CUTs 1.05: Vitaphone and The Beginning of Sound Versions
Plus 'Don Juan' and 'All Quiet on the Western Front'
The Perseverance of Showmanship (1926-1929)
Now that it has been established that textual instability was, in fact, the norm in the silent film era and not merely a side effect of exhibitor practices, it is possible to re-assess the notion that synch sound was a stabilizing force in the film industry.
In 1926, the introduction of the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system prompted the standardization of taking and projection rates at 90 feet per minute or 24 fps. In conjunction with this, cameras and projectors adopted electric motors, enabling mechanical reproduction of both sound and image.1 One might think that this removed any trace of live performance from exhibition in wired-for-sound theaters, ensuring a consistency of accompaniment, pace, duration, etc. between screenings.
In reality, this was not the case, at least not from the outset. Rather, the immediate result was a change in the nature of live performance, particularly when it came to projection. Installation of new sound reproduction equipment in theaters prompted a reorganization and reconstruction of projection rooms, which became the control centers of a synchronized picture’s sound volume.2 Projectionists consequently became responsible for maintaining proper volume levels during screenings.
As Steve Wurtzler’s research illustrates, this could require making on-the-fly volume adjustments, so as to“compensate for deficiencies in the recorded soundtrack and introduce acoustic effects.” For instance, if the sound were too loud in a specific venue, dialogue could become inaudible, ruining the intended acoustic effect.3 What constituted the appropriate volume level, however, was relative to the specificities of a picture and its venue, and so up to a theater manager or projectionist to decide.
A shift in audience size during screenings could also prompt adjustments to volume.4 So, the silent-to-sound transition era projectionist had to continuously alter the sound accompaniment of a film as it was playing, in a manner reminiscent of silent film exhibitors. In this sense, the author correctly argues, the transition “transformed the motion picture projectionist into a performer of sound” and “…exacerbated the possibility of local variation in motion picture presentation.”5 Over time, however, refinements to synch sound technologies and practices apparently removed the need for the active performances of the projectionists.6
When precisely this occurred is difficult to say, but one can make inferences from a May 1929 article by Coke Flannagan of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers (SMPE). Discussing the faults of sound projection, Flannagan compares equipment operation to “showmanship,” stating that two “are so closely related as to be inseparable.”7 Based on all this, we can say that from 1926 until the middle of 1929, projectionists were active showmen and performers, and so on a screening-by-screening basis, the same scenes in a so-called ‘sound film’ or in a ‘sound version’ of a film could have different volume levels or acoustic effects.
When taken into account, these details signify that live performance elements do not fundamentally distinguish the silent film from the ‘sound film.’ Yet, even if we were to set aside the transition period’s exhibition-related variations, it would be incorrect to claim that the adoption of synchronized soundtrack technology by filmmakers led to the immediate stabilization and pure reproduction of film texts.
Don Juan (1926) and The Emergence of Multi-Version Films
On the contrary, this initially increased the number of types of versions that had to be produced for a theatrical film. Consider, for example, the case of Don Juan (dir. Alan Crossland), which was the first feature-length film to include a synchronized music-and-effects soundtrack courtesy of the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system.
Though its premiere in New York on August 6, 1926 had commercial success, it received a mixed critical reception, convincing distributor Warner Bros. to cut the film down by about 2000 feet and alter the ending.8 A week later “the New York Philarmonic was called back yet again to rerecord reels 2, 3, and 4.” With an altered soundtrack and assemblage, the new version would then play in a number of wired-for-sound theaters approximately from late August until April 1927.9
More significant, however, is the fact that Don Juan did not circulate exclusively in a ‘sound version’ in wired domestic theaters.
Among other venues, the picture appeared without Vitaphone accompaniment in the the Los Angeles Grauman Egyptian theater from approximately August 21 until approximately October 27, 1926. It customized the presentation by, among other things, including a live stage prologue called “A Venetian Festival” before the feature proper.10 Eschewing the fact that the silent version would appear differently depen-ding on the venue, this means the picture had at least three different versions during the transition period, a direct byproduct of the new synch sound technology.
In essence, the release of Don Juan signaled the arrival of films with multiple transition-to-sound versions, and thus multiple bases or standards for exhibitor customization. Prior to this, the silent version was the base version in the domestic market, meaning there were no variants differentiated by the presence of a synchro-nized soundtrack. From this perspective, all films were silent films before Don Juan.
But after, they became divisible into silent films, multi-version films, and sound films. Silent and sound films circulated exclusively in one type of version, while multi-version pictures appeared in three general combinations of versions: silent/synch, silent/talkie, and occasionally silent/synch/talkie.
Their circulation attests to the fact studios had developed new practices and strategies for producing and distributing sound versions, as well as integrated them with the pre-existing strategies pertaining to silent versions.
In order to properly account for how the industry’s adoption of sound impacted variation, it is necessary to outline what overlaps and differences between three main version types, how a film could change from one version to another, and how studios produced and released transitional multi-version pictures.
An overview of ‘sound versions’
Previous issues have focused on the subject of silent versions. Now, it is time to establish the various conventions and characteristics of ‘sound versions.’*
*It is important to keep in mind is that what actually constitutes a ‘sound version’ had changed over time. The concept of the ‘sound version’ did nor arrive fully formed and was open to much experimentation and iteration.
There are two main categories of ‘sound versions,’ both of which can be generally identified (and so distinguished from the silent version) by a synchronized recorded soundtrack alongside stable filming and projection speeds of 24 frames/sec, which results in a consistent duration from screening to screening.
‘Synch versions’ feature recorded sound effects and/or music, but do not include audible dialogue. Because of this, they were not a radical departure from the norms of silent filmmaking and share many characteristics with silent versions, including their established storytelling techniques and methods of translation.
Like silent versions, synch versions utilize intertitles to communicate to the audience what characters are saying. Usually, a scene depicts a character speaking, cuts to the dialogue title, then back to the character.
Each intertitle functions as a separate shot that takes up a certain portion of screen time, contributing to a version’s overall assemblage.
Though they’d have to be screened at different speeds, a silent version and synch version of the same picture would presumably be indistinguishable in terms of editing, with 100% overlap in footage.
Chronologically, synch versions came first. The aforementioned August 1926 ‘sound version’ release of Don Juan was, in fact, a synch version.
‘Talkie versions’ include recorded dialogue or voiceover, either in part or in full, in addition to sound effects and music in their soundtracks. Their biggest distinction from the silent lies in how they communicate speech - by presenting scenes with audible recorded dialogue, which means audiences must listen to rather than read what the characters are saying. Naturally, creating a talkie version required a considerable departure from the norms of silent filmmaking and storytelling.
It is important to note, however, that a talkie version or talkie film could include silent scenes and dialogue intertitles, which they shared with the silent version. In fact, early transitional pictures such as The Jazz Singer (1927, dir. Alan Crossland, largely considered to be the first feature-length talkie film) were known as ‘part-talkies’ as they had only a few select audible dialogue scenes out of a majority of silent ones.
In audible dialogue scenes, the dialogue is layered onto the shot, in which characters speak, so it is not necessary to cut to a separate shot to communicate speech to viewers. This results in different editing patterns and shot-to-shot relations from a silent version.
The same conversation scene could differ between a talkie version and a corresponding silent or synch version. In such cases, the dialogue titles rarely matched the texts of the audible dialogue, summarizing what characters say in a direct and economic manner.
As a rule, the more dialogue a given talkie version featured, the bigger its differences from the silent (and in turn the synch) were. Initially then, they were not too pronounced but grew more extensive as the number of the audible scenes in a given film’s talkie version increased.
Towards the end of 1928, the industry introduced talkie versions completely devoid of silent scenes.11 Unlike their predecessors, so-called “all-talkies” would have a minimal amount of footage overlap with corresponding silent and synch versions, resulting in some radical differences in terms of duration and editing, as well as narrative and characterization.
Talkie versions gradually supplanted synchs and so by the end of the transition became most frequently associated with the term ‘sound version.’ However, all three types of versions coexisted for some time during the transition, owing to different market and distribution demands.
Case Study: All Quiet on the Western Front
A comparison of a scene between the talkie and synch versions of the historical drama All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), which focuses on a group of idealistic young German soldiers that sign up to fight for their country in WWI, should help illustrate the differences between the synch and the talkie, as well as show how a picture can change from one version to another.
Early on, a conversation scene takes place during a military parade between the postman Himmelstoss, a soldier named Peter, and Meyer, a minor character who appears in this one scene as a store-owner.
The talkie version presents the conversation in a manner akin to a stage play. By toning down the other acoustic elements, including the sound of the parade, and featuring no music, the talkie version’s soundtrack foregrounds and accentuates viewer attention on the verbal conversation.
By contrast, the synch version presents it more in line with silent filmmaking, with a parade-appropriate musical accompaniment playing during the entire conversation. As the following table shows, the talkie version has much more dialogue than the synch version, which prioritizes music above other acoustical elements.
Specifically, the scene has about 13 lines of dialogue in the talkie version, which begins with Meyer hailing Himmelstoss, who is watching the parade. The synch version cuts this intro-duction, opening in the middle of the conversation, with the footage corresponding to the point, where Himmelstoss says: “Ah, I’m sorry, Mr. Meyer.” But this instance is not intertitled in the synch version, so the viewer does not know what the man says.
Only a scant three intertitles then appear in lieu of the remaining 11 lines of audible dialogue. Moreover, these titles correspond to only a total of four lines of the talkie. The first intertitle corresponds to line 3, the second to lines 7 and 11, and the third – line 12. In effect then, the synch version of the scene is shorter by 9 lines of dialogue. The intertitled lines also can differ substantially from the audible. The second half of Peter’s line is absent in the synch version, meaning that Peter does not ask Himmelstoss, whether or not he has any mail for him in this iteration of the story.
Moreover, the synch version emphasizes different narrative information. Out of three intertitled lines, Himmelstoss has the longest by far. The first intertitle introduces him by name, while the second has him explain that he will be a sergeant in the reserves. All this accentuates viewer attention specifically on Himmelstoss’ character and positions him the most important one of the three to the film’s narrative.
Due to the presence of the intertitles, the scene also has different editing. In the talkie version, the scene consists of three shots and lasts 39 seconds. The first shot corresponds to the first two lines of dialogue, the second shot is a cutaway to the parade, while the third corresponds to the remaining lines, proceeding in an uninterrupted long take until the end of the scene.
By contrast, in the synch version, the scene consists of 9 shots, counting the inter-titles, and lasts about 37 seconds, resulting in faster editing from shot-to-shot. In comparison to the still and immobile approach of the talkie, the synch version of the scene has a more dynamic sense of motion thanks to the faster cutting.
All these differences evince that the boundary between the different types of versions were not clear cut, with synch versions representing a sort-of middle ground between the silent version and the talkie version.
Indeed, I believe this is a likely reason why synch versions have been alternately referred to and categorized as both ‘silent versions’ and ‘sound versions’ by different sources in numerous writings pertaining to the history of the transition.*
*This analysis has a couple of caveats.
First of all, the examples cited here are actually restorations of the 1930 versions, and so may be distinct in some ways from the initial releases. Indeed, the ‘synch’ version inexplicably contains an instance of audible dialogue in the French language, which I believe to have been an erroneous byproduct of the restorers having to reconstruct it from different prints. For the purposes of this comparison, I will operate as though they are (largely) accurate representations of the synch and talkie versions of the picture that appeared in 1930.
Second, it is not fully clear as to whether or not the non-talkie version of All Quiet referenced here was actually a synch version. The Blu-Ray release of the picture labels this as the ‘inter-national silent version.’ However, multiple other sources I’ve found indicate that this was, in fact, a synch version created for translation into international markets and intended to play in foreign wired-for-sound theaters.
For the moment, I will assume that this a synch version, but will correct this article, should it turn out that I am mistaken. Either way, I would argue that it provides a good example of how differently the same film could play when using audible vs. intertitled dialogue.
This article is the sixth entry in an ongoing series called Cinema’s Unstable Texts (CUTs). If you like it, then please, by all means, share it!
Want to learn more? Then be sure to click below and check out the other entries!
Scott Eyman, The Speed of Sound: Hollywood and the Talkie Revolution, 1926-1930 (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997), 112. Leo Enticknap, Moving Image Technology: From Zoetrope to Digital (London: Wallflower, 2005), 50-52.
H. Rubin, "Some Problems in the Projection of Sound Movies," in Transactions of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers, vol. 12, no. 35 (Sept. 1928), 867-868.
Steve J Wurtzler, Electric Sounds: Technological Change and the Rise of Corporate Mass Media (New York: Columbia University Press, 2007), 160.
Ibid., 161-162.
Ibid., 154.
Ibid., 165.
Coke Flannagan, "Servicing Sound Picture Projection Equipment in Theatres," in Transactions of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers, vol. 13, no. 38 (May 1929): 294.
Crafton, The Talkies, 81.
Eyman, The Speed of Sound, 96.
Film Daily, 13 January 1927, 2. Variety, 25 August 1926, 24. Eyman, The Speed of Sound, 103.
Douglas Gomery, The Coming of Sound: A History (New York: Routledge, 2005), 88.
Very interesting to understand the history of this type of thing. People don't often think about it.