Showing posts with label TCM. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TCM. Show all posts

Jun 11, 2016

Attention TCM Fans: The Decline of Musicals in American Cinema--What Happened

It seems to me that musicals are much less common in the American Film Industry these days in comparison to the 30's, 40's, and 50's. Of course, I'm not saying that they never make musicals (e.g. Disney/Pixar films, Baz Luhrmann films, etc...), but it seems like they used to make a lot more a long time ago.
When did this shift away from musicals occur? What are the factors which led to the apparent decline? Why don't we see very many american musical films?
shareimprove this question
   
I don't know the logistics of when, but it all comes down to the mighty dollar and what people want to see. When the majority of people aren't looking for musicals, the production companies will quit making them. If there is a resurgence for musicals, they will come back into vogue. – Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 Dec 12 '13 at 2:38 
   
@Paulster2: Even if that were true, it doesn't really explain the essence of why people stopped wanting to watch; when there is a clear trend of commercial viability in the past. – Paul Dec 12 '13 at 3:55
   
Pixar's never made a musical, it makes more sense to just say Disney films, or even animated as non-Disney production houses had fair amounts of success with musicals. – vastra360 Feb 24 '14 at 20:47
up vote18down voteaccepted
The reason why musicals are less popular now, or more prolific back in the first half of the century is pretty long, but hopefully engaging and interesting. It certainly was to me when I studied it. There are tons of academic books written about the downfall of musicals, but here's the short(er) version:
Musicals (along with Westerns) were very much a staple of the now defunct Star System that American studio's used to participate in. As such, if you could make a Musical Western, you were laughing all the way to the bank.
enter image description here
As you have correctly pointed out, these days Musicals (and Westerns, for that matter) are only produced as Prestige Pictures, and there are reasons for that...
The 1920's saw a technological leap forward that would change cinema forever: Namely, the introduction of sound. The Jazz Singer featured the first sequence of synchronized sound in a widely distributed feature film, and was met with immediate success. From its very inception, the use of sound in cinema was linked with music, and more specifically yet singing, so the connection to musical theater was recognized and explored immediately.
The Star System was already in place, and as such singing and dancing were added to actors feature lists to make them all rounders. Early successes of the pre-sound cinema, like Florence Lawrence, the 'Biograph Girl' fell to the wayside in favor of more musical fare. Appropriately, the Biograph Girl's story was turned into a musical itself, and both The Artist and Singing in the Rain borrow elements from her story. The studios enjoyed great success from the stars they promoted into musicals, and there was global appreciation for them for many years.
It wasn't until the late 1950's that things within the Star System started to fall apart, and it was just as much the studio's fault than it was that the audiences didn't want to see musicals anymore.
You see, for a long period The Studio System enjoyed Vertical Integration, meaning that they owned and controlled their entire production, distribution and exhibition processes themselves. This level of control may seem beneficial, but it whittled movie production into only 5 competing studios, 'The Big Five': MGM, Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, and RKO. (There was also'The Little Three', but as their nomenclature would indicate, they weren't as big!)
The result of this set up meant that Studios were only really competing with a small market, and as they had all more or less decided to keep out of each others pockets, very little even there. This meant that there was no competitive market to decline or bargain for movies, so the only thing that could influence what sort of film was being made was a studio executive in his office, who were hardly representative of the masses!
It wasn't until 1948 that the Supreme Court ruled that this system should be broken up, and it was itself only delayed because of the focus on the war. This meant that the studios' control was finally broken up, but it had very little real effect to the Big Five who had used their time wisely to consolidate their assets into a firm grip on the industry.
However, for the time being, the studios continued to prosper. Different Genre's came in and out of popularity, and so not being a genre itself, but more of a method of application Musicals survived by simply adopting the genre a la' mode and wearing it like a mask for a while.
WWII nostalgia films become popular? War Musicals.
enter image description here
Warner Bros. have a spate of successful Gangster movies? Gangster Musicals.
enter image description here
It didn't matter whether or not people actually wanted to see these movies, there was no choice in the matter and as a result of that, they enjoyed the illusion of popularity, not to mention being genuinely popular anyway as a means of family entertainment in a very conservative America.
The real killing blow to musicals came with the same blow that threw the entire industry into crisis: advent of Home Television. It was a slow death however, over a number of years. For the most part, the Industry didn't even realize it was dying. People had been provided with Choice for the first time, and for an industry who's unofficial motif was "You'll get what you're given", this was bad news...The motto slowly became its epitaph. Some Studio's began to experiment with Television, and set up sister studio's in the rival industry, but even this did little to change their programming output.
The rise of Suburbia also struck its blow, as people were expected to take long journeys into cities to see movies, and the Television was already sat in their living room. It would have to be something pretty impressive to budge them, so in a way they were voting with their feet.
Still, the studio's remained stubborn in their refusal to adapt. Whatsmore, the Hays Code was still very much in place, not only prohibiting certain types of film but encouraging Studios to stick to what they knew already, stifling any creative experimentation.
When this all finally came to a head in the late 60's, the industry was in crisis. It didn't know, or more accurately didn't care, what their audiences wanted anymore.
The only solution to this was tantamount to almost total replacement. Crew and Cast from leading men to lighting operators, Directors to set designers were systematically replaced for younger, fresher and more in touch counterparts. This became known as The New Hollywood, and produced what many people consider the greatest movies of 20th century's second half.
This came at its price...
The Directors had to fight for years, and continue fighting, to wrestle creative control from the old guard. They heavily resented the former ringleaders of the industry, and poured scorn on their pitiable output of incessant Musicals.
Furthermore, many of these directors looked up to the writing of Cahiers du Cinema, and the European cinematic giants who wrote for it: Bresson, Goddard, Truffaut to name a few. These were figures that hated Musical Cinema, not only for what they considered to be unoriginal copies of stage productions, but for the American Imperialistic intent these films harbored as they washed over Europe. This hatred found its way stateside and embedded itself into the New Hollywood.
The Hays code was finally lifted in 1969, giving these film makers a freedom no one had experienced since the mid 1920's. And what did they do with this freedom? They ran as far away from Musical cinema as possible.
The only studio to continue exploring Musicals as a prolific statement is Disney, for obvious animation reasons. It is for this reason that they are able to credibly produce programmes like Glee and movies like High School Musical: They have a fair claim to owning the Modern Musical Mastership, and they pretty much kept it breathing for the last part of the 20th century.
So, until the late 60's, audiences were forcibly saturated with Musicals, and came to collectively loathe them, even if it took a bunch of pretty spiteful up and comers to point this out to them.
These up and comers ended up taking on their own downfall, however, proving history repeats itself. But that is a story for another time!



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shareimprove this answer
   
Isn't there also a parallel with stage musicals? Both forms appear to have dwindled in popularity at around the same time/rate. – coleopterist Dec 12 '13 at 13:54
   
@coleopterist as I said, saturation is probably the key player there. Stage Musicals still enjoy wide success, but their territory is largely Broadway and the West End, as opposed to Hollywood. – John Smith OptionalDec 12 '13 at 14:13
4 
If only all questions could be answered this well. Bravo good sir! – MattD Dec 12 '13 at 17:21
   
Thanks Matt. I'm on a bit of a spree at the minute, trying to lead by example and contribute interesting answers! – John Smith Optional Dec 12 '13 at 17:26
   
I very much enjoyed reading your answer. +10,000 if I could! – System Down Dec 12 '13 at 17:33
1 
@SystemDown thankyou, that's cool to read. I think the reason I was able to give an interesting answer is because it was an interesting question, and sometimes we're way to quick to close down questions like this without giving them time to blossom into discussion. I hope other people have different contributions/research to add, but sometimes we close in on questions before they have a chance... I'll step down off my soapbox, now. – John Smith Optional Dec 12 '13 at 17:40

Feb 2, 2013

I can't wait to watch Liza in Cabaret this Tues on TCM










































I can't wait to watch Liza in Cabaret this Tues on TCM

I can't wait to watch Cabaret this Tues on TCM.

Gosh, Liza Minnelli is fantastic--her talent--in this particular film is unequaled.

I don't think any one could beat her in that role.

Talking about time and place--then and now, I'll give an example--remember the movie Chicago.

Well, I went to see that movie, somewhat reluctantly.

All the actors were very, very good, indeed, but I said wait a minute--haven't I seen this before?

That movie Chicago really showcases Liza Minnelli and her extraordinary gift.  Those people were real good, but as good as they were they only showed how expert Liza was in comparison.  I longed to watch Liza in Cabaret as I watched Chicago.

The whole movie is just about perfect.  Joel Grey and Michael York and Marisa Berensen--I was mesmerized watching it--not having a clue what it was about--it was a movie of my time, of my young adult hood--that always marks the time, who and when of what we are doesn't it?

Liza has the knack of portraying bold and vulnerable at the same time--Joel Grey--gosh--who ever saw anything like that--while he is equally gifted he still serves to show off my Liza.

She deserves the praise--everyone deserves praise involved in that show--who knew it was a musical--that's news to me, as they don't break into song at any given ridiculous moment.  I thought it was just Liza singing a few songs in a club because that's what she does.

The unanswerable question:
Seriously--what was Liza suppose to do as an entertainer given her heritage--how can anyone live up to that?  That's got to be a tough act to follow--she gave it her all, how taxing, she is to be commended for excellence.

What would be do without Liza, Robert and TCM?  As PBS says--Its a gift of art to the viewer and what a gift it is.

It all came together in that show--what a gift of life and talent for all of us---thanks Liza--you deserve it.......cl

copied from TCM................
10:15 PM ET
CABARET
After a box-office disaster with his film version of Sweet Charity in 1969, Bob Fosse bounced back with Cabaret in 1972, a year that would make him the most honored director in show business. And he wasn't the only winner in this case, as the film also brought Liza Minnelli her first chance to sing on screen and an Oscar for Best Actress. With Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor (Joel Grey), Cinematography, Art Direction, Sound, Adapted Score, and Editing, it holds the record for most Oscars earned by a film not honored as Best Picture.






Cabaret was the first property to travel from book to dramatic play to dramatic film to stage musical to screen musical (Auntie Mame would match that path a few years later). It had started as Christopher Isherwood's short story "Sally Bowles," about an amoral singer living in Berlin during the 1930s, and was later included in his collection, The Berlin Stories. "Sally Bowles" and another story about a gigolo who admits he's Jewish to win the heart of an heiress provided the basis for John Van Druten's I Am a Camera, a 1951 stage play starring Julie Harris as Bowles, which was adapted for the screen in 1955. Then, in 1966, Harold Prince scored a hit with Cabaret, a musical version featuring a different subplot (about a gentile landlady in love with a Jewish grocer) and a new character called the M.C. that made Joel Grey a star.

A film version of Cabaret was inevitable, but it was held up for years when the first deal, with Cinerama, Inc., for an unprecedented $2.1 million, fell through. At the time, off-screen companions Warren Beatty and Julie Christie were considered for the leading roles. When ABC Pictures and Allied Artists finally picked up the rights for $1.5 million, Broadway producer Cy Feuer signed on to produce the picture, with Bob Fosse directing and a budget of less than $5 million.

Playwrights Jay Presson Allen and Hugh Wheeler went back to the original stories to restore the subplot about the gigolo and the Jewish heiress. They also drew on original author Christopher Isherwood's openness about his homosexuality to make the leading male character, a writer modeled on him, a bisexual who shares his bed and a male lover with Sally. Fosse decided to increase the focus on the Kit Kat Club, where Sally performs, as a metaphor for the decadence of Germany in the 1930s by eliminating all but one of the musical numbers performed outside the club. The only remaining outside number is "Tomorrow Belongs to Me," a folk song rendered spontaneously by patrons at an open-air cafe in one of the film's most chilling scenes. In addition, the show's original songwriters, John Kander and Fred Ebb, wrote three new songs, "Mein Herr," "Money," and "Maybe This Time."

The new songs were all performed by the film's leading lady, Liza Minnelli ("Money" also featured Grey). Ironically, she had auditioned to play Sally in the original Broadway production. Some involved with the show say she was too inexperienced at the time (though she had already won Broadway's Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical). Others have suggested she was too big a presence for the role as written on Broadway. By the time Cabaret reached the screen, however, Minnelli was a major film star, having won an Oscar nomination as the emotionally damaged college student in The Sterile Cuckoo (1969).

Cabaret opened to glowing reviews and strong box office, eventually taking in more than $20 million. In addition to its eight Oscars, it won Best Picture citations from the National Board of Review and the Hollywood Foreign Press and took Best Supporting Actor honors for Grey from the National Board of Review, the Hollywood Foreign Press, and the National Society of Film Critics. But the biggest winner was Fosse. Shortly before the Academy Awards, he won two Tonys for directing and choreographing Pippin, his biggest stage hit to date. When months later he won Emmys for directing and choreographing Liza Minnelli's television special Liza with a Z, he became the first director to win all three awards in one year.

Producer: Cy Feuer
Director: Bob Fosse
Screenplay: Jay Presson Allen, Hugh Wheeler
Cinematography: Geoffrey Unsworth
Art Direction: Hans Jurgen Kiebach, Rolf Zehetbauer
Music: Ralph Burns, John Kander
Principal Cast: Liza Minnelli (Sally Bowles), Michael York (Brian Roberts), Helmut Griem (Maximilian von Heune), Joel Grey (Master of Ceremonies), Fritz Wepper (Fritz Wendel), Marisa Berenson (Natalia Landauer), Elizabeth Neumann-Viertel (Fraulein Schneider).
C-124m. Letterboxed. Closed captioning.

by Frank Miller

 Cabaret: 40th Anniversary Special Edition DVD
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chloelouise