A song in the dark

by Richard Barrios

Chronicling the early musical film years from 1926 to 1934, A Song in the Dark offers a fascinating look at these innovative films, the product of much of the major experimentation that went on during the development of sound technology. Illuminating the entire evolution of this new sound medium, Richard Barrios shows how Hollywood, seeking to outdo Broadway and vaudeville, recruited both the famous and the unknown, the newest stars and the has-beens, the geniuses and the hustlers. The results were unlike anything the world had seen or heard. Here are the films - The Jazz Singer, The Broadway Melody, Love Me Tonight, 42nd Street - and their stars. Barrios highlights the careers of such legendary figures as Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor, Busby Berkeley, and Maurice Chevalier, and film newcomers like Jeanette MacDonald, Bing Crosby, and Ruby Keeler.