Get high quality academic and archival streaming videos from sources like BBC, National Geographic, PBS, TED and more.
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Broadway Goes Hollywood: Musical Comedy in American Cinema (52:11)
Beginning with the release of The Jazz Singer in 1927, this program provides a detailed look inside that most distinctly American of film traditions, the musical comedy. Interviews with dancer Cyd Charisse, famous for her starring roles in MGM musicals, and Hermes Pan, renowned choreographer and collaborator with Fred Astaire, help to illuminate the advent and evolution of the genre. Excerpts and behind-the-scenes accounts from Singin’ in the Rain, 42nd Street, Second Chorus, Flying Down to Rio, The Wizard of Oz, and many other films are included. Specific topics include the impact of the Hays Code, the influence of African-American dance styles, and the decline of the musical during the 1960s.
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Fanfare for America: The Composer Aaron Copland (59:00)
Impressed with how European music could have a "German sound," a "French sound," and so on, Aaron Copland returned from his years in Paris to New York City, intent on capturing the essence of the "American sound." This documentary presents an artful blending of the life and music of one of America's great modern composers.
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Musical Genre (03:30)
Robert Altman's Hollywood satire "The Player" illustrates genre convention and the tendency among studios to duplicate successful formulas. View a clip of Fred Astaire and Jane Powell in "Royal Wedding" from 1951.
