It was a huge shift for Hollywood when synchronised sound arrived in the late 1920s. At first, actors, studios and journalists resisted the new technology, and some even called it the “Talkie Terror”. Though the first experiments began in the 1890s, it wasn’t until Don Juan in 1926 that a score and sound effects perfectly matched a movie, thanks to Warner Bros.’ Vitaphone system. The Jazz Singer (1927) went one step further, featuring not only synced music and sound effects but also the first recorded dialogue. Walt Disney was so impressed with the possibilities, he was inspired to create his own talking picture, Steamboat Willie (1928), which was not only one of the first cartoons with synchronised sound, it introduced the world to Mickey Mouse.
Curator Notes
Australian filmmakers began experimenting with sound in 1930, using a combination of sound-on-disc as well as optical or sound-on-film methods. Much like their American counterparts, the conversion was not without its hiccups. Filmmakers found themselves caught between technology that was fast developing. To complete with the influx of American talkies that flooded the market, filmmakers began adding sound sequences to already completed silent films.
Fellers (1930) was the first Australian feature to incorporate synchronised sound with the addition of an added sound insert. The mostly silent buddy comedy included a musical accompaniment as well as a few minutes of spoken dialogue and a song in the final reel. The addition of sound, however, failed to impress, with complaints of irregular recording quality and a score that did not always match the on-screen action.
Similarly, not wanting to dimmish the appeal of what they considered their best picture, the McDonagh sisters quickly converted their 1929 silent feature The Cheaters to a part-talkie using a sound-on-disc system. Their hurry was so they could enter the film into the 1930 Commonwealth Film Prize, though it failed to impress the judges and reviews were not overly positive. A later full talkie version of The Cheaters was completed in 1931 but it was seemingly never released.
Australia’s first full talkie and first musical Showgirl’s Luck (1931), directed by American Norman Dawn, may have beat the release of both Fellers and The Cheaters, however problems with sound editing meant that the film did not hit the screens until November 1931. As Graham Shirley notes, while most of the film was recorded with an optical track, the beginning was recorded with sound-on-disc and later transferred. Sadly, this led to poor synchronisation and sound quality.
Australian audiences would not be disappointed for long though, with more filmmaker’s transitioning to sound recording in 1931. Full programs of Australian films such as Diggers (1931), A Co-respondence Course (1931) and A Haunted Barn (1931), delighted movie-goers. The conversion to sound added so much to A Haunted Barn that it was banned in Victoria for those aged between six and sixteen, with the censors fearing that the dramatic sound of the wind together with the film’s title would be far too terrifying for children.
– Assistant curator Chelsey O'Brien
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Collection
In ACMI's collection
On display until
16 February 2031
ACMI: Gallery 1
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
181533
Curatorial sections
The Story of the Moving Image → Moving Pictures → MI-05. Sound and Colour → MI-05-AV02A
The Story of the Moving Image → Moving Pictures → MI-05. Sound and Colour → MI-05-C02
Object Types
Moving image file/Digital
Materials
Moving image file