1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910787039403321

Autore

Meyer Stephen C. <1963->

Titolo

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

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Bloomington, Indiana : , : Indiana University Press, , 2015

©2015

ISBN

0-253-01459-X

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (288 p.)

Disciplina

781.5/420973

Soggetti

Motion picture music - History and criticism

Bible films - United States

Film composers

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

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.

Sommario/riassunto

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