In this comprehensive, clear, and utterly captivating overview of film music, Kathryn Kalinak, one of the leading authorities in this field, presents readers with significant composers and musical genres as well as contemporary theoretical concepts about how and why film music works.

Throughout the book, she adopts a global perspective, examining film music in Asia and the Middle East, as well as in Europe and the United States of America. Important collaborations between directors and composers – for example, Alfred Hitchcock with Bernard Herrmann, Akira Kurosawa with Fumio Hayasaka, Federico Fellini with Nino Rota – are thoroughly explored, as are the often neglected practices of the silent film era.

As Kalinak emphasizes, film music can do many things, from establishing a mood to clarifying points of the plot and evoking emotions that are only faintly perceived through the images. This book sheds light on the various ways in which film music accomplishes these processes and encourages readers to think a little deeper and more critically the next time they sit in a dark cinema and the music suddenly swells as the action unfolds on the screen.