awkward transitions - hitchcock's 'blackmail' and the dynamics of early film sound
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7/24/2019 Awkward Transitions - Hitchcock's 'Blackmail' and the Dynamics of Early Film Sound
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xford University Press
Awkward Transitions: Hitchcock's "Blackmail" and the Dynamics of Early Film SoundAuthor(s): John BeltonSource: The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 83, No. 2 (Summer, 1999), pp. 227-246Published by: Oxford University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/742294
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Institutions,ndustries,
echnologies
Awkward
ransitions:
itchcock's
Blackmailnd he ynamicsf arly
Filmound
John
elton
Alan
Crosland's
927
film he
Jazz
inger
sheraldedn
most
inema
history
ooks s
thefirst
ound eature ilm.
trictly
peaking,
owever,
this s
ncorrect;
hathonor
oes
to
another ilm
roslandmade
year
earlier
itled on
Juan,
which
had a
synchronized
usicalcore.
While
The
Jazz
inger
s,
nevertheless,
hefirst
talkie,"
ooking
t the
filmo-
day,
he
most
trikinghing
bout t-its chief
ormal
eature-is hat t
is,
for he
most
art,
silent
ilm.
ndeed,
he
Jazz
inger
as
only
few
lines f ynchronousialogue-that s,wherepeech s nexact ynchro-
nizationwith
he
movementsf he
ctors'
ips-and
only
our rfive
synchronous
ongs,
ccounting
or t
best
en
or
twelve
minutes
f
what
we
today
onsider
o
be
"real
ound"
n
an
eighty-eight-minute
ilm.
he
rest f
hefilm
s
entirely
silent,"
sing
ntertitleso
convey
ialogue,
though
his
silent"
material
s
accompanied
y
music.
Muchof
the
film
was hot s a
silent
roduction;
heorchestral
usicwas
recordedater
on
a
sound
tage,
oughlyynchronized
o the
ilent
ootage
fter
twas
cut, s inthe arlier ilm,onJuan.Because t sneither silent ilm or
a
sound
ilm,
he
effectf
The
Jazz
inger
s
rather
isconcerting.
udi-
ences
who
begin
watching
t
as a silent ilm
re
tartled
hen
Al
Jolson
suddenly
urstsnto
renditionf
Toot
Toot
Tootsie" n
which he
words nd
music
ave
obviously
een
recorded
ive,
not
added
ater,
nd
in
which
he
wordsnd
music
ppear
o
be
coming
rom
he
visible
space
of
the
tory
what
ilm
heorists
efero
asthe
diegesis)
ndnot
from
ome
unseen,
ffscreen
rchestralource.
hen,
when
he
ong
s
over,
he
film
uddenly
everts
o its
ilent
mode.
We see
characterson-
versing,
utwe
do
not
hear
what
hey
re
aying;
nstead,
heir
ialogue
is
given
o us n
ntertitles.
The same
ort f
phenomenon
anbe
found n
Noah's
Ark
(Michael
Curtiz,
928),
another
arly
ound ilm
roduced
y
Warner
Bros. he
Vitaphone
ecordingystem
elied n
wax
discs
hatwere
kept
t a
constant
emperature
n a dust-free
nvironment;
oundwas
recorded nto
the
disc
by
means f
stylus,
hich
ut n
impression
227
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228
The
Musical
uarterly
into he oftwax
see
Fig.
1).
As a
result,
he ntire
ecordingystem
had to be housed n a vibration-freeuildingopreventhe tylusrom
introducing
noise"
ntothedisc.Thus
early itaphone
ilms
ere,
f
necessity,
ound o
the
ound
tage;
he
recordingechnology
ould
not
beused
n
exteriors.his
technological
imitationtructureshe ound
recording
n
Noah's
Ark,
which eatures
ync-sound
ialogue
ninteriors
butrevertso silence
n all exterior
cenes,
n embarrassment
f orts
onlypartially
overed
ver
by
hemusical
nderscoring
hat
ccompa-
nies these
therwiseilent cenes.
n
effect,
art-talkie
ilms
end oun-
ravelbefore he udience's yes ndears, epeatedlyevertingo silence
and thenback nto
ynchronized
ound.
he
results
arring
hiftshat
are
curiously
t
oddswith he
effectfthe ound
cenes,
while
hifts
fromilent
equences
o sound
equences
esultn a similar reak
with
the
llusionism
roduced y
ilent ilm esthetics.
The
design
f
arly
ound
ecordingechnology
layed
crucial
role n
determining
he
look" f
arly
ound ilms.Western
lectric's
standardound
ecording
hannel onsisted
f
microphone-amplifier
units,
motor
enerators,
torage
atteries,
mplifiers,ixing
anels,
nd
recording achines,most fwhichwashousedn a two-storyRecord-
ing
Building,"ixty-fivey
ninety-five
eet,
ocated
within
few undred
feet f
the
ound
tages
see
Fig.
2).'
Though
ox's ound-on-film
ovie-
tone
ystem
elied
n similarWestern
lectric
quipment
or ound
pickup,mplification,
nd
mixing,
ts ound
ecorder,
hich erived
from
ptical ignaling
quipmenteveloped
or he
militaryuring
WorldWar
,
proved
more
lexiblen nature han he
disk ecorder.
ni-
tially esigned
y
Fox technicians
or
ewsreel
se,
heir ound-on-film
technologyasportable.he firstieldutfitseighed ,500pounds nd
took hreemen
o
operate
nd two ruckso
transport.
y
1930,
he
Fox field
quipment
ouldfit
nto
modified odel-A
Ford,
weighed
less han500
pounds,
nd
took
nly
wo
men o
operate.3
ortable
recording
nits
or eature
ilm
roduction
ere vailable
or
n
Old
Arizona
Irving ummings
nd
Raoul
Walsh, 929),
whichwas
filmed
on locationn ate 1928.
"Another
icture
asmade
ntheSouth
Seas
with
ery
ight
ortable
pparatus;
he
mplifier
nit
weighed
nly
2
pounds ndwasoperatedwith ry ells, he ntirepparatuseing rans-
ported y
anoe."4
Though
Movietone
made
filming
n
exteriors
nd
on location
os-
sible,
he
hooting
fboth ound-on-film
nd sound-on-disk
ilms
on-
tinued o be marked
y
echnological
ffects;
o
prevent
heomnidirec-
tional
microphones
rom
ickingp
camera
oise,
hecameras
were
placed
n
soundproof
ooths,
which
everely
estrictedheir
movement.
To facilitateheir
movement
rom
ne
set-up
o the
next,
he
heavy
booths
were
requently
ounted
n wheels
r"mobile amera
arriages,"
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Blackmail
nd
arly
ilm
ound 229
--
Figure
.
An
engineer
monitorswaxblank s an electric utter ecords sound
ignal
on
it,
. 1930.
Author's ollection)
a factor f whichseveral directors ookadvantagein order o execute
occasional camera
movements.5
pplause
Rouben Mamoulian,
1929)
contains
several
tracking
hots
accomplishedby
movement f
the booth
itself,
ncluding
he
tracks ut
and in
during sequence
in a
convent.
However,
the
bodily
movement f the booth
permitted
nly
straight-line
axial or lateral
movements6; omplex
movements
ombining
various
di-
rections r
patterns
emaineddifficulto achieve.
By
1929,
both Bell
&
Howell and Mitchell had
introduced
emi-silenced ameras
that could
operatewithin enfeetof a microphonewithout he latterpickingup
camera
noise.'
By
the
same
time,
tudioshad
developed
less restrictive
camera
housings,
alled
"blimps"
r
"bungalows,"
hat
eliminated he
need for umbersome
oundproof
ooths.8
Before his
nnovation,
am-
era movement
was further estricted
y
the
practice
of
multiple-camera
filming,
n
which between two and
six,
sometimes ven as
many
s nine
cameras
would be
used to film
single
action
simultaneously.9
nter-
locked with the
sound
recorder,
he
multiple
ameras,
outfitted
ith
lenses of different
ocal
lengths, rovided lose-ups,
medium
hots,
nd
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230 TheMusical
uarterly
2K-~r
r --------iiii'~i
1W::::il
Figure
. Westernlectric'shief
ngineer,
dward
.
Craft
center),
oses
nfrontf
soundproof
camera oothwhose idewallhas been removed.
singlemicrophoneangs
bove
him,
ohis
eft;
a wax isc ecordertandsohis ight,ehindhe hreeechniciansnthe eftoreground,. 1926.
(Author'sollection)
long
hots
f
he
ction,
which ould
be
intercut,
hile lso
ensuring
synchronization
ith he
ound.The use of
multiple
ameras n the tu-
diofloor
everely
imitedndividualamera
movement,
hich
hreat-
ened to reveal he
presence
f hese ther
ameras. t the
ame
ime,
multiple-camerailming
urther
inderedn
already roblematic
icro-
phone overage f he ction,ncreasinghe ikelihood hat verhead
microphones
ould
e
seenwithin he hot.As
a
result,
uchmikeswere
further
emoved rom
he
ound
ource,
nd
recordists
epended
o an
even
greater
xtent hanbefore n
microphones
idden n
the et
n
flower
ots,
owls,
ndother
rops.'0
Multiple-camera
hotography
lso
played
avocwith raditional
lighting
ractice.
he
cameraman
ee
Garmes,
oted
or is Rem-
brandtesque
lack-and-white
ighting
tyle, omplained
hat
photogra-
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Blackmailnd
arly
ilm ound
231
phywent ightutthewindow ecauseyou ust ouldn'tight or ix
cameras...
you
an't
ight
or ix
angles
nd
getgood ighting.""
ight-
ing
wasfurther
ompromised
ecause
with hree r more amera
ooths
on
thefloor fthe ound
tage,
herewas ittle r
no room eft or loor-
level
ighting;
ameramen ere orced o lluminateets rom
bove,
practice
hat ended o
resultn a
flat,
ven,
hadowless
ighting
tyle,
resembling
hat eenon
contemporary
elevisionitcoms
which,
ike
early
ound
ilms,
reshotwith
multiple
ameras).
o
complicate
mat-
ters ven
more,
raditionalrc
amps
gave
ff
high-pitched
histle
thatmicrophonesicked p."'2This necessitated switch osilent,n-
candescent
ights, change
hat urtherontributedo theflat
ighting
style
ictated
y
multiple-camera
ilming.
ot
only
did Mazda
ighting
lack the
carryingower
nd
sharp
hadows
ielded y
rcs,"'3
ut
t
also
necessitated
change
nfilm tock rom rthochromatico
panchro-
matic,which,
n
1928,
was somewhatofternd ess
contrasty
han r-
tho.14
hough
ubsequent
evelopments
n filmtock nd the
redesign
of
rc
circuits
n
order o silence hem
thus
nabling
hem
o be used
again)soonpermittedreturnoa more ounded,more ighlymodeled
lightingtyle, arly
ound
ilms,
anging
rom
Warner's
ightsf
NewYork
(Bryan
oy,
928)
to Paramount'she
Cocoanuts
Robert
lorey
nd
Joseph
antley,
929),
were haracterized
y
oft,
lat
ighting
funiform
intensity
hatwas
evenly
istributed
hroughout
he
et.
By
contrast,
scenes hot
silently,"
owhich
nonsynchronized
oundwas
ubsequently
added,
ould
be
filmed ith
omplex
amera
movementnd traditional
(i.e., arc)
ighting
echniques,
s illustratedn
parts
f
Applause,
lack-
mail, hinatownightsWilliamA. Wellman, 929),andThunderbolt
(Josef
on
Sternberg,
929).
Multiple-camerailming
as
ntroducednorder o
permit
hotva-
riety
nd the
traditional
ractice
f
ontinuity
diting
while
maintaining
synchronization
fthe
mage
rack
with
he
ound
rack.15
eparate
eg-
ments ffilm rom
arious
ngles
overed
y
differentameras
ouldbe
edited
ogether
ndmatched o
the ound
rack,
hich emainedon-
tinuous
nd uncut.
n
this
way,
he
ound rackstablished
he
measure
against
which he
mage
was
assembled.
ndeed,
n
the ound-on-disk
system,he ound rack, hichwason a waxdisk, ould learly otbe
edited,
hough,tarting
n
1927,
Warners
egan
he
practice
f
mixing
on
disks,
nterlocking
s
many
s
eight
isks
ogether
nd
cutting
ack
andforth rom
ne to
another o
produce
composite
edited"
isk.'6
Unfortunately,
his
ractice
esulted
n
a finalound rack
hatwas ev-
eral
generations
emoved romhe
ound n the
original
isk.
Butfor
the
most
art,
oundwas
mixed nthe et
during roduction,
ot
during
post-production.
s a
result,music,
ialogue,
nd sound
ffectsere
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232 TheMusical
uarterly
recorded
imultaneously y
a
sound mixerwho
manipulated
fader
control
ettings
n
the
various
microphones rrayed
round the set
to
achieve
proper
balance
among
the differentound
inputs.
f
a
character
were
to listen to a
radio,
as Herbert
Marshall does
while
shaving
n
Hitchcock'sMurder
1930),
the
thirty-piece
rchestra
laying
he
music
heard on
theradio
would
have to be
just
offscreen,
n
the same
set,
and
would have
to be
recorded
t
the same
timeas the
actor was
being
filmed."7
Mixing
on the
fly,
owever,
an
occasionally yield
cacophonous
results,
ecessitating
ime-consuming
nd
costly
retakes,
nd even
the
best ivemulti-microphonemix-down acksthepreciseseparation and
thus
clarity)
f sounds
subsequently
ttainable
c.
1931-32)
through
post-production
mixing
f
separate
multiple-channel
music,
dialogue,
and effects
racks.
Prior o the advent
of
double-system
ound-on-film
echnology
n
1929-allowing image
and sound to be
synchronously
ecorded
n
sepa-
rate
strips
f film-Fox
Movietone films emaineddifficult
o
edit. Be-
cause sound
preceded mage
on the
singlestrip
f
film,
uts had to be
made twenty rames head of the image norder oprovidefull oundin-
formation
or he
image
twenty
rames ehind it. When edits
did
occur,
they
were
necessarily
ccompanied
by
a
twenty-frame
ilence before he
occurrence f the next
synchronized
ound. Even as late as
1930,
Hearst
Metrotone
Newsreels,
mploying
Movietone
cameras,
how
evidence of
this
ound-image ag.
As
Steve
Handzo
further
oints
out in
comment-
ing
on Fox's
single-system
echnology,
fades nd
dissolves,
hen still
made
in
the
camera,
became difficultr
nearly
mpossible
o
execute,"
and
"development
f
the
negative
was an
unsatisfactoryompromise
between
the
pleasing
gray
cale desiredfor he
picture
nd the
high
contrast
equiredby
the sound
track."'8
Barry
alt has described he
development
f sound
editing
echnol-
ogy, ncluding
he
multiple
ynchronizer,
he sound
Moviola,
and
edge
numbering,
nd how
this
equipment
facilitated
return,
n
the
early
1930s,
to the faster
utting
atesof the late silent
period
and
thus
effaced
the "marks"
eft
n
classical
editing tyle
nd take
engthby
transition-
to-sound
echnology.19'
ditors
n
the
early
1930s discovered hat
cuts
could be concealed by aying bit ofdialoguefrom heprevious hot
over the next. As Warner's
post-production xpert
Rudi Fehr
explains
it,
"mosteditors et the
sound
track
verlap
a fewframes o the cut isn't
so obvious."20
With
the
advent of
television,
his
practice
s
frequently
reversed:
n
contemporary
elevision nd motion
pictureproduction,
sound editors
egularly verlay
he end of one scene or shot with a
few
frames f the sound from he
next
scene or
shot,
a
technique
that
n
turn
has establishednew normsfor ound
editing
n
the
cinema.21)
Through-
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Blackmailnd
arly
ilm
ound
233
out the
ate
1920s
nd
1930s, echnologicalevelopment
orked
and
inhandwith ound
ecording
nd
mixing
ractice
o
create
sound
track hat
yielded
ewernd fewer
igns
fthe
technology
hat
roduced
it.
In
1926,
TheodoreCase introducedhe
technique
f
blooping
(inked-on
ades hat
kept
he
projector's
oundhead from
eeing
he
cut)
to
permit
oiselessound dits.22n
1927,
Earl
Sponabledesigned
perforatedrojection
creen,
nabling
heater
peakers
o be
placed
be-
hind
the
mage
rather
han
longside
t);23
this
helped
urther
he llu-
sion that
he oundwas
emanating
rom hecharactersnd events
eing
projected.Microphoneooms, eveloped yDouglas hearer tM-G-M
in
1929,
permitted
he
miking
f ctors
s
they
moved,
roviding
etter
sound
overage.24
mnidirectional
icrophones,
hich
icked p
un-
wanted,
mbient
ound,
ave
wayby
1939 to directional
icrophones,
which oast ten-to-one
atio f desired o undesired
ickup"
nd re-
duce"camera
oise,
loor
queaks,
olly
noises,
nd
sounds
eflectedrom
walls
nd other
eflecting
urfaces."25
he
direction f
echnological
change
nd the
development
f
ound
practice
nswer,
n
part,
hede-
mand f lassicalHollywoodinema or means f llusionisticroduc-
tion hat
emains,
or hemost
art,
nvisible-that
s,
t will
notdisturb
the
willing uspension
f
disbeliefhat
ermits
udiences obecome b-
sorbedna
film's arrativer
diegetic
world. he
evolutionaryoal
of
mainstream
ound
echnology
nd
practice
hus ends oward
hat
ne
couldcall a certain
naudibility
s well
s
invisibility.
Technological
evelopments
uch s soundwerenot
only
nlisted
inthe
production
f
greater
ealism ut
were
lso
celebrated
s
a
spec-
tacularmedia
ensationntheir wn
right,rawing
he udience's
tten-
tion o the
novelty
f
he
pparatus
tself.
he
"greater
ealism"
ro-
duced
by
the
new
technology
as
understood,
t
would
eem,
s a kind
f
excess,
which
was,
n
turn,
ackaged
s
spectacle.
Ads for
roadway
MelodyHarry
eaumont,
929)
announced hat
his all
talking,
ll
singing,
ll
dancing
ramatic
ensation" as
nothing
ess
han
theNew
Wonder fthe
Screen "
see
Fig.
3).
Fox
Movietone ubbed
tselfThe
Sound and
Sight
ensation."
ndeed,
he
pectacular
ature f
ound
was
foregroundedy
the
hifts
hat
ook
place
between he
ilent nd
sound equences.Whilefor oday'sudiences,neofthethingshat s
fascinating
bout
arly
ound ilmss that
hey
ppear
o violate ll
sorts
of
stablished
onventions
f
narrativeound
inema,
or
movie udi-
ences
n
1926-30,
who
had never eenorheard
ound
ilms
efore,
nd
for
ilmmakers,
ho
had nevermadethem
efore,
hese
ound-editing
conventions id not
yet
xist-they
had
not
yet
beencodified.
ndeed,
f
early
ound
ilms iolated
nything,
twas
perhaps
nly
he
onventions
of
ilent
inema.
n
fact,
or
1927
audience,
he
ong
equences
n
The
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234
TheMusical
uarterly
: :: --
-oi,-1-
Figure
. A souvenir
rogram
or
roadwayelody,escribing
t s
"All
Talking
ll
Singing
ll
Dancing."
Jazz
ingermight
eem
o be
simply
n
extension f herecorded
musical
accompanimenthey
ad heard arlier n Don
Juan,
which
n
turn ad
simply
ynchronized
s
part
f he
film
echnology
tself he
ive
musical
accompanimentf ilent ilmshat hese udiences adbeenaccus-
tomed o
hearing
or
ears
n
movie heaters.
nd the
quality
f he
soundwasnot all
thatdifferent
rom
hat
hey
eard
n
radio,
n
records,
rover he
telephone.
ndeed,
he
ame
echnology
eveloped
for hese ther
ommunications
edia
wasused
n
early ecording
or
film.
The
expectations
f
udiences-and
what
hey
erceived
s
"realis-
tic"-were
changing
ear
yyear
uring
his
period,
whichs one
of
he
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Blackmailnd
arly
ilm ound 235
reasons
film
ikeBlackmail
Alfred
itchcock, 929)
is so useful
n
documenting
hetransition-to-sound
eriod
nd the esthetic
hanges
t
introduced.
f,
or 929
audiences,
hevarious
mprints
nBlackmail
made
by
technology,
onventionsftraditional
ilm
ractice,
conomics,
ideology,
nd
other orces
ere
llegible-written,
s
it
were,
n
invisible
ink,
hen or
ontemporary
udiences,
ccustomedo
different
ilmmak-
ing
practices,
hat
writing
ecomes
emarkably
egible,
eaping
ut at us
through
ts ssential
ifference.
et,
n
watching
lackmail,
t s
impor-
tant
o
keep
n mind
hat heexistencef
part-talking
ilms
as
tselfn
theprocess fbecoming norm t that ime,ust searlycolor" ilms
were ften
othing
ther han hort
olor
equences
nsertedntoblack-
and-white
ilms.
Conventions
nd audience
xpectations
o not
explain
he
phe-
nomenon
f
part-talking
ilms
n its
ntirety;
here
s
an
economic
ea-
son for
heir
xistence s
well.Part-talkie
ilms
ould
asily
e converted
to all-silent
ilms
or xhibitionn the
great
majority
ftheatershathad
notconverted
o
sound
yet.
or
example,
y
he nd of
1927,
ust
fter
therelease fTheJazz inger,nly157of he21,700movie heatersn
theUnited tates ould
play
ound;
y
ate 1928
this
number ad
in-
creased o
1,046.
WhenBlackmail asreleased t the nd of
1929,4,000
domestic heaters
and
1,200
foreign
inemas)
werewired or
ound,
whichwas till ess han20
percent
fthetotal
number f
film
enues.
By
theendof
1930,
herewere
13,500
heatershathad
sound nstalla-
tions,
eaving
,200
theaters
till ilent.
ilm
roducers
ere eluctant
o
convert heir otalmovie
utput
osound
ecause
f he
costof onvert-
ing
ll
theaterst once. Thiswas essof factornthe
United
tates,
however,
inceheremost
ig
movie
houses
were wned
by
tudios,
nd
thus
irst-run
onversionsook
place
at
a
rapid
ate.Once the
talking
picture
evolution
otunderway,
hreatening
hevalueof
unreleased
silent
ilms,
tudios
egan
o insert
alkingequences
nto
heir
acklog
of ilent
ilms
o
give
hem ome
box-office
alue.
These
were
known
s
"goat-gland"
alkies,
ince
hey
were
njected
with bitof alk orenew
their conomic ife.
The
conversionosound n
Europe
agged
ehind hat n
the
United tates. tstarted woyearsaternEnglandndFrance;nsome
countries,
uch
s
theSoviet
Union,
he
conversiono
sound id notbe-
gin
until
930-31. n
England,
lfred
itchcockwastold o make
Blackmails
a silent ilm. he
studio
riginally
lanned
or he
film
o
concludewith ne
reel t
theend
containingynchronized
ialogue.
However,
itchcock
ecretly
adethe
filmn
sound
nstead,
sing
sound-on-film
rocess.
lackmail
as
subsequently
dvertiseds a 100
percent
ound
ilm,
ven
though
he
entire
irsteel s silent nd
there
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236
TheMusical
uarterly
are
only
hirteen
ages
f
dialogue,
which
ranslate
nto
hirteen in-
utes f
ctual,
ynchronized
peech
n a filmhat s
eighty-six
inutesn
length
see
Fig.
4).
During
hetransition
eriod,
he
majority
ffilms
ere
mongrels-
part
ilent,
art
ound-and
as
a result
epresented
mixture
f
different
styles.
either
ully
ilent-andthusnot
representative
fthe
lready
highly
laboratedilent ilm esthetic-nor
ully
ound,
hey egotiated
an
interim
eriod uring
hich he
conventions
f coustic erisimili-
tude,
hat
s,
ofwhat
would ome
to
be
consideredrealistic"ound
prac-
tice,werenthe lowprocess fbeing stablished.or xample,here
wereno
rules
bout
dialogue;
n
all-talking
equence
ouldbe immedi-
ately
ollowed
y
scene n which ntertitles
eplaced poken ialogue.
Elsewheremusic ndsound ffects
ould
bruptlyive
way
o scenes
n
which here
was
no
music,
whereaseveral
ears
ater
as
illustrated
y
overscoredilms
ike
KingKong
Merian
.
Cooper
ndErnest .
Schoedsack,
933])
musicwould e used o hold
an audience lmost
continuously
hroughout
hecourse f
film,
nderscoring
ven
speech.
A number f ilent-filmheorists,ncludingudolf rnheim,aw
the
coming
f ound s a threato
the
developing
raditionf
pure"
cinema-the
attempt
o create
purely
inematic,
hat
s,
purely
isual,
language,
s
in
E
W. Murnau'silent
ilm
heLast
Laugh
1925),
in
which hebulk f
narrative
nformationascommunicated
isually
in-
deed,
Murnau's ilm eatured
nly
our
ntertitles).
mheim
rgued
hat
thecinema
had
developed
nto n art
n
arge art
ecause
f ts ilence
(i.e.,
because
f tsformal
ifferencerom
eality);
ts
purity
s an art
form
epended pon
ts utonomous
evelopment
sa visualmedium.
Thus
he felt hat
he ddition f sound
rack o
an
already erfectly
r-
ticulate
mage
rackwould esult
n
unnecessary
emiotic
edundancy
andwould
hereby
ransform
hemediumnto monstrous
ybrid.26
s
a
composite
orm,
ound
inema
merges
sa
cacophony
fredundant
r
opposing
oices n which he
eloquently
ilent voice"
f
the
mage
and
ofvisual
odily esture)
s
either
ointlesslyuplicated
rdrowned
ut
by
hevoices
n the ound
rack.
Hitchcock's
ork n
general-and
Blackmail
n
particular-illus-
trateshechallengehenewtechnologyosed o thethen-traditional
mode f
film
ractice
ndto
previously
stablished
ethods fvisual
storytelling
r,
nnonnarrative
ilms,
isual
xpression.
arly
ound
ilms
like
Blackmailreremarkableecause
hey
rovide
xamples
fthe
rup-
ture reated
y
he
new
technology;
rom
oday's erspective,
ou
an
seeand
hear hat reak
n thefilms
hemselves.itchcock's
ork
s,
n
many
ways,
he
epitome
f
pure
inema,
ynthesizing
he
two
major
silent
ilm raditionsf
purely
isual
xpression:
oviet
montage
nd
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Blackmailnd
arly
ilm ound
237
-; i??iiii?
..........
r
i7
17
ii;:
ii-
'i
:ii:-?-
i-i-il--i
:-:
-:
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iiilliiii iiiiii'
i'i
ili::i i-iii
i
ii iiiiiiiii
iii
iiii-niiiii:_
-ii;i:
-'i-is
l
~~ii~iii~ii2iii iiiiiiiiiiiii
l
i iii
. -
ii lii iliiiii
;-BRITISH::-NTED-
,8L
PICURES
i i iiiiiiiii~iii~-i-iiiiiil
i
i
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iiii:l
...........
il
:i:ii
-
illl
~~~~i~~sa4~r~ss
I ?
~ rs
ll~r~s8aBpresL~F-i
THE
FIRST-
LLLLE
ALL
ALKE
F
iiiiii._:ii'-M ADE:
IN
Bi:-
<aREiiiii
J-?l
UN
1
at
11.1
.~aj-__
-a_:Ii~l
i--ellRi-i --::ii-;:
Figure. Aposteror lackmaildvertisest s "a 100% alkie."Author'sollection)
German
xpressionism.
oth esthetic raditions
ight
e
saidto articu-
late
atent r
nitially
nintelligiblehenomena.Montage,
s
practiced
byDziga
Vertov nd
Sergei
isenstein,
rovides
n
analytic
nsight
nto
phenomenal eality,
evealing
arious
nderlying
orces
hat
tructure
t;
Vertov'severse-motion
hotography
nd
temporally
etrogressive
dit-
ing
n
Kino-Glaz
1924)
trace ack loaf f
bread
o ts
origins
s
grain
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238
TheMusical
uarterly
in
a farmer's
ield;
isenstein's
diting
n Potemkin
1925)
lays
are he
chainof ause ndeffecthat eadsfrom soldier's ullet o a mother's
death,
o
the
headlong light
f
baby
arriage
own
he
Odessa
teps,
to the
baby's
eath,
nd to the
nsweringuns
f
the
revolutionary
sailors n thedeckof hePotemkin.
Whathistorians
f
film
tyle
efero as cinematic
xpressionism
n-
volves
he
manipulation
f he
plastics
f he
mage
o
producemeaning,
as
in the
exaggerated
et
design
fTheCabinet
f
Dr.
Caligari
Robert
Wiene,
1919),
or
optical
istortionso
reflect
character'snner
tate,
such s thedoorman'srunkennessnLastLaugh. xpressionisticanip-
ulations
enerally
ocus
esson
the
political
han n
"spiritual"
imen-
sions f he
narrative,
iving
orm o emotional
nd
psychological
s-
pects y
means
f
film
orm-in et
design,ighting,
ise-en-schne,
editing,
nd
acting.
n
a
purely eneric
evel,
he
ssociation f
xpres-
sionism
ith
ampires,
onsters,
nd demons-andits
tylistic
urvival
in
classic s well s
contemporary
merican orror
ilms-gives
vi-
denceofthese
oncerns.
nd whatmore
raphic
ay
s there
o
convey
a
character's
nner,
sychological
tate han o
project
t
upon
he
pace
surroundinghat haracter-tomake hat pacereadable sa cipher f
otherwise
nvisible
ynamics.
Both
montage
nd
expressionism
re aidto have been
deeply
n-
dermined
y
the
coming
f
ynchronized
ound.
ound-and
especially
dialogue-functioned
o anchor
he
mage
nthe
real,"
acrificing
uch
of he
tylisticutonomy
f ilent
ilm
n
favor f
powerful
eferential
illusion.
his
heightening
f
what
s often
eferred
o
as the
reality
f-
fect" eemed
t
odds
with he
formallyde-realizing"trategies
fdidac-
ticSovietmontagendGermanxpressionism,hich tructuredhe m-
age
more s a
sign
ra
signifying
omplex.
n
some
ways,
his
rgument
has
some
merit.tis
hard o
think
f
rapidmontage
equence
ccom-
paniedby
ontinuous
ialogue;
he
continuity
f
the
peech
would
surely
ork
gainst
he
discontinuity
f he
editing.
hefamoushower
sequence
n
Psycho
Alfred
itchcock,
960)
is
unimaginableccompa-
nied
by nything
ut
ound
ffectsnd music.
ut,
s
the urvival f
montageequence
n
Psycho
emonstrates,
ound
learly
idnot
destroy
montage ut implyransformedt.Bythe ame oken,he urvival f
expressionistic
evices n American
ound
ilm-especially
n
genres
such s
the
horror
ilm,
ilm
oir,
rcertainmelodramas
hat eal with
issues
f haracter
sychology-belies
henotion
hat uch
tylisticrac-
ticeswere
ncompatible
ith
ynchronized
ound.
ndeed,
t
couldbe ar-
gued
hat irectorsuch s
Hitchcock,
or
xample,
ffectively
ecast
silent ilm
echniques
ssociated
ith
montage
nd
expressionism
nre-
sponse
o
the
mperativesmposed y
he dvent f
the ound
ilm,
s a
closer xaminationfBlackmail
illreveal.
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Blackmailnd
arly
ilm
ound
239
In
talking
ith
Fran.ois
Truffaut,
itchcock
penly
cknowledged
hisprivilegingfpure inema nd nsistedhat ilent ilm as thepurest
formf inema.At
one
point
he even
attacked
arly
ound inema
or
abandoning
he
techniques
f ilent
inema,
ince
Hitchcockwas
con-
vinced hat uch
practices
ouldbe
incorporated
nto henew
technol-
ogy;
n
short,
e felt hat ound
ould
be
manipulated
long
he
ame
lines s the
mage.
Hitchcock elieved hathe
could
mpose
ilent
es-
thetics
pon
the ound ilm.
lackmail
osesproblems
or
nyone
t-
tempting
o
simply
quate
he
coming
f oundwith he
ntroduction
of greaterealism rfor nyonentent nfindingdramaticreak
between ilent nd
sound ilm.
ifferences,
f
ourse,
re
apparent,
ut
what
s
surprising
s the
arger
ense f
continuity.
Blackmail
oves ack nd
forth
na
highly
luid
ay
between
sound nd silent
equences.
ndeed,
t even
establishes
ridges
rom ne
to the
other,
s in
the nstance
fthefamousut
fromilent
ootage
ul-
minating
n
Alice's
point-of-view
hot fthe
outstretched
and
of
sleeping
erelict
o the cream
fCrewe's
andlady
s she ees
his simi-
larly
utstretched
andwhen
he
discovers isdead
body.
he
film
e-
peatedlyelies n the rticulatingevices haracteristicf ilent ilm
style;
o,
for
xample,
t
ncludes
montage equences
uch s the
one
that erves o
ndicate he
passage
f
time
uring
he
questioning
f n
arrested
uspect.
erethe
camera
ocuses n
a
clock-shapedshtray,
having
he
partially
moked
igarettes
ove
lockwise
hrough
series
of
dissolves rom
ne
hour-hand
osition
oanother
round he
shtray
as the
uspect
s
questioned
or everal
ours
y
he
police.
There
s
also
an
expressive
issolve rom he
uspect's
ace o the
mage
f
his
finger-
print, transitionhat ells sthathehas beenbooked ndsuggestshat
somehow is
fingerprint
ill onnecthim
o the
crime.
For
Hitchcock,
hetwo
tyles
f ilent nd
sound
ilmmaking
unc-
tion s
productive
imitations.
e
uses he
imitations
mposed
pon
filming
y
ound
echnology
o
convey
nformation
bouthis
characters.
If
the
confinement
f hecamera
o a
soundproof
ooth n
the
early
sound ra
threatened
o imit ertain
means f
xpression,
itchcock
uses his ame
onfinement
o
develop
sense
f
claustrophobia.
Throughoutlackmail,hort anninghots riss-crosshetaut, riangu-
lar
confrontationshat
ake
place
within
he
claustrophobic
onfines
of
familyarlor
where he
blackmailer
Tracy)
nd
histwo
victims,
the
heroine,
lice,
nd her
police-detective
oyfriend,
rank,
ave se-
questered
hemselves.he
short
ans
brilliantly
rticulatehe
ines f
tension hat
onnect he
three
haracters,
apping
ut the
ntricate
webof
ove,
guilt,
ear,
nd
greed
n
which
hey
re all
entangled.
n
a
similar
ashion,
tyle
nd
theme
rehere
nextricably
inked;
hefor-
mal
device
of
the
hort
an
both
determinesnd
s
determined
y
he
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240
TheMusical
uarterly
thematicontentf
the
equence.
he
filming
f
he
cene
s
also
a
functionf
the
imitationsf
he
technology:
treflectshefact
hat t
was
filmed
y
camera
mprisoned
ithin
soundproof
ooth
whose
glass
window
estrictedhe
ength
f
nypan
to
roughly
ixty egrees
(i.e.,
thecamera ould
only an thirtyegrees
othe
right
r
eft
f
center efore
evealing
he
dges
f
hebooth'swindow
see
Fig.
5).
But
it also takes
dvantage
f
nd n a sense onceals hose
imitations
y
transforming
hem
nto
ndicatorsf haracter
sychology.
itchcock's
direction f he
equence
enders
hese echnicalimitations
which
shapewhat pectatorseeonthe creen) nvisibleygivinghere-
stricted
anspsychological
nd thematicmotivation
ithinhe
tory,
turningtechnological
onstraintnto
n
ingenious
arrative
ain.
Hitchcock
ven
engages
n
playful
okes
bout hebooth r
"icebox"
n
which hecamera
s confined.
uring
ne
scene,
or
xample,
lice and
Frank
alk,
utof arshot f
others,
y tepping
ntothe
phone
booth o-
cated n herfather's
hop.
Here,
nstead f
onfining
he
camera
o
a
soundproof
ooth,
hecharactersonfine
hemselveso
a
booth;
heir
conversationsundoubtedlyecordedy microphoneocated n the
mouthpiece
f he
phone
tself.
ater,
booth s
again
usedto
toy
with
our
desire o
hear;
Frank
ets
call
from cotland
Yard,
eaves he
door
open,
nd
then,
s
he
gets
nterested
n what s
being
aid,
loses
he
door n
us,
preventing
he udience
rom
earing
isconversation.
Blackmail
merges
s an
amalgam
fdifferent
tyles,ombining
he
heightened
realism"f
ynch-sound
ith
ome
f he
xpressionistic
devices
f
ilent ilm
tyle.
or
hemost
art,
hefilm's
ighting
bserves
thecodesof arlyound ecording,hich equiredhat ynch-sound
scenes uch s
the
Lyons
ornerHouse
sequence
rthe
pisodes
n Al-
ice's
parlor
e lit
flatly
o allow
multiple-camera
ilming.
y
contrast,
he
silent
equences
n Blackmail
ave
considerably
ore
modeling
f
figures
with
ight.
ndeed,
here
re everal
ighting
ffects
n
silent
equences
that
might
e termed
xpressionistic,
specially
hemurder
equence
n
which he
truggling
hadows
re
projected
rom
ehind
nto
the
bed
curtain.
arlier
n the
cene,
s
the rtist
ontemplates
he
eduction,
e
pauses
efore
alking
cross he
room,
tanding
or moment
ehind
chandelier hat hrows shadow esemblingmelodrama-villain'sus-
tache cross
isface.
imilarly,
ear
he nd of he
film,
henAlicede-
cides o
give
herself
p,
he
stands
p
after
aving
written
er
onfession
and
places
her
head nto
noosecreated
y symbolic
hadow.
arallel
to
thefilm's
xpressionistic
ighting,
here s
also
what necould
all
an
aural
xpressionism
hat
ccompanies
nd s
mixed
ogether
ith
more
"realistic"coustic
ractices.
he most amous
nstancef
this
xpres-
sionistic
endency
n
the ound
rack ccurs
n theknife
cene,
n
which
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Blackmail
nd
arly
ilm
ound
241
::::--:-: ; ::
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: :: :i-?-ii-:i---? : ?i::::::::::::i:::i;
::-:-;-::::::~::ii-ii-iiiiiii?iiiiii:iiii;iiii-i:iiii-i
:--::?i--i:ii':iii::-;iii-
-?:- --_::::: _--??--i:--:-:-:
:-::~_:-:--~-~_~_~:::;:-?:i::::::.: ::_,i::i::-?~?
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-B :i:-~~:--:::-~:-::::::-:(:-:~-:~:;:;:
Figure
.
Alfred
itchcockistens
hrougharphones
othe
ecording
f
ialogue
or
lackmail.
sign
elow he
narrow indowf
he
amera ooth
to
his
ight)ays
Please
eep
Away
romront
ofCamera."
Author's
ollection)
the
peech
f
gossipyeighbor
s
nitially
lear,
hen
deliberately
ar-
bled,
electivelyccentuating
heword
knife,"
s that nstrument
e-
peatedlytabs heguilt-riddenlice,whocan hearnothing.he sound
track
xpressionistically
aunts hecentral
haracter,
ike sort f ural
ghost.
n a
musical
evel,
he
Miss
After
ay" song
hat
he rtist
lays
on
his
piano
to seduce
Alice
recursmoments
fter er
murder
n the
sound rack s Alice wanders he treets.ntroduced
nitially
s a
dieget-
ically
motivatedound ssociated
ith he rtist ho
plays
t,
t
later
returnso haunt
her na
disembodied,low,
irgelike
ersion.
As
ElizabethWeis
points
ut
n her xcellent
tudy
f
Hitchcock's
sound racks,lackmailsfull f ubjectiveural ffectshat electively
screen ut ome ounds nd
foreground
thers.27
everal cenes
t
Scot-
landYard nvolve electiveilence:
okes
retoldwhose ontent
we
can-
not
hear,
lthough
e
do hear he
aughter
hat ollows.
s Alice and
the
rtist tand utside
is
apartment,
he
blackmailer,
racy,
alls he
artist
way
or minute o
talkwith
him,
ut
ll we hear
s
mumbling.
After he
murder,
he
canary
nAlice'sroom
hirps
more
oudly
han
might
e
expected, roviding
n irritationnthe ound rack hat
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242
TheMusical
uarterly
makes udibleAlice'sown
barely
oncealed
nner
urbulence.
he film
doesnot
present
swith full
ange
f
ounds,
eflecting
he
diversity
f
sounds
within he nvironment.
nstead,
t hierarchizes
coustic
pace,
carefullyelecting
ne
or two ounds
hatwillbe used
xpressively
o
convey
ertaindeas.For
xample,
heunheard
okes
from hichwe
(and
certain
haracters)
reexcluded
stablish
certain
elationship
e-
tween
s
and the
narrator,
ho
uppresses
nformationrom
s,
using
sound oexcite ur
uriosity
s
to
its
ontent,
sing
he
desire
or
ound
that s
especially
haracteristicf
he
early ears
f
he
ound
ilm nd
frustratinghat esire ymakinghepotentialource fpleasure-a
joke-inaudible.
This works
gainst
he
grain
f realistic"ound
rac-
tice,
which
ictates
hat
verything,specially
uman
peech,
must e
audible.
he
firstse of
dialogue
nthefilm-the
police alking
bout
tailornd a suit
n the
washroom-is
oubly rustrating:
t
is
bothbanal
and
barely
udible. et s such
tserves omake he
point
hat
ound
films
o not
always
ave to have
ntelligible
r
even
ubstantive
ia-
logue;
t
s a
joke
on
us,
foregrounding
nd
mocking
ur
desire
o hear
by elective seofthenew ound echnology.t the ame ime,tserves
to
construct
henarrative
ersona
itchcock s
gradually
eveloping
s
that f
narrator ho
plays
r
toys
withhis audience.
More
mportantly
or his
articular
ilm,
he
oke-tellingequences
set
up
a
pattern
f ilence nd
aughter,
hich
merge
s
prominent
themes
n thefilm. ne
aspect
f
the
okes
sthat
hey
re
hared ecrets
between wo
haracters,
xcluding
ther
haracters.
hared
ecrets
m-
ply
hared
nowledge,
s
suggested
y
he
phrase
inside
oke."
The en-
try
f
Tracy
nto heWhites' stablishment
naugurateslengthy
eries
of nside
okes, ommencing
ithhisdesire
o
use the
phone
o
"get
n
to Scotland
Yard,"
request
meant o communicate
is
ntentions
o
the
guilty
ouple.
This s followed
y
his
pointed
uestion
Any
news
of
hemurder?"nd his
ubsequent
ttempt
t
comedy
with he
ine
"detectives
n
glass
houses houldn't
aveclues."As he devours
black-
mailed
reakfast,
racy lithely
histles
The Best
Things
n Life re
Free,"
referenceo his
atest
cquisitions-a
cigar, ocket
money,
nda
free
meal.
The central
elationship
etween
lice
and Frank
s alsobuilt
upon ecret,hared nowledge-thatfthecrime.Whetherheyike t
or
not,
hey
re
ccomplices
o
a
murder;
heir
ilence,
heir
ttempt
o
cover
t
up,
nvolves
hemn a shared
uilt.
As
Weis
points
ut,
he
film
epeatedly
ssociates
ilence
with
guilt;
he
nability
o
speak
s
equated
with hetrauma
esulting
rom
guilty
nowledge.
he
murder
akes
lace
na silent
equence-the
result f
Alice's
ttempt
o
defend
erself,
hich
egan
with erulti-
mately
nsuccessful
erbal
rotestations.
he
murder
enders
er ilent:
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Blackmailnd
arly
ilm ound 243
she becomesmore r
essmute ftert.
She remains
teadfastly
ilent
in thecontext f
repeated
ncounters ith
erbosity,anging
romhe
neighbor
hotalks bout n
"honest
whack ver hehead with
brick"
toher
parents
ndto
Frank,
hoasks
her
point
lank what
appened
last
night"
nd,
receiving
o
answer,
omplains,
Why
on't
you
ell
me
.
.
.
For
God's
sake,
ay
omething."
rank's
nowledge
fher n-
volvementn thecrime
orces
im
obe silent s
well,
ntil
e
discovers
that cotlandYard s
ooking
or
racy.
rank,
earning
hat
Tracy,
ot
Alice,
s
suspected
y
he
police,
efuses
o ether
peak,
nterrupting
er
when hetries oimplicate erself.or xample,whenFrank urnshe
tables
gainst racy,
lackmailing
im
n
turn,
lice
protests,
Frank,
you
an'tdo this." n
response
o
his
query Why
not?"
he
begins
o
re-
ply
but s
prevented
rom
oing
o
by
Frank's
ilencing
ine
"Now,now,
don't
nterfere
lice,"
eading
racy
o
plead,
Why
on't
you
et
her
speak?"
ear theend
of he
film,
fter
racy's
eath
upposedly
loses
the
case,
Alice
goes
to the
police
tation o confess hat hedid t.En-
tering
hechief
nspector's
ffice,
he
hesitatingly
ellshim I ...
I know
whodid
t,"
butFrankgain nterruptser ndpreventserfrompeak-
ing.
The
film
ndswith final
oke
about
lady
etectivest the
Yard"
who threateno
replace
men,
joke
that ealsAlice's
ilence. he
is
forced
ot
only
o
accept
but o
laugh
therown
ilencing
long
with
Frank nd
another
oliceman.
n
this
moment,
itchcock'sirst
ound
filmeveals tself
s
a
work hat s
ultimately
bout
he
relation
f ound
and silence.
t uses
ound
s
a foil
o
foreground
ts
entral
haracter's
inability
o
speak.
The transitiono
the
ound rathreatenedo
disrupt
he
homo-
geneity
f ilent ilm.
ndeed,
heoristsfthe ilent
ilm,
uch s
Arn-
heim,
iewed ound s
a formf noise"
hat
nterfered
ith he
elo-
quent
speech"
f
ilent ilm
tylistics.
nsound
ilms,
he voice"
f
the
image ompetes
or
ominancewith hat
fthe ound rack.
or
Arn-
heim,
ialogue
ifferentiated
hose
who
poke
rom he
previously
o-
mogenous
because
uniformly
ilent)
world
f
the
film,
iving
hem
c-
cesstoa mode
f
xpression
enied
o other
lements
f
the
mage
such
as
objects),
which
emainedilent. n
terms fthe
transitiono
sound n
filmsuch sTheJazz ingerndBlackmail,rnheim'serceptionfthe
potential
esthetic
onsequences
fthe
ddition f
ynchronized
ound
has a
certain
alidity.
n
theirhifts ack
nd
forth etween
ilence nd
sound ndbetween
ilent ndsound ilm
esthetics,
hese
ilms
onsti-
tute siteof
rupture
or
lassical
Hollywood
inema.
his
rupture
on-
sists fthe
repeated
iolation f he
llusionism
enerated y
mutually
exclusive ilent nd
sound ilm
esthetics.ilms uch
s
Blackmail
on-
tain
hese
upturesy
narrativizing
hem,
rawing
hem
nto
new,
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244
TheMusical
uarterly
compositellusionismnwhich ound ndsilence ngagen a dramati-
cally
motivatednteraction.
y
the nd
of
he
transitiono the
ound
period,
the
embarrassmentf silence
has
effectively
een contained
by
the
film
ndustry,
hich,
ike
Hitchcock,
has learned to narrativize i-
lence.
Butwhat emains
ascinating
bout ilms fthe
transition-to-
sound
period
s the
way
n which the
marks f this transition emain
visible
and
audible. No matter
ow
hard
these films
ry
o conceal
the
technology
hat
produces
them,
hat
technology
evertheless
eaves its
indelible traces.
Notes
This
s a
substantially
evised ersion f n
essay
hatwasfirst
ublished
n
Spanish
s
"Cine Sonoro:
Technologia
Estetica"
n
volume ixofthe
Historia eneral
el ine:
a
transicionelmudo
l
sonoro,
d. ManuelPalacio nd Pedro antos
Madrid:
diciones
Catedra, 995).
1. H. C.
Humphrey,Typical
oundStudio
Recording
nstallations,"
ransactions
f
he
Society
f
Motion icture
ngineers
3,
no.37
(May
1929):
161.
2.
Charles
eden,
Newsreel an
(New
York:
oubleday,
oran
&
Co.,
1932),
18-19.
By
ontrast,
aramount's
portable"quipment,
hich
was
also
mounted
n a
truck,
weighed
9,000
pounds.
ee AlbertW.
DeSart,
Sound
Recording
ractice,"
n
Recording
Sound
or
Motion
ictures,
d.Lester owan
New
York:
McGraw-Hill, 931),
274.
3.
Sponable
Collection
Columbia
University
ibraries),
rojects-Interdepartmental
Correspondence
older,
ox
16,
memo oEarl
ponable
rom
.
J.
anial,
dated7
April
1931.
4. "Technical rogressn the ndustryuring 929:Report f heSMPE (Spring
1929),"
n
The 1930
Film
aily
Book
f
Motion
ictures,
d.
John
Alicoate
The
Film
Daily,
930),
839.
5.
David
Bordwell
oints
ut
that he ncreased
eight
f
arly,
limped
ound ameras
led studioso
put
hem nmovable
ameramountso facilitate
heirmovementn
the
set
between
hots nd
argues
hat his
roduction
emand
made t
possible
or irectors
to
resume hekind f ameramovement
hat
had become featuref ate ilent ilms.
"Camera
Movement,
he
Coming
f
Sound,
nd theClassical
Hollywood tyle,"
nFilm:
Historical-Theoretical
peculations,
ds.Ben Lawton
nd
Janet
taiger
Pleasantville,
.Y.:
Redgrave ublishing,977),29-30.
6.
Axial movement
nvolves orwardr backward
ovement
fthe
amera;
ateral
movement
nvolves orizontal ovement
fthe amera.
ee
Joseph
.
Mascelli,
The
Technique
f
Follow-Focus,"
merican
inematographer
8,
no.
12
1957):
789.
7.
Laurence
.
Roberts iscusses
ell
&
Howell's ilenced 709
cameran"Camerasnd
Systems:
History
f
Contributions
rom heBell
&
HowellCo.
(Part
1),"
Journal
f
he
SMPTE
91,
no. 10
October 982):
945-46.
Roberts escribes
heMitchell
tandard
Sound
camera,
whichwas ntroduced
n
1928,
n "TheMitchell amera:
The Machine
and
ts
Makers,"
ournal
f
he
MPTE
91,
no.2
(February
982):
146-47.
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Blackmailnd
arly
ilm
ound
245
8. Barryalt, ilmtylendTechnology:istoryndAnalysisLondon:tarword,983),
227.
9. For discussionf
multiple-camera
hooting,
eeDavid
Bordwell,anet
taiger,
nd
Kristen
hompson,
he
Classical
ollywood
inema: ilm
tyle
ndMode
f
roductiono
1960
New
York: olumbia
niversity
ress,985),
04-6.
10. Gorden
awyer,
npublished
nterview
y
lisabeth
eis,
975.
11.
Unpublished
nterview
y
lisabeth
eis,
ummer.1975.
n
filming
israeli
Alfred
E.
Green,
929),
Garmes
liminateds
many
amerass
possible,
sing nly
wo,
n n
attempt
oreintroduceore
ubtle
ighting.
y
930,
efore
is
amous
ollaboration
withternbergMorocco,ishonored,nAmericanragedy,hanghaixpress),armes
had
returnedo
hooting
ith
ne
blimped)
amera.
12. Bordwellnd
Thompson,
he
Classical
ollywood
inema,
00.
13. Bordwellnd
Thompson,
he
Classical
ollywood
inema,
00.
14.
Bordwellnd
Thompson,
he
Classical
ollywood
inema,
85.
15. DavidBordwellotes
hat
multiple-camerailming,hough
t ntroducesariations
in
mage uality
due
o
differentocal
engths
f he enses
sed)
when he cene
s
fi-
nally
dited,
as evisedo
perpetuate
he
classical
chemata
f
utting"
eveloped
n
the ilentra, ermittingnalyticalnd hot-reversehotditing.Textualnalysis,
Etc.,"
nclitic
,
no.
2-6,
no. 1
fall
981-spring
982):
33.
16.
Sawyer
nterview.obert itt
eports
hatWarnersontinuedhe
ractice
fmix-
ing
ndisk everal
ears
fter
hey
tarted
eleasing
heir ilms ith
ptical
ound,
switchhat
egan
nthe
pring
f
1930.
17.
Hitchcockiscusses
his
rocedure
ith
rangois
ruffaut
n
Truffaut/Hitchcock
(New
York:imon nd
chuster,967),
3.
18. Steve
Handzo,
A
Narrative
lossary
f ilm ound
echnology,"
nFilm
ound:
Theorynd ractice,d.Elisabeth eis ndJohneltonNewYork: olumbianiver-
sity
ress,
985),
89.
19.
Salt,
ilm
tyle
nd
Technology,
81-83.
20.
Unpublished
nterview
y
lisabeth
eis,
975.
21. See
RickAltmann "the ound
dvance"
n
his
ociety
or inema
tudies
aper
"Television/Sound,"
ew
Orleans,
986;
eprinted
s
"Television/Sound,"
n
Studiesn
Entertainment:
ritical
pproaches
oMass
ulture,
d.
TaniaModleski
Bloomington:
Indiana
niversity
ress,
986).
n
an
nterview
y
lisabeth eis
1975),
RobertWise
claims ohave
nitiatedhe
ractice
f he ound dvancen
motion
ictures
n
editing
SomebodypThereikes e 1956).Wise,f ourse,asnot rainedntelevision,
though
e
may
ave
een nfluenced
y
elevision
ractice
onetheless.
22.
Sponable,
Historical
evelopment
f he
ound
ilm,"
merican
inematographer
(August
947):
95.
23.
Edward
.
Kellogg,
History
f
oundMotion
ictures,"
ournal
f
he
MPTE
6
(June
955);
eprinted
n
A
Technological
istory
f
Motion
ictures
nd
Television,
d.
Raymond
ieldingBerkeley:
niversity
f
California
ress, 967),
79.
24.
Bordwellnd
Thompson,
he
Classical
ollywood
inema,
99.
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246
The
Musical
uarterly
25.
G.
R.
Groves,
The
oundman,"
ournalf
he
MPTE
8,
no.
13
March
947):
223.
26.
Rudolf
rnheim,
ilm
s
Art
Berkeley:niversity
f
California
ress,957),
215-16,
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