Early Years of Sound

1928-1933

Great Depression & the Movies

• Depression (began 1929)– Movie theaters lowered prices to draw in larger audiences– Double or triple features– Give-aways

Challenges from Sound

• Theaters didn’t have speakers or sound systems

• Actors had to take speaking lessons and limit movement

• Cameras became less mobile and were put in glass booths to hide their sound

How dialogue affected the music:

• Couldn’t mix sounds in post-production– All dialogue, sound effects, and music had to be

recorded at the same time• As a result, most early sound films have little music

• Blackmail (1929)– Made by Alfred Hitchcock– England’s first “talkie”• Originally shot as a silent film and then converted to sound mid-

production• Silent scenes have synchronized music and dialogue scenes have

none

Good Use of Music

• Hallelujah (1929) start at 13:00

-dubbed all music and dialogue in during post-production- First film by a major studio using an all-black cast

• The Blue Angel (1930) start at 1:45

- Singing recorded live (like a musical)

Musicals

• Musicals became popular– So many were made that for several years they

were box office “poison” until 42nd Street revived the genre in 1933

Cartoons & Music

• Steamboat Willie (1928): fully exploited sound technology using music and sound effects

• Silly Symphonies: short stories set to music (no dialogue—sometimes singing)

• Carl Stalling: created music for many early Disney cartoons and then moved to Warner Bros. and composed for Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies

King Kong (1933)

• Score by Max Steiner– Steiner hired to make the monster scary– Established the practice of using “leitmotifs” for

specific characters

Sacrifice