In the first book-length consideration of the topic for sixty years, Kevin Donnelly examines the importance of music in British film, concentrating both on musical scores, such as William Walton's score for Henry V (1944) and Malcolm Arnold's music for The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), and on the phenomenon of the British film musical.
'Donnelly's book is a welcome addition to the slowly expanding corpus of serious writing on British film music.' - Jeffrey Richards, Journal of British Cinema and Television
'British Film Music and Film Musicals constitutes a valuable addition to the analytical literature on music in films, especially for its emphasis on the relations between aesthetics and the production contexts. Equally important is the explicit challenge towards the hegemony of mainstream Hollywood cinema.' - Lee Marshall, University of Bristol UK, Journal of Popular Music
'British Film Music and Film Musicals constitutes a valuable addition to the analytical literature on music in films, especially for its emphasis on the relations between aesthetics and the production contexts. Equally important is the explicit challenge towards the hegemony of mainstream Hollywood cinema.' - Lee Marshall, University of Bristol UK, Journal of Popular Music