Black and White films were the go to at the beginning of the film era. Then again, color wasn’t really an option anyway. For a while, there wasn’t sound in the movies, only music that would be played as the movie rolled. However, as time went on, they started to figure out the technology they needed to add sound to films!
In Gemany, the film “M” was released. It is a mystery film about the search of a child predator. That topic can be sensitive for viewers, however, director Fritz Lang made this film very well, especially as a bridge between German Expressionism and Film Noir.
This film is in black and white and, obviously in German, but with the version I watched, it had the subtitles included. Now, there was lots of dialogue. In fact, the dialogue helped grow the characters even more. It can show the urgency of this mystery and how badly they want to find this child predator. However, there’s no music.
You could technically say this film is still a silent film in the music aspect. There’s dialogue, sound effects like doorbells and knocking. But there are also some sounds missing, like footsteps, the sound of a lockpick, etc. These are the first steps into adding sound into a movie.
This film was revolutionary in so many ways. The way that the child disappears without even a notice on screen makes this movie even more powerful. Because the viewer can feel the urgency of looking for the predator that the characters feel in the film. You can definitely see the inspiration for future films in this one.
Now, Gold Diggers of 1933 was another black and white film that was released two years after M. It is a very famous musical made by Hollywood that talks about the Great Depression and the effects of it on people. It has wonderful sound, and guess what: it has music!
Gold Diggers of 1933 is a musical. The film contains many well known names of the time, including Joan Blondell. She was in 10 films in 1932 alone! But anyway, since this is a musical, you can bet there are some amazing muscial numbers. In fact, there is one where a bunch of glowing violins make up one large violin. This is very well coordinated and probably is my favorite part of the whole film.
Apart from M, this film focuses a lot on the musical numbers. Which isn’t a bad thing at all. Musical numbers can be very well made, and these ones are. The characters are making a musical that is based on the Depression, which is what they are having to go through, so some of the women actually do become gold diggers (hence the film name) and try to get with men who have lots of money.
This movie uses music and the topic of a musical to discuss issues, while M mainly uses dialogue and actions to tell a story. Each movie uses different elements of sound to help explore the story more, and each film does it extremely well. And they were made in a very close time frame as well, so they do correlate well in that aspect as well. These films that create the bridge into the new eras of movies are more important than people think, so it is important to watch and possibly research more information about them. And as you continue to explore, it’s always nice to remember where films get certain elements, including sound.
Coley Rose's Corner 