Dialogue in 1930s and 1940s’ Hollywood Films
According to Bhullar’s experiment of testing intensity of emotions with AV(auditory-visual), VO(visual-only) and AO(auditory-only), audience perceived greater intensity of tested emotions, which were happiness and sadness, in AV speeches than those of VO and AO alone (Bhullar 193). Clearly, scientific evidence reinforces the cause of the storm of talkies. That is, dialogue conveys and augments the moods within the film, which directly influences audience’s perceptions. James O. Spearing once wrote in Now the Movies Go Back to Their School Days , “...when screen actors began to speak lines, the silent drama was attacked. Voices invaded its peculiar domain” (Spadoni 4). In the motion picture industry, …show more content…
Specifically, The Jazz Singer(1927), which was the major turning point of sound in films, fueled the public with astonishment. As a result, the first spoken words in the movie, "Wait a minute, wait a minute..." (The Jazz Singer), transcribed into the history of films. In response to the popularity of sound films in the early 1930s, by 1929, live orchestra in theaters moved to backstage to solidify the liaison between visual and sound. Generally, the peak of gradual transition towards sound was between 1930s and 1940s, which was also known as “early sound era” or “the post silent era”. During the post-silent era, sound consisted of three elements: dialogue, sound effects and music (Schrader 62). Moreover, scholars have repeatedly emphasized that silent films are merely “silent”, as music always serves as accompaniment in films--either in soundtrack or in live orchestra (Wurtzler 46). Therefore, “advent of sound” and “sound films” …show more content…
Also, Lewis Jacobs, a conspicuous movie historian, writes in The Rise of the American Cinema, “[with] the incorporation of spoken dialogue as a permanent element of motion pictures, [the] technique lost its sophistication overnight and became primitive once more… The interest in artistic film expression… was stifled in the chaos that the advent of sound produced” (Gehring 77). Admittedly, City Lights (1931) received overwhelming accolade after its debut and it was considered one of the most exemplary films in 20th century. However, Jacobs overlooked the impact of sound in films. Though Chaplin was reluctant upon the advent of sound at first, he then recognized the enormous potential of sound and produced an exalted talkie--The Great Dictator (1940). Although it was Chaplin’s first sound film, the virtuoso again impressed the audience with his comical talents while mocking Hitler for his ferocious massacre. In 1997, The Great Dictator was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" (“The Great Dictator”). Besides, for Jacobs’s erroneous assumption of artistic expressions of sound films, sound actually diversified the motion picture industry in various artistic forms that did not exist before the arrival of sound, such as musicals, documentaries, etc. Overall, both
According to Bhullar’s experiment of testing intensity of emotions with AV(auditory-visual), VO(visual-only) and AO(auditory-only), audience perceived greater intensity of tested emotions, which were happiness and sadness, in AV speeches than those of VO and AO alone (Bhullar 193). Clearly, scientific evidence reinforces the cause of the storm of talkies. That is, dialogue conveys and augments the moods within the film, which directly influences audience’s perceptions. James O. Spearing once wrote in Now the Movies Go Back to Their School Days , “...when screen actors began to speak lines, the silent drama was attacked. Voices invaded its peculiar domain” (Spadoni 4). In the motion picture industry, …show more content…
Specifically, The Jazz Singer(1927), which was the major turning point of sound in films, fueled the public with astonishment. As a result, the first spoken words in the movie, "Wait a minute, wait a minute..." (The Jazz Singer), transcribed into the history of films. In response to the popularity of sound films in the early 1930s, by 1929, live orchestra in theaters moved to backstage to solidify the liaison between visual and sound. Generally, the peak of gradual transition towards sound was between 1930s and 1940s, which was also known as “early sound era” or “the post silent era”. During the post-silent era, sound consisted of three elements: dialogue, sound effects and music (Schrader 62). Moreover, scholars have repeatedly emphasized that silent films are merely “silent”, as music always serves as accompaniment in films--either in soundtrack or in live orchestra (Wurtzler 46). Therefore, “advent of sound” and “sound films” …show more content…
Also, Lewis Jacobs, a conspicuous movie historian, writes in The Rise of the American Cinema, “[with] the incorporation of spoken dialogue as a permanent element of motion pictures, [the] technique lost its sophistication overnight and became primitive once more… The interest in artistic film expression… was stifled in the chaos that the advent of sound produced” (Gehring 77). Admittedly, City Lights (1931) received overwhelming accolade after its debut and it was considered one of the most exemplary films in 20th century. However, Jacobs overlooked the impact of sound in films. Though Chaplin was reluctant upon the advent of sound at first, he then recognized the enormous potential of sound and produced an exalted talkie--The Great Dictator (1940). Although it was Chaplin’s first sound film, the virtuoso again impressed the audience with his comical talents while mocking Hitler for his ferocious massacre. In 1997, The Great Dictator was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" (“The Great Dictator”). Besides, for Jacobs’s erroneous assumption of artistic expressions of sound films, sound actually diversified the motion picture industry in various artistic forms that did not exist before the arrival of sound, such as musicals, documentaries, etc. Overall, both