In its Golden Age, Hollywood produced film music to enhance meaning for the audience, reflect the world order and convey sounds which it hoped the public would find unforgettable. Nonetheless this symphonic, melodic and romantic music has also included some more modern and discordant forms.
Choosing not to take a strictly chronological approach, the author of this book turned his spotlight on the vast generation of Hollywood's most famous composers of yesteryear, such as Max Steiner, Victor Young, or Bernard Herrmann, as well as those of more recent vintage (Alex North, Jerry Goldsmith, John Williams), before focusing on more contemporary artists such as Philip Glass, not to mention several well-known figures from the European schools.
The analysis of musical techniques and styles in this work is based on a certain notion of the cinema as a musical art form. Predicated on the conviction that music is a necessary component of films, the book specifically explores the temporal interelationship of music and images and examines the effects of music on audiences.

Pierre Berthomieu teaches courses on the cinema at Université Paris VII-Denis Diderot. He has written several books and a number of articles on classic and contemporaty Hollywood cinema.