The Speed of Sound: Hollywood and the Talkie Revolution, 1926-1930For the first time ever, here is the epic story of the transition from silent films to talkies - that moment when movies were totally transformed and the American public cemented its love affair with Hollywood. In the Speed of Sound, author Scott Eyman, whose biography of filmmaker Ernst Lubitsch was hailed as "resoundingly wonderful", has created a mixture of cultural and social history that is at once both scholarly and vastly entertaining. Here is the first and last word on the missing chapter in the history of Hollywood, the ribbon of dreams by which America conquered the world. Myth has it that it happened overnight, that Al Jolson said a few words in The Jazz Singer and the talkies were born, that stars with weak or inappropriate voices either killed themselves or went into seclusion, that the movie industry simply refitted itself and went on with business. The truth, however, is more involved - not to mention sinister, colorful, and entertaining. Sound was something the industry had resisted, and it was accepted only reluctantly and only after the Warner Bros. Studio had forced the issue with its aggressive selling of The Jazz Singer. But that was 1927, and for a long time afterward there were still those filmmakers, film stars, and even some filmgoers who resisted the appealing novelty. Change, however, was inevitable, and when it came it was devastating. As Scott Eyman demonstrates in his fascinating account of this exciting era, it was a time when fortunes, careers, and lives were made and lost, when the American film industry came fully into its own, and when the American film-going public truly succumbed to Hollywood's bewitching spell. |
Other editions - View all
The Speed of Sound: Hollywood and the Talkie Revolution, 1926-1930 Scott Eyman No preview available - 1999 |
The Speed of Sound: Hollywood and the Talkie Revolution 1926-1930 Scott Eyman No preview available - 2015 |
Common terms and phrases
actors asked audience began beginning brothers called camera complete contract cost dialogue directed director disc early effects engineer entire equipment finally Forest four frames George Gilbert give Harry hear Hollywood idea industry interest invention Jack Jazz Singer John Jolson knew later less light look March Mayer microphone million months motion picture moved movie Murnau needed never night once opened Paramount performance picture play Press problem production quickly record released remembered reported scene screen seemed shooting shorts shot silent silent film singing sound stage star story Street studio success talkies talking Thalberg theaters thing thought tion told took track turned Vidor Vitaphone voice wanted Warner Bros week Western Electric wife wrote York