Spectacle in Classical Cinemas

Spectacle is not often considered to be a significant part of the style of ΓÇÿclassicalΓÇÖ cinema. Indeed, some of the most influential accounts of cinematic classicism define it virtually by the supposed absence of spectacle. Spectacle in ΓÇÿClassicalΓÇÖ Cinemas: Musicality and Historicity in the 1930s brings a fresh perspective on the role of the spectacular in classical sound cinema by focusing on one decade of cinema (the 1930s), in two ΓÇÿmodesΓÇÖ of filmmaking (musical and historical films), and in two national cinemas (the US and France). This not only brings to light the special rhetorical and affective possibilities offered by spectacular images but refines our understanding of what ΓÇÿclassicalΓÇÖ cinema is and was.