Transcript Transition to Talkies

American Film Study
E. Niemi + D. Summerlee

Silent films were never truly silent
◦ Musical accompaniment
 Piano player in smaller movie theaters
 Full orchestras or giant organs in more opulent movie
palaces, including sound effects

1922, developed a method
of recording sound on the
upper ridge of the film
itself
◦ Tri-Ergon
◦ Developed by German
inventors
◦ Fox Films acquired the rights
a few year later and called it
Moviephone
◦ Simplified the editing of a
sound film

1926-1928 , sound-ondisc system
◦ Vitaphone
◦ Like a record
◦ Developed by Bell
Telephone Technologies +
Western Electric
◦ Warner Bros.
◦ Don Juan
◦ Jazz Singer
◦ Steamboat Willie

1929, a need for more natural sounds

1933, altering speed
◦ King Kong used lion’s roar, slowed down 1 octave

1935, stereo

1940, surround system + multiple tracks

Warner Brothers in financial difficulties
◦ Looking for a “gimmick”





1st talking picture, though still basically silent
Contained snatches of dialogue + 4 singing
numbers
Actor Al Jolson
Saved WB studios and the film industry as a
whole
1st full length, all talking motion picture: The
Lights of New York (1928)
The Jazz Singer
1927


With the release of The Jazz Singer, all silent
films in production were converted to talkies
Smaller, independent studios buckled
◦ Control in industry left to: Paramount, Metro-GoldwynMayer (MGM), Twentieth Century-Fox, WB & RKO (The
Big 5)



Microphones
Talkies meant success for new people, but ended
the careers of others
End of title writers, new type of writers needed,
plot + dialogue matter even more now
Steamboat Willie (1928)

◦
Flowers and Trees (1933)

◦

◦

1st film to have a completely synchronized
soundtrack including sound effects, music, +
“dialogue”
Disney’s 1st three-color Technicolor film
The Three Little Pigs (1933)
gave hope for the nation during the GD
Other animated features had a similar effect
making audiences feel young and happy.
Steamboat Willie
1928



Films used as an escape
People could momentarily forget their
troubles
Other things to remember
◦ Musicals very popular 1930’s-1950’s
◦ Experiments with 2 & 3 color films
◦ First full length, full color film Wizard of Oz, then
Gone With the Wind

1928
◦ ENORMOUS popular demand for talkies
◦ Tacky talkies earned more $ than good silent films
◦ Theaters w/ silent films played to empty houses

1929
◦ All studios stop producing silent films
◦ Chaplin had one more in 1931


Are any of
these
relevant
today?


Shared experience changes
◦ Talking during movies is frowned upon.
Studio contract stars started to
guarantee box office success for any
motion picture in which they appeared.
Success of a particular type of movie at
any one studio would result in a cycle
of similar movies from other studios.
Public started demanding a greater
degree of realism.
◦ (A manner of treating subject matter that
presents a careful description of everyday
life, usually of the lower and middle classes.)