The success of The Jazz Singer (1927)
signalled the beginning of an incredible revolution. Studios changed
overnight. In the silent days films had been made on stages which were
often side by side. For obvious reasons this was no longer possible in
the sound era. Sound-proofing was a major problem and so was the
whirring of the camera. To prevent the microphone picking this up,
camera and operator were placed in a booth like a telephone kiosk.
Another major problem in the early years of sound was the necessity to
cling to the microphone so the primitive device would pick up the
words. The strategic location of the microphone in a vase of flowers
restricted the movement of the actors resulting in a static look to
most early talkies.
A great film in its own right Singin'
In The Rain (1952) provided an effective parody of the dangers of the
planted mike. Not surprisingly films slowed down and the static
theatrical style of the first decade of the 20th century temporarily
returned. The essence of movies is that they move and the novelty of
sound soon wore off.
Fortunately some imaginative
directors injected fluidity back into the image. Armenian born stage
director Rouben Mamoulian put the camera on rollers when he helmed his
first film Applause (1929). Directors William Wellman and Dorothy
Arzner both claimed they had the idea of taping the microphone to a
pole or boom. The truth is the idea probably originated in various
studios at more or less the same time.
The full creative possibilities of
sound were demonstrated by a mouse. Walt Disney used sound effectively
in the first talking animated film Steamboat Willie (1928). Disney
himself contributed Mickey Mouse's instantly recognisable high-pitched
voice which reflected his heroic and adventurous spirit. Walt was to be
an influential innovator with another technology in the early Thirties
: Technicolor.
The first important sound film in
Britain was Alfred Hitchcock's Blackmail (1929) which began as a silent
film starring a Czech actress called Amy Ondra. Her heavy accent
couldn't be exposed to the microphone so she was dubbed by an English
actress. Blackmail's most innovative sequence was a thought soundtrack
in which the word "knife" was emphasised in an overheard conversation.
Blackmail (1929) One of Hitch's earliest
recognisable cameos
In the USA Rouben Mamoulian's City
Streets (1931) went one stage further with a thought narration, a
device which came into its own in the dark detective movies of the
Forties and Fifties.