The Transition to Sound and the Hays Code
Vitaphone
Used by Warner, sound-on-disk system which synchronised each disc with a reel of film. Flawed by the fragile discs, which skipped and went out of sync.
Movietone
Used by Fox, optical soundtrack. Warner switched to movietone in 1931.
Stage Actors
The primitive nature of early sound recording and editing meant that long static takes were a necessity. Hollywood began recruiting veteran stage actors and acts from Vaudeville, such as the Marx Bros., whose comedy mixed verbal dexterity with slapstick.
The Impact of Sound
RKO was founded in 1929 to specifically move into talking pictures. Founder, David Sarnoff o The Radio Corporation of America, had his own sound on film system (Photophone) but it was very expensive. So he bought up Joseph P Kennedy’s Film Booking Office (production-distribution) and the Keith-Albee-Orpheum chain of theatres (exhibition) and created a vertically integrated studio named Radio-Keith-Orpheum.
The argument that the arrival of sound set movies back visually around 2 decades is not entirely unfounded. Mobility had to be sacrificed for the sake of the microphone. It has been noted that the advent of sound “standardised” the industry and lead to a certain stagnation. Certainly sound did have other detrimental effects than the static camera:
led to the standardising of film speed to 24fps, meaning that they could no longer be under or over cranked for effect
sync sound (before post-sync/overdubbing) had to be recorded live and could not be edited, therefore, music and sound could not only be added after the talking stops or on set during the take
editors had little or no choice in how to cut individual scenes (either one static position, or several different static positions in the case of a multi-camera set up) and could not cut in between scenes
The Hays Code
The Hays Code was the code of self censorship Hollywood imposed on itself/had imposed on it in 1930.
Part of a crusade by a Catholic priest, Father Daniel Lord, who thought films were corrupting American values
He argued that films - as such a popular art form - had a greater responsibility and therefore should not enjoy the same freedoms as either printed words or theatrical performances.
His code did not only ban things from films, it also sought to promote Christian virtues and institutions
The code was accepted by William Hays, the head of the film industry’s trade association, the Motion Pictures Producers and Distributors of America in 1930. Hays’ name became the preferred nickname for the code after this point.
The Code and Sound
during the rapid transition from silent to talking pictures producers have realised the necessity and the opportunity of subscribing to a Code to govern the production of talking pictures and of re-acknowledging this responsibility.
on their part, they ask from the public and from public leaders a sympathetic understanding of their purposes and problems and a spirit of cooperation that will allow them the freedom and opportunity necessary to bring the motion picture to a still higher level of wholesome entertainment for all the people.
essentially, sound meant that there was more to regulate, dialogue, songs, etc., had to be approved - and due to the popularity of films, the standards for films was far stricter than that for novels, plays and stage musicals
Why Implement the Code
It was reluctant to put in a ratings system and lose potential audiences excluded by their age
it was reluctant to cross the league of decency, a very powerful organisation who were instrumental in the boycotting of strong drink and the introduction of Prohibition
Film, as a young medium, and one regarded with a certain suspicion, had to be careful to present itself as moral and decent, adopting the code willingly in essence “proved” this
A Pre-Code Cinema
the period before 1934, especially from 1930-34 is often referred to as Pre-code Hollywood and films from this period are often touted as far more subversive and suggestive than their post-code rivals
however, this is only a half trut