"Singing a Different Tune"

Book excerpt: A beneficiary of the pioneering incorporation of sound and synchronicity into cinema, the Hollywood musical became the most popular film genre in America’s thirties and forties. Its eastward migration resulted in a barrage of Polish screen musicals that relied on the country’s famous cabaret stars, while in the Soviet Union it inspired the audience-pleasing kolkhoz musicals of Ivan Pyr’ev and their urban counterpart, directed by Grigorii Aleksandrov. Like Stalin, Slavic moviegoers delectated tuneful melodies, mobile bodies in choreographed dance numbers, colorful costumes, and the notion that “all’s well that ends well.” Yet Slavic versions of the musical elaborated scenarios that differed from the Hollywood model. This volume examines the vagaries of this genre in both countries, from its early instantiations to its contemporary variations almost a century after its dramatic birth.