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Author Topic: Silent versions of early talkies
Dominique De Bast
Film God

Posts: 4486
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jun 2013


 - posted June 22, 2017 06:05 PM      Profile for Dominique De Bast   Email Dominique De Bast   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
I read that when sound films appeared in France, it took a while before all the cinemas were equiped to show them. It seems that several years after silent films were almost no longer released, sound films were projected is some cinemas (at that time about 50 % of the French cinemas had still not appropriate equpment) sound films were projected through silent projectors. In an episode of the "Hollywood" serie, it is mentionned that, as not all the cinemas in the US could project sound, there had been silent versions of early talkies (the 1930 film "All Quiet Of The Western Front" was given as an example). Does anyone have any informations about that ? I always thought that silent versions of sound films were only released in substandard gauges. I would never have suspected it had been done also for 35 mm releases.

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Dominique

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Chris Bird
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 218
From: Kingston upon Thames, UK
Registered: Jul 2013


 - posted June 23, 2017 02:40 AM      Profile for Chris Bird   Email Chris Bird   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Dominique, what you describe was certainly the situation in Britain and America. The cost of re-equipping the cinemas was big, and there was a period of a year or two before all cinemas did so, or went bust. (A bit like the switch to digital projection.)

So many films were released in both sound on silent versions, on 35mm, for the cinema. A good example, which has just been restored by the BFI and issued on Blu Ray, is The Informer. The Blu Ray has both the sound and silent versions, as released in different cinemas.

Hitchcock's Blackmail can also be seen in sound and silent releases; most fans prefer the silent version. Here's a review comparing the two versions:
http://moviessilently.com/2017/01/01/blackmail-1929-a-silent-film-review/

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Dominique De Bast
Film God

Posts: 4486
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jun 2013


 - posted June 23, 2017 04:13 AM      Profile for Dominique De Bast   Email Dominique De Bast   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Thanks a lot, Chris !

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Dominique

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