The Greek film musical was the most popular film genre in Greece in the 1960s. The songs became instant hits, the dances were performed at parties, and the fashions were imitated by people of all ages. Challenging assumptions that the Greek film musical was a culturally lacking imitation of Hollywood, this work examines the genre as a cinematic and historical phenomenon that condensed key social and cultural concerns of its time, and contributed to the development of a national popular culture in the light of the rapid Americanization of postwar Greece. During two decades characterized by affluence and upward mobility in Greek society, the musical expressed and reinforced the optimism of the times while capturing the tensions and contradictions that emerged as a result of rapid social changes. Beginning with an introduction to modern Greece and cultural identity, the book locates the genre in its historical context and argues that it consists of different layers of cultural appropriation and transformation that redefine traditionally fixed notions of identity. Old Greek cinema is examined, the Greek musical is defined, and a number of key films are analyzed with particular emphasis on the style and structure of the musical numbers. The work concludes with a filmography of Greek musicals; lists of the annual outputs of the production companies Finos Films, Karagiannis-Karatzopoulos, Klak Films, and Damaskinos Michailidis; a glossary; and bibliographies in English, Greek, and French.

In a major expansion of the conversation on music and film history, The Routledge Companion to Global Film Music in the Early Sound Era draws together a wide-ranging collection of scholarship on music in global cinema during the transition from silent to sound films (the late 1920s to the 1940s). Moving beyond the traditional focus on Hollywood, this Companion considers the vast range of cinema and music created in often-overlooked regions throughout the rest of the world, providing crucial global context to film music history. An extensive editorial Introduction and 50 chapters from an array of international experts connect the music and sound of these films to regional and transnational issues—culturally, historically, and aesthetically—across five parts: Western Europe and Scandinavia Central and Eastern Europe North Africa, The Middle East, Asia, and Australasia Latin America Soviet Russia Filling a major gap in the literature, The Routledge Companion to Global Film Music in the Early Sound Era offers an essential reference for scholars of music, film studies, and cultural history.

A unique study of the film musical, a global cinema tradition.

Beginning with the era of synchronized sound in the 1920s, music has been an integral part of motion pictures. Whether used to heighten the tension of a scene or evoke a subtle emotional response, scores have played a significant—if often unrealized—role in the viewer’s enjoyment. In The Invisible Art of Film Music, Laurence MacDonald provides a comprehensive introduction for the general student, film historian, and aspiring cinematographer. Arranged chronologically from the silent era to the present day, this volume provides insight into the evolution of music in cinema and analyzes the vital contributions of scores to hundreds of films. MacDonald reviews key developments in film music and discusses many of the most important and influential scores of the last nine decades, including those from Modern Times, Gone with the Wind, Citizen Kane, Laura, A Streetcar Named Desire, Ben-Hur, Lawrence of Arabia, The Godfather, Jaws, Ragtime, The Mission, Titanic, Gladiator, The Lord of the Rings, Brokeback Mountain,and Slumdog Millionaire. MacDonald also provides biographical sketches of such great composers as Max Steiner, Alfred Newman, Franz Waxman, Bernard Herrmann, Elmer Bernstein, Henry Mancini, Maurice Jarre, John Barry, John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, Dave Grusin, Ennio Morricone, Randy Newman, Hans Zimmer, and Danny Elfman. Updated and expanded to include scores produced well into the twenty-first century, this new edition of The Invisible Art of Film Music will appeal not only to scholars of cinema and musicologists but also any fan of film scores.

Film-induced tourism has the potential to revitalise flagging regional/rural communities and increase tourism to urban centres, however it carries with it its own unique problems. This publication explores such elements, delving into the disciplines of sociology and psychology, along with the fields of destination marketing, community development and strategic planning.

Between the end of the Civil War (1949) and the colonels' military coup (1967) Greece underwent tremendous political, economic, and social transformations which influenced gender identities and relations. During the same period, Greece also witnessed an unparalleled bloom in cinema productions. Based on the recently established paradigm that cinema and popular culture viewed as social institutions can inform a historical study, Masculinity and Gender in Greek Cinema explores the relationship between Greek cinema and the society within which it was created and viewed. The book's double analytical perspective on cinema and masculinity advances both the study of cinema and popular culture as historical sources, and of masculinity and gender relations as valid categories of historical analysis. Cinema as a medium of representation, not only managed to reflect on these issues, it also provided a whole new field for their interpretation. This is the first study to explore the dramatic transformation of masculinity and gender roles, as represented in Greek cinema during the turbulent 1950s and 1960s.