The Speed of Sound: Hollywood and the Talkie Revolution 1926-1930
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.61 (988 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 1501103830 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 432 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2017-02-04 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
How all progress is suspected to be a fad Explanation of how something that would seem very well organized was a haphazard politically influenced progression in our history. And all those beautiful people who just had to look good were found unsuited to this new technology however, some political pay backs were alive and well too. A great book on an exciting and trying time. Very enjoyable.. "this one is a good read too" according to William Reid. I have read several of Scott Eyman's books this one is a good read too:). The multi-faceted truth This book goes above and beyond the call of duty in writing about, primarily, the very turbulent years of 1926-30 in the American film industry, during the transitional period between silence and sound. It covers everything--the technology behind these new innovations and the technology of silent film-making, the business and financial aspects, the artistic angles, and the human aspects. Most people who aren't familiar with this era in cinema tend to believe a lot of myths and clichés about it, all of which Mr. Eyman destroys in his quest for the truth about this era. For example, while a
It was a turbulent, colorful, and altogether remarkable period, four short years in which America’s most popular industry reinvented itself.Here is the epic story of the transition from silent films to talkies, that moment when movies were totally transformed and the American public cemented its love affair with Hollywood. From acclaimed author Scott Eyman comes the fascinating story of how the transition from silent films to ‘talkies’ transformed Hollywood.It was the end of an era. As Scott Eyman demonstrates in his fascinating account of this exciting era, it was a time when fortunes, careers, and lives were made and lost, when the American film industry came fully into its own.In this mixture of cultural and social history that is both scholarly and vastly entertaining, Eyman dispels the myths and gives us the missing chapter in the history of Hollywood, the ribbon of dreams by which America conquered the world.
The reality, of course, is more complex. As Scott Eyman writes in his prologue to The Speed of Sound, "To examine this period of unparalleled industrial change, it is necessary to reverse the perspective, to give a fair, detailed idea of what silents were like to the people who made and watched them, and how talkies permanently changed the creative and personal equations." Eyman's eye-opening book fulfills this mission. . The Speed of Sound fills a gap in any film buff's library. We learn about the technology, the details of actors' and technicians' lives, the elaborate business machinations associated with the rise of sound, and the resulting transformation of not just the movies but Hollywood itself. Nowadays the "talkie" seems, like some other technological breakthroughs, to have obliterated