begin with, I'll say that Barrios is obviously knowledgeable and passionate with definite opinions when it comes to movie musicals, The good thing about a book like this is that it introduce me to many movies that I'd never heard of, so it will fun to track them down.
The problem I had with "Dangerous Rhythm" is that for the first half of the book, Barrios is so negative in his opinions about musicals, that it's hard to believe he likes them.
I kept wondering what his criteria for excellence were and it seems the only one is "if it works, it's good if it doesn't, it's not.
" The second half gives a much clearer idea as to what he looks for in a movie musical, A minor quibble: He never really gives his reasons as to why movie musicals matter, But, that's OK. A very disappointing book coming afterbooks by Barrios that I liked quite a bit, This one is a mess from beginning to end, Occasionally he makes an interesting observation about musicals, especially ones of thes ands, but there are three huge problems:There is no strong thesis except for that given in the subtitle, and I don't think he succeeds in proving that they DO matter I firmly believe they do, but not because of anything in this bookThe structure is thematic music, actors, material, race and sex rather than chronological or by movie, so there is a LOT of repetitionhe tells us how great Wizard of Oz is and how terrible Paint Your Wagon is in almost every chapterThere are virtually no plot summaries or even descriptions of production numbers or setshe is assuming an audience who has seen every movie he has.
Two sections of the book are interesting: one on the largely unseen Porgy and Bess, and mentions of recent productions such as Were the World Mine and the TV shows Glee and Smash.
I can't recommend thisinstead, I highly recommend his earlier book A Song in the Dark, about the origins of the movie musical.
Not satisfied with just writing about the birth of musical films A Song in the Dark, Richard Barrios looks at the importance of movie musicals of all types via a kaleidoscope of lenses.
In twelve short chapters, an introduction, and epilogue, he discusses the past and future of movie musicals, the origination of the concept of the musical, who have been the, the role of music versus plot, etc.
, not neglecting animated musicals and television musicals,
The book and the chapter titles all come from song titles or lyrics sung in a movie musical which is an example of how Barrios infuses a quirky viewpoint into this series of essays.
He also provides informative footnotes that add interest without slowing the reader with extraneous information, Each chapter is a different lens on movie musicals with focus on a specific aspect such as animated musicals or musicals on television the reader is not compelled to read the chapters in sequence, but is free to skip to what interests them.
Dangerous Rhythm reads easily and has appropriate and interesting illustrations, Barrios writes well for the general reader, providing a list of his sources but not documenting enough to be considered as a serious scholarly tome.
He has his own lists of movie musicals he like and dislikes, As is often the case in these types of books, he does miss certain musicals, How important that is depends upon your love for that musical,
In the end, Dangerous Rhythm provides provides plenty of fodder for discussions, Read it, and start yours! "Dangerous Rhythm" is an extremely enjoyable book, It is the equivalent of listening to an interesting person talk about a subject he is passionate and wellinformed about,
The book covers the movie musical from the Twenties to "Les Miserables," but instead of taking a chronological approach, Barrios looks at key themes: the role of a director, Broadway to Hollywood adaptations, flops, the best musicals, animated musicals and the impact of TV on the musical.
This last was a topic I hadn't even seen anyone consider in earlier books,
Apart from a vague sense that Barrios either doesn't like Gene Kelly or thinks public/critical opinion has turned decisively against Kelly, I found "Dangerous Rhythm" a true delight to read.
If you are interested in movie musicals, this book will be a delight both to the novice and the longtime fan, Dangerous Rhythm is a valuable book because of its numerous enlightening observations about musicals, If you are interested in musicals or want a better understanding of film history as a whole, then this book is essential reading.
Read full review here: sitelink outofthepastblog. com I think I would have enjoyed this more if it had been less, . . snooty. I understand that the author has a vast amount of knowledge about musicals, but the negative overtone of most of the chapters, and the biting way so many musicals that I love were dissed, made this one hard to read.
I had the feeling that the author felt his opinion of every film discussed was obviously everyone's opinion, and to be honest I wasn't sure he even liked musicals until the very last chapter wherein he finally begins to hint at "why movie musicals matter.
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I found it mostly interesting and I learned a lot about many older musicals I was unfamiliar with before this, but I have read several other books on musicals that I would recommend over this one.
As a film historian, Richard Barrios has few peers, As a critic, he leaves something to be desired, This consideration of the artistic merits of the musical is a disorganized arrangement of opinions with little specific evidence given to back them up.
Although I agree with a lot of his statements, I wish there were some explanation of what led him to them, Barrios occasionally draws interesting connections between films from different periods, but other than that, there's not a lot of meat to this slim volume.
I've met Richard Barrios at Cinevent, and he is a very knowledgeable, enthusiastic person, He will be doing a
book signing in Columbus, Ohio at the Columbus Moving Picture Show in May,I started this on a day I wasn't allowed an ereader since I own in in hardcover, and it's interesting, but I don't know when I'll be picking it back up since I do so much of my reading elsewhere now.
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