In her pioneering study, "Music in the shadows", film noir expert Sheri Chinen Biesen explores musical films that use film noir style and bluesy strains of jazz to inhabit a disturbing underworld and reveal the dark side of fame and the American dream. While many musicals glamorize the quest for the spotlight in Hollywood's star factory, 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. Their narratives unfold behind a stark lens: distorted, erratic angles and imbalanced hand-held shots allow the audience to experience a tortured, disillusioned perspective. Deep shadows, dim lightning, and visual composition evoke moodiness, cynicism, pessimism, and subjective psychological points of view. As in her earlier study of film noir, "Blackout: World War II and the origins of film noir", Biesen draws on extensive primary research in studio archives to situate her examination within a historical, industrial, and cultural context.
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