non-musical' films. Saying It with Songs details the pursuits and changes of the film industry from 1927 to 1931, which Spring notes is rarely studied. Citing the lack of research that combines the economic drive for including music in film and the use of songs as storytelling tools, Spring takes a scholarly approach to focus on an admittedly narrow time period to explore the intersection between economic and narrative pressures. Spring's well-written work is accessible and enlightening to audiences from film buffs to neophytes alike and is strengthened by the thoroughness of her research.