On October 6, 1927, the Warner Theater in New York presented
The Jazz Singer
, by Alan Crosland, the first feature film in the history of cinema to include several singing scenes and a brief speaking scene.
Nothing will be the same in Hollywood, as shown by
Babylon
, by Damien Chazelle, seventy years after
Singin'in the Rain
.
Many silent actors, actresses and directors will not survive the Vitaphone process, which gives Warner a technological lead over other studios.
For 99% of artists in Hollywood, the transition from silent to talkies was catastrophic
Damien Chazelle, director
"For 99% of artists in Hollywood, the transition from silent to speaking was catastrophic,"
recalls Chazelle.
Only a minority got away with it.”
Accents, speech defects or nasal voice condemn actors who have excelled so far in pantomime.
Thus the stammerer Marion Davies, star of MGM and mistress of the magnate of the press William Randolph Hearst, goes to a speech therapist to shoot
Not So Dumb
by King Vidor without stumbling on the words.
But even without a rattling voice or...
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