The Talkies offers readers a rare look at the time when sound was a vexing challenge for filmmakers and the source of contentious debate for audiences and critics. Donald Crafton presents a panoramic view of the talkies' reception as well as in-depth looks at sound design in selected films, filmmaking practices, censorship, issues of race, and the furious debate over cinema aesthetics that erupted once the movies began to speak.
By:
Donald Crafton
Imprint: University of California Press
Country of Publication: United States
Volume: 4
Dimensions:
Height: 254mm,
Width: 178mm,
Spine: 28mm
Weight: 1.134kg
ISBN: 9780520221284
ISBN 10: 0520221281
Series: History of the American Cinema
Pages: 651
Publication Date: 22 November 1999
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Acknowledgments 1 Introduction: The Uncertainty of Sound PART 1: A NEW ERA IN ELECTRICAL ENTERTAINMENT 2 Electric Affinities 3 Virtual Broadway, Virtual Orchestra: De Forest and Vitaphone 4 Fox-Case, Movietone, and the Talking Newsreel 5 Enticing the Audience: Warner Bros. and Vitaphone 6 Battle of the Giants: ERPI and RCA Consolidate Sound 7 The Big Hedge: Hollywood's Defensive Strategies 8 Boom to Bust 9 Labor Troubles 10 Inaudible Technology 11 Exhibition: Talkies Change the Bijou PART 2: THREE SEASONS: THE FILMS OF 1928-1931 12 The New Entertainment Vitamin: 1928-1929 13 Taming the Talkies: 1929-1930 14 The Well-Tempered Sound Track: 1930-1931 15 The Sound of Custard: Shorts, Travelogues, and Animated Cartoons 16 Outside the Mainstream 17 Foreign Affairs PART 3: HEARING THE AUDIENCE 18 The Voice Squad 19 Constructive Criticism: The Fans' Perspective 20 Buying Broadway: THE JAZZ SINGER's Reception 21 ""The Great Ninety Per Cent"" Appendix 1: Selected Box Office Grosses, 1928-1931 Appendix 2: Academy Awards Related to Sound, 1927-1931 List of Abbreviations Notes Bibliography Picture Sources General Index Index of Films
Donald Crafton is Chair of the Department of Film, Television, and Theatre at the University of Notre Dame. He is the author of Before Mickey: The Animated Film, 1898-1928 (1993) and Emile Cohl, Caricature, and Film (1990).
Reviews for The Talkies: American Cinema's Transition to Sound, 1926-1931
""[A] masterful delineation of the cultural-intellectual climate into which the sound film was inserted. . . . Crafton's analysis contributes not just to film history but to cultural studies more generally with its concern with the way ordinary consumers make use of their culture. . . . ""The Talkies is quite simply a wonderful book. It takes its place among the very top works of American film history.""--Dana Polan, ""Film Quarterly
