Unheard Melodies is a very different book than all the ones listed above. Claudia Gorbman who is a professor a Comparative Literature tries to explain how music, by definition an abstract art, can function in film, which on the contrary is - or pretend to be - a very realistic one, and how music can contribute to the narrative or in the other words the telling of story. So, why in the first place we - the spectators - accept this marvellous convention that is underscore. For example we find the music accompanying the murder of woman in a shower (Psycho) totally justified, and certainly not at all out of context. On the contrary we probably are convinced this is one the most striking element of the scene, something so natural we don't consciously listen to or even hear (hence the title). All this may seem very obvious to us but this was not the case at the beginning of film making era. The author using all the critical apparatus available to her - semiotics, literary criticism explains how these conventions were established in the thirties in a chapter titled Classic Hollywood Practice: The Model of Max Steiner. There is also a very detailed analysis music/image of Vigo's classic Zero de Conduite (1934, music by Maurice Jaubert) and a chapter about Hangover Square (1944, music by Bernard Herrmann).

Film studies boffins have been obviously delighted with Unheard Melodies but film makers and composers may find this book thought provoking inasmuch as a different and refreshing approach to film music is on offer.