Modern cinematography is characterized by technologies that were mostly adopted during the golden age of Hollywood. For example, it would have been unimaginable to have films that incorporate sound and motion in production if technological revolutions of the 1920s in Hollywood had not occurred. While this might appear an unfounded statement, this paper will prove its validity. The objective of this work is to give a historical background of film production at Hollywood. Specifically, the paper reviews the ‘talkie terror’ era, which refers to the production era that saw a transition from silent to sound production. As the paper demonstrates, Talking in the Rain (1952) was a reflection of the efforts that actors had undertaken to adjust from the silent film era to the new one, which had introduced microphones onto the stage. To most of the actors, the transition was meant to kill their carriers since it meant that they would struggle with accent, which was one of the main determinants of quality in talkies, as the sound films were referred to as by then.
Singing in the Rain , therefore, is a manifestation of the achievements that the sound studios that were beginning to emerge by then would have in future; the milestones that have put Hollywood ahead of the rest. However, as the paper reports, the history of adoption of sound into film affected the careers of most actors that could not adjust their acting skills to suit the new era. At the same time, the adoption of the new technology enabled the emergence of new actors who took advantage of their verbal talents to replace those that were being laid off or those who had become obsolete. Directors of the Hollywood’s golden age were desperate to remain relevant to the new audiences that were being carried away by the emergence of technologies even while the actors struggled to suit the system.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Movie musicals are one of the most fundamental genres of Hollywood’s golden age. After the production of the first motion film that featured sound, The Jazz Singer, in 1927, there was an emergence of a huge stir across the country 1 . The audiences would all of a sudden hear their favorite actors talk and sing in film. While this might appear a normal thing for modern viewers, the journey towards attaining all-inclusive films with sound, motion, color, and other visual elements was not easy. For example, the new trend in production meant that studios around the country would soon be required to upgrade their production equipment to meet the demand for talking pictures that had soon crazed the nation. While the audiences enjoyed the transformations, actors found it hard to adapt to the changes.
Singing in the Rain is a representation of the pinnacle of the use of music in film. In addition, the film is an excellent documentation of the history of movie production in the US. Particularly, the movie depicts the levels of commitment that producers and directors had begun adopting during a time when technology had started to affect the industry. During this period, the different aspects of production were under the control of professionals that were meant to give it the touch it required. The movie documents the story of Gene Kelly (Don Lockwood) and that of his co-actor, Jean Hagen (Lina Lamont). It should be understood that these two actors were popular stars of the silent era that had just been succeeded by the talkie era 2 . Their decision to move into new genre of production was the fact that The Jazz Singer, one of the first talkies, had been released and realized great success, suggesting that actors were required to embrace the changes 3 . However, their production had an immediate problem that needed to be addressed, and it is the subject of the ‘talkie terror,’ that arose during the 1920s. Specifically, there was a need for the actors to adjust their voices so that they could match the desired quality, a problem that Lamont had during filming and staging Singing in the Rain.
“I hope to Christ it was the sound stages!” This statement by Clara Bow in 1929 suggests how the actors felt at the time when movie studios such as Paramount had embarked on the use of sound stages 4 . It means that Hollywood was rapidly moving away from silent films to sound films, which the actors found difficult to adapt. In fact, studies indicate that the transition from the silent to sound films shook Hollywood to its core, which resulted in gossip within magazines concerning the emergence of the ‘Talkie Terror.’ The talkie terror resulted in production of immortal classics such as Singing in the Rain that were designed to meet the technological demands of the new age . However, it should be understood that many stars of the silent era were destroyed through the introduction of microphones at the production studios. In fact, dozens of them found themselves out of employment because their voices were considered squeaky and they could not suit the new production standard; hence, they were obsolete actors 5 .
The emergence of sound films was not altogether a new idea. For instance, Edison Thomas had always showed the intention of incorporating sound into picture as far as 1885, a time when he attempted to assemble and make his kinetoscope and phonograph work together 6 . He had considered that synchronization of sound from film was one of the biggest challenges that producers and directors had to overcome. However, his efforts failed for the fact that the pre-electronic amplifications of sound were not loud enough to enable the whole theater watch and listen to the film. However, the production of The Jazz Singer in 1927 showcased the efforts that Hollywood had made towards the transition of silent film into sound ones 7 . Nevertheless, it should be noted that the achievement that Hollywood realized was not attained easily. In addition, The Jazz Singer was not the first film to feature sound in its production since there had been a release of Don Juan by Warner Bros in 1926 8 . The Warner Bros production featured sound and music effects on its soundtrack even while they were produced on a phonograph, but did not contain any instances of dialogue. The fact that The Jazz Singer is considered a more fundamental production is that it broke this barrier, while setting the pace for other producers to follow. In fact, it took another six years before other producers could match the standards set by The Jazz Singer. There was still the production of silent films during the 1930s, and the producers would often consider releasing talkie versions of their silent movies simultaneously 9 . It is noteworthy that not each theater around the nation had been fitted with sound technology, and that the upgrade would take long.
Literature reports that in 1929, Clara Bow had prayed that the sound studios vanish and leave the conventional production of silent movies 10 . Specifically, she had wished for the destruction of the new sound studios at Paramount in a fire that was razing down the sound stage. Her distortedness was a voice for many other actors who failed to prosper in the new era while they had been forces to reckon with in the silent one. However, the reasons for their struggles were varied. For example, most of the actors with foreign accents realized a change in their fortunes. One instance is the fact that no one had realized during the silent production period that cowboy spoke in German accent 11 . However, when the films embarked on the chances of talking during production, actors such as Reginald Denny would soon struggle. Specifically, Denny had played corn-fed American boy for his entire carrier, which he found difficult to execute when the production dynamics required him to speak. It means, therefore, that actors with foreign accents found the microphone their enemy. Nevertheless, for some actors, the talkies were all they needed to transform their fortunes into greater success. For example, Mary Pickford had been acting for thirty years, and she transited so successfully that she won an Oscar for her role in talking in movies 12 . However, her carrier soon ended when she retired. Another example is that of Lillian Gish, who experienced moderate levels of success in her talking roles, but opted to quite acting and work in the theater before enjoying an acclaimed career in television hosting 13 .
For the older actors, the issue laid not in the squeakiness of their voices or their accents, but in the fact that the whole medium of production had transformed. It meant that the manner in which they were to work needed to be rethought in totality. For example, during the production of silent films, the directors would shout directions to the actors while in the sound ones, they would only whisper such instructions 14 . The new technical issues that resulted from the early transition into recording of sound during production, lampooned wonderfully in Singing in the Rain, implied that physical actors such as Fairbanks were to adopt a stiff and motionless style 15 . The reason given for this argument is the fact that the new technologies required actors to talk into microphones while on stage meant that the production compromised motion in the films. It meant that the aesthetics of motion films had greatly changed. For example, actors that relied on their eyes to tell the audience what they wanted would soon be forced to adopt a new mechanism of achieving the same, which was talking. The older workers were used to a manner of working, which the new era slowly made obsolete.
The talkie terror also affected the older actors as an excuse for companies to cut off their wage bills. It is reported that studios utilized the new talkies as reasons to terminate the contracts they had entered with actors or as a way of sidelining them 16 . One such actor was Wallace Beery, who found himself an immediate victim of the transformation, though he would come back into the industry after learning to adjust. In addition, there were numerous other actors such as the Marx Brothers and Singers such as Ethel Merman who wanted to take advantage of the reforms in the industry because of their talents in verbal skills . Raymond Griffith is one of the actors whose carriers were destroyed by the introduction of new technologies and the emergence of the talkies. As much as his name is not significant among modern film viewers, it should be understood that he was one of the greatest stars of the silent production age. After the adoption of the new production, he would only make a single appearance before the sound technologies would end his acting career 17 . It is reported that the actor had suffered a significant damage to his voice, which allowed him only to talk at levels comparable to a hoarse whisper. The silent age meant that he could hide his voice, but the era of microphones meant that he could not give what the standards of production required. This factor forced him to quite active acting before co-founding the 20th Century Fox before he died after choking at the Masquers Club 18 .
Singing in the Rain provided an insight into what the actors would achieve if they devoted to the improving their careers. For example, while most of them such as Bow had problems with adapting to the new demands, others such as Gene Kelly would soon learn to meet the demands of production in the new age. In fact, the addition of sound to film is one of the greatest revolutions in directing after the invention of motion pictures that displayed the power of technology in the quality of production. For example, in Singing in the Rain, the actors and producers strive to indicate the combination of motion and sound when the actors sing and dance so effectively that they provide a motivation to future directors on the reality of blending both elements into their production 19 .
In conclusion, while it may appear a normal thing for modern film viewers to prefer films with sound and music in them, the path of such an invention has not been easy for actors. Singing in the Rain is one of the films that celebrated the invention of this new technology of production that emerged within the 1920s. As the paper has reported, most actors had struggled to suit the new demands in acting, which required them to act while speaking at the same time. Some producers found it necessary to sacrifice motion at because they wanted to emphasize sound. However, others wanted to emphasize both of them. Singing in the Rain was the first production that emphasized both elements to a great extent, which is why it serves as a landmark production in the introduction of sound to film. This film reminds viewers of Hollywood’s golden age, a time when the production houses where striving to incorporate different technological aspects into production. As noted within the paper, Singing in the Rain worked to overcome the shortcomings of another film produced in 1927, The Jazz Singer, in terms of the quality of motion. However, before the actors could reach the standards displayed in the former movie, they had to undergo difficulties. For example, some of the actors found that they could not meet the new standards because they did not have the appropriate accents required for the audiences. In addition, some of them found it difficult to adapt for the fact that they were not conversant with talking while acting. As a result, most of the actors that had flourished in the silent era found it difficult to continue their careers, which means that some of them considered quitting. The most notable of all the issues of the golden age of Hollywood is the fact that the adoption of technologies into production enabled it to remain the best in the world for many decades.
Bibliography
Cahir, Linda Costanzo. 2006. Literature into film: theory and practical approaches . Jefferson, N.C: McFarland & Co.
Caps, John. 2012. Henry Mancini: reinventing film music . Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
Goldmark, Daniel. "Hollywood Musicals, The Film Reader." American Music 22, no. 1 (2004): 187-190.
Hess, Earl J., and Pratibha A. Dabholkar. 2009. Singin' in the rain: the making of an American masterpiece . Lawrence, Kan: University Press of Kansas.
Wollen, Peter. 1992. Singin' in the rain . London: BFI Pub.
1 Goldmark, Daniel. "Hollywood Musicals, The Film Reader." American Music 22, no. 1 (2004): 187-190.
2 Ibid. pp. 35
3 Hess, Earl J., and Pratibha A. Dabholkar. 2009. Singin' in the rain: the making of an American masterpiece . Lawrence, Kan: University Press of Kansas
4 Caps, John. 2012. Henry Mancini: reinventing film music . Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
5 Wollen, Peter. 1992. Singin' in the rain . London: BFI Pub.
6 Ibid. pp. 105
7 Cahir, Linda Costanzo. 2006. Literature into film: theory and practical approaches . Jefferson, N.C: McFarland & Co.
8 Ibid. pp. 67
9 Hess, Earl J., and Pratibha A. Dabholkar. 2009. Singin' in the rain: the making of an American masterpiece . Lawrence, Kan: University Press of Kansas
10 Caps, John. 2012. Henry Mancini: reinventing film music . Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
11 Caps, John. 2012. Henry Mancini: reinventing film music . Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
12 Hess, Earl J., and Pratibha A. Dabholkar. 2009. Singin' in the rain: the making of an American masterpiece . Lawrence, Kan: University Press of Kansas.
13 Caps, John. 2012. Henry Mancini: reinventing film music . Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
14 Ibid. pp. 93
15 Ibid. pp. 101
16 Hess, Earl J., and Pratibha A. Dabholkar. 2009. Singin' in the rain: the making of an American masterpiece . Lawrence, Kan: University Press of Kansas
17 Ibid. pp. 52
18 Wollen, Peter. 1992. Singin' in the rain . London: BFI Pub.
19 Hess, Earl J., and Pratibha A. Dabholkar. 2009. Singin' in the rain: the making of an American masterpiece . Lawrence, Kan: University Press of Kansas
