Sally Bick
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780252042812
- eISBN:
- 9780252051678
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252042812.003.0005
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
Chapter 5 offers a close political reading of Eisler’s first Hollywood score, for Fritz Lang’s propaganda film Hangmen Also Die!, excerpts of which were discussed in Composing for the Films. The ...
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Chapter 5 offers a close political reading of Eisler’s first Hollywood score, for Fritz Lang’s propaganda film Hangmen Also Die!, excerpts of which were discussed in Composing for the Films. The score, nominated for an Academy Award, was made by émigrés, including playwright Bertolt Brecht, Eisler’s close friend and artistic and political collaborator. The score is interpreted within the framework of “doubleness,” an outlook that plagues the dichotomous state in which exiles live. It reveals how the politically leftist Eisler was able not only to adapt but also to resist Hollywood’s expectations and political norms by inserting covert and ironic politically invested musical messages.Less
Chapter 5 offers a close political reading of Eisler’s first Hollywood score, for Fritz Lang’s propaganda film Hangmen Also Die!, excerpts of which were discussed in Composing for the Films. The score, nominated for an Academy Award, was made by émigrés, including playwright Bertolt Brecht, Eisler’s close friend and artistic and political collaborator. The score is interpreted within the framework of “doubleness,” an outlook that plagues the dichotomous state in which exiles live. It reveals how the politically leftist Eisler was able not only to adapt but also to resist Hollywood’s expectations and political norms by inserting covert and ironic politically invested musical messages.
Ehrhard Bahr
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520251281
- eISBN:
- 9780520933804
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520251281.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
When American newspapers reported the assassination of SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich in Prague in May 1942, Bertolt Brecht and Fritz Lang immediately seized upon the idea of writing a script ...
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When American newspapers reported the assassination of SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich in Prague in May 1942, Bertolt Brecht and Fritz Lang immediately seized upon the idea of writing a script for a hostage film. Only two months after the assassination, Brecht pasted into his diary a newspaper clipping of July 28 that announced the production of Never Surrender, a film with a Czechoslovakian locale. The film, to be produced by Arnold Pressburger and directed by Fritz Lang, would prominently feature the character of Heydrich the Hangmen. This chapter discusses Brecht's concept of “dialectic theater” and the principles of film noir as they were employed by Lang in his anti-Nazi film Hangmen Also Die. Brecht had developed the story together with Lang and believed that the film would be constructed in the manner of “epic theater,” but he did not realize that film noir, although dialectical in its story line and manipulation of reality, was based on suspense and surprise, which were anathema to dialectic theater.Less
When American newspapers reported the assassination of SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich in Prague in May 1942, Bertolt Brecht and Fritz Lang immediately seized upon the idea of writing a script for a hostage film. Only two months after the assassination, Brecht pasted into his diary a newspaper clipping of July 28 that announced the production of Never Surrender, a film with a Czechoslovakian locale. The film, to be produced by Arnold Pressburger and directed by Fritz Lang, would prominently feature the character of Heydrich the Hangmen. This chapter discusses Brecht's concept of “dialectic theater” and the principles of film noir as they were employed by Lang in his anti-Nazi film Hangmen Also Die. Brecht had developed the story together with Lang and believed that the film would be constructed in the manner of “epic theater,” but he did not realize that film noir, although dialectical in its story line and manipulation of reality, was based on suspense and surprise, which were anathema to dialectic theater.
Sally Bick
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780252042812
- eISBN:
- 9780252051678
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252042812.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
Unsettled Scores treats the Hollywood activities of Aaron Copland and Hanns Eisler, who were among the earliest modernist composers to negotiate the collision of the high/low dichotomy within these ...
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Unsettled Scores treats the Hollywood activities of Aaron Copland and Hanns Eisler, who were among the earliest modernist composers to negotiate the collision of the high/low dichotomy within these two cultural realms. The social and political crises provoked by capitalism and war profoundly affected these ideals and, in turn, the men’s cultural and aesthetic thinking. Confronting and living through social crisis (Eisler during the instability of Weimar Germany and Copland through America’s Depression years), both composers experimented with new artistic forms and values, shaping their musical perspectives. Eventually, they turned to Hollywood, where they found possibilities to negotiate their distinct modernist aesthetics and political beliefs. The book approaches Copland’s and Eisler’s Hollywood activities through a dual study, pairing interpretations of their writings on the subject with close examination of their first film scores: Copland’s music for Lewis Milestone’s 1939 film Of Mice and Men and Eisler’s 1943 score for Hangmen Also Die!, directed by Fritz Lang. This study examines how the highly politicized and topical nature of these films appealed to each composer’s political ideologies concerning society and the human condition. Their scores became agents for political expression as they transformed their individual styles into the commercial sphere.Less
Unsettled Scores treats the Hollywood activities of Aaron Copland and Hanns Eisler, who were among the earliest modernist composers to negotiate the collision of the high/low dichotomy within these two cultural realms. The social and political crises provoked by capitalism and war profoundly affected these ideals and, in turn, the men’s cultural and aesthetic thinking. Confronting and living through social crisis (Eisler during the instability of Weimar Germany and Copland through America’s Depression years), both composers experimented with new artistic forms and values, shaping their musical perspectives. Eventually, they turned to Hollywood, where they found possibilities to negotiate their distinct modernist aesthetics and political beliefs. The book approaches Copland’s and Eisler’s Hollywood activities through a dual study, pairing interpretations of their writings on the subject with close examination of their first film scores: Copland’s music for Lewis Milestone’s 1939 film Of Mice and Men and Eisler’s 1943 score for Hangmen Also Die!, directed by Fritz Lang. This study examines how the highly politicized and topical nature of these films appealed to each composer’s political ideologies concerning society and the human condition. Their scores became agents for political expression as they transformed their individual styles into the commercial sphere.
Robert L. McLaughlin and Sally E. Parry
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813123868
- eISBN:
- 9780813134840
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813123868.003.0006
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter examines Hollywood war films about America's allies and other countries under Nazi occupation. It suggests that though there is little concern with valuing a particular nationality in ...
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This chapter examines Hollywood war films about America's allies and other countries under Nazi occupation. It suggests that though there is little concern with valuing a particular nationality in these films, they provided the opportunity for Americans to imagine how they would behave under occupation. Examples of these films include The Wife Takes a Flyer, Hangmen Also Die!, and None Shall Escape.Less
This chapter examines Hollywood war films about America's allies and other countries under Nazi occupation. It suggests that though there is little concern with valuing a particular nationality in these films, they provided the opportunity for Americans to imagine how they would behave under occupation. Examples of these films include The Wife Takes a Flyer, Hangmen Also Die!, and None Shall Escape.
