Epic sound : music in postwar Hollywood biblical films / Stephen C. Meyer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Meyer, Stephen C., 1963- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Motion picture music--History and criticism.

Motion picture music.

Bible films--United States.

Bible films.

Film composers.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (288 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Bloomington, Indiana : Indiana University Press, 2015.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Lavish musical soundtracks contributed a special grandeur to the new widescreen, stereophonic sound movie experience of postwar biblical epics such as Samson and Delilah, Ben-Hur, and Quo Vadis. In Epic Sound, Stephen C. Meyer shows how music was utilized for various effects, sometimes serving as a vehicle for narrative plot and at times complicating biblical and cinematic interpretation. In this way, the soundscapes of these films reflected the ideological and aesthetic tensions within the genre, and more generally, within postwar American society. By examining key biblical films, Meyer adept

Contents:

A biblical story for the post-World War II generation? : Victor Young's music for DeMille's Samson and Delilah

Turning away from "concocted spectacle" : Alfred Newman's score for David and Bathsheba

Spectacle and authenticity in Miklós Rózsa's Quo vadis score

Novel and film, music and miracle : Alfred Newman's score to The robe

Spirit and empire : Elmer Bernstein's score to The Ten Commandments

The law of genre and the music for Ben-Hur

King of kings and the problem of repetition

Suoni nuovi, suoni antich i: the soundscapes of Barabbas

Universality, transcendence, and collapse : music and the greatest story ever told.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780253014597

025301459X

OCLC:

892430047