Music in the Shadows: Noir Musical Films

by Sheri Chinen Biesen

Overview

An analysis of Hollywood films that blend elements of musicals and film noir, from the author of Blackout: World War II and the Origins of Film Noir.

Welcome to the world of “noir musical” films, where tormented antiheroes and hard-boiled musicians battle obsession and struggle with their music and ill-fated love triangles. Sultry divas dance and sing the blues in shrouded nightclubs. Romantic intrigue clashes with backstage careers.

In her pioneering study, Music in the Shadows, film noir expert Sheri Chinen Biesen explores musical films that use film noir style and jazz to inhabit a disturbing underworld and reveal the dark side of fame and the American Dream. While noir musical films like A Star Is Born (1954) include musical performances, their bleak tone and expressionistic aesthetic more closely resemble the visual style of film noir. Their narratives unfold behind a stark noir lens: distorted, erratic angles and imbalanced hand-held shots allow the audience to experience a tortured, disillusioned perspective.

While many musicals glamorize the quest for the Hollywood spotlight, brooding noir musical films such as Blues in the Night, Gilda, The Red Shoes, West Side Story, and Round Midnight stretch the boundaries of film noir and the musical as film genres collide. Deep shadows, dim lighting, and visual composition evoke moodiness, cynicism, pessimism, and subjective psychological points of view.

Biesen draws on extensive primary research in studio archives to situate her examination within a historical, industrial, and cultural context.

“Biesen builds a fascinating and quite convincing case for a genre hybrid, the noir musical, that took root in the 1940s but has continued to evolve ever since.” —Thomas Schatz, The University of Texas at Austin

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781421408392
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	04/27/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	225
File size:	5 MB

About the Author

Sheri Chinen Biesen is an associate professor of radio, television, and film studies at Rowan University and author of Blackout: World War II and the Origins of Film Noir, also published by Johns Hopkins.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
1. The Noir Musical
2. Preludes to the Noir Musical
3. Blues in the Night: The Noir Musical on the Brink of World War II
4. Smoky Melodies: Jazz Noir Musical Drama
5. Le Rouge et le Noir: From The Red Shoes to A Star Is Born
6. Dark Musical Melodrama: From Young at Heart to West Side Story
7. The Legacy of the Noir Musical
Notes
Index

What People are Saying About This

Thomas Schatz

Continuing the groundbreaking work on film noir in her first book, Blackout, which uncovered the origins of noir in World War II, Sheri Chinen Biesen’s Music in the Shadows traces another unlikely, understudied connection—between film noir and the Hollywood musical. Blending archival research, textual analysis, industrial and cultural history, Biesen builds a fascinating and quite convincing case for a genre hybrid, the noir musical, that took root in the 1940s but has continued to evolve ever since—from post-classical masterworks like The Red Shoes and West Side Story to New Hollywood gems like All That Jazz and Moulin Rouge. In the process, she challenges and fundamentally changes our understanding of both film noir and the film musical.

From the Publisher

With Music in the Shadows, Biesen continues her trailblazing scholarship in film noir. Having delineated noir's World War II origins in Blackout, Biesen focuses on noir's impact on a specific genre, the musical. Biesen offers an arresting and innovative exploration of studio documents, publicity, and the films themselves, spanning wartime through the 1950s, demonstrating the cycle's continuing resonances. A book for every noir and musical enthusiast who wants to expand their understanding of these forms—and for all who want to know more of the American musical tradition and its cultural evolution.
—Brian Taves, author of Thomas Ince: Hollywood's Independent Pioneer

Continuing the groundbreaking work on film noir in her first book, Blackout, which uncovered the origins of noir in World War II, Sheri Chinen Biesen’s Music in the Shadows traces another unlikely, understudied connection—between film noir and the Hollywood musical. Blending archival research, textual analysis, industrial and cultural history, Biesen builds a fascinating and quite convincing case for a genre hybrid, the noir musical, that took root in the 1940s but has continued to evolve ever since—from post-classical masterworks like The Red Shoes and West Side Story to New Hollywood gems like All That Jazz and Moulin Rouge. In the process, she challenges and fundamentally changes our understanding of both film noir and the film musical.
—Thomas Schatz, The University of Texas at Austin

Brian Taves

With Music in the Shadows, Biesen continues her trailblazing scholarship in film noir. Having delineated noir's World War II origins in Blackout, Biesen focuses on noir's impact on a specific genre, the musical. Biesen offers an arresting and innovative exploration of studio documents, publicity, and the films themselves, spanning wartime through the 1950s, demonstrating the cycle's continuing resonances. A book for every noir and musical enthusiast who wants to expand their understanding of these forms—and for all who want to know more of the American musical tradition and its cultural evolution.

Editorial Reviews

[Biesen's] writing is silky and engaging and will enthrall fans of musicals and film noir...
—Library Journal

Music in the Shadows is an interesting and provocative approach to post-genre film criticism that underscores the interconnectedness of diverse media, and provides both a challenging perspective on the musical genre and a testimonial to the ongoing legacy of noir sensibility.
—Louis J. Kern, Key Reporter

The book nicely balances in-depth historical research and previous film noir scholarship with fresh ideas and a writing style that is both evocative and concise. The author doesn't force the films into the model of her theory; instead the films guide the theory, a quality often lacking in film writing. Music in the Shadows ultimately succeeds on two levels, both in providing an entertaining and enlightening read, as well as an impetus to watch previously unseen films and rewatch familiar classics with a new perspective.
—Anne M. Hockens, Noir City

Biesen's relevant study provides new insight and proves a welcome addition to film noir studies.
—Choice

From the Publisher

Music in the Shadows is an interesting and provocative approach to post-genre film criticism that underscores the interconnectedness of diverse media, and provides both a challenging perspective on the musical genre and a testimonial to the ongoing legacy of noir sensibility.

Key Reporter - Louis J. Kern

The book nicely balances in-depth historical research and previous film noir scholarship with fresh ideas and a writing style that is both evocative and concise. The author doesn't force the films into the model of her theory; instead the films guide the theory, a quality often lacking in film writing. Music in the Shadows ultimately succeeds on two levels, both in providing an entertaining and enlightening read, as well as an impetus to watch previously unseen films and rewatch familiar classics with a new perspective.

Noir City - Anne M. Hockens

Biesen's relevant study provides new insight and proves a welcome addition to film noir studies.

Choice

The author is to be congratulated on producing an exemplary study in empirical film history.

Historical Journal of Film

A film noir aficionado, Biesen provides the most detailed and thoroughly researched interpretation of this era's American film noir.

American Historical Review

Biesen's book is readable, informative and jargon free... Biesen uses her research into studio archives, the films' attendant publicity and the contemporary press to bring alive the wartime period of film noir and its transformation into a post-war genre for dealing with troubled veterans returning home, the coming of the Cold War, nuclear angst and the effects of McCarthyism on Hollywood and the nation at large.

Times Literary Supplement

07/01/2014
The phrase "film noir" evokes specific images: moody cinematography, smoky tendrils, femmes fatales, cynical men. Yet there's another element that is vital to this genre—the music. Whether it's the blues or jazz, crooners or torch singers, the music of these films reminds the viewer of a time and place that is rarely visited today. Biesen (Blackout) studies film noir's dark sister, the musical noir. At a time when many studios were releasing generic escapist fare, studios including Warner Bros. and Columbia released films such as Gilda and To Have and Have Not, which paved the way for Judy Garland in A Star Is Born, the "dark alternative to the idealized world of upbeat musicals." VERDICT In exploring musical noir, the author moves from its beginnings in the 1930s to such modern examples as Moulin Rouge! and Chicago from the early 2000s. Her writing is silky and engaging and will enthrall fans of musicals and film noir and those interested in the cultural significance of the genre and its far-reaching impact on modern cinema.—Teri Shiel, Univ. of Connecticut Health Ctr. Lib., Farmington

Library Journal