Hollywood’s Movie History: From Silent Films to Talkies ②

DSKUSSS started new webzine series about Hollywood Movie History! This is second one that explains the movie theme. In this writing, you can see how the talkie movies came out! Let us know what you think about the history of Hollywood movies through comments.

Hollywood’s Movie History: From Silent Films to Talkies ②

- The development of microphone and the advent of talkies

Lee, Jungwon

Pusan National University

Dept. of Global Studies

What were the problems in the process of making ‘The Dueling Cavalier’(see ‘From Silent Films to Talkies ①’) into a talkie film? Monumental Pictures went through repeated trials and errors in trying to capture their actors’ voices on film.

First, they tried hiding a mike in nearby stage properties, like a bush. However, the mike failed to catch the actors’ voices clearly because the stage properties were too far from them. Then, they tried sewing the mike into the actors’ clothes, but this wasn’t much help either. Whenever the actors moved, the mike made weird rustling noises, and the audiences were very annoyed. Also, the actors couldn’t walk or move freely because the mikes that were sewed into their clothes were also connected with the recording room.

Finally, Monumental Pictures made a debut of the talkie, but the film only incurred people’s ridicule. The actors’ voices were barely audible thanks to the awkward placement of the microphones, and in the middle of the film, the sound went out of synchronization.

Then, Don’s friend Cosmo, who was inspired by a scene in “The Dueling Cavalier” where Lina’s voice was out of sync, suggested they dub Lina’s voice. However, later on, when Cosmo realized that Lina had no talent in singing or talking gracefully, he decided to go with the voice of another actress, Kathy. The dubbing turned out a tremendous success. Film companies didn’t have to put microphones near the actors. They just recorded the voices and synchronized it with the actors’ movement of lips.

At that time, many film industries went through numerous turns and twists, trying to produce successful ‘talking films.’ Nowadays, it’s hard to imagine watching movies without voices, but at that time, talking pictures were sensational. Hollywood soon began to thrive with more and more film makers in America, and it has kept its stellar reputation ever since.