The art of sound pictures (1930)

SOUND EFFECTS 203 subtly than in Weary River. Above all, the Pagan’s singing is spontaneous, carefree, and done without concert instruments, in the main. We do not get the impression that a stage has been set. Secondly, the singing itself does not interrupt the main line of dramatic action, but is a piece of it. In Weary River, the musical convict composes his song and plays it with the prison band at a regularly staged and scheduled performance. It is carried by radio all over the country and wins for him many unknown friends. Now, this is a perfectly legitimate device, but the staging of the song is none the less slightly separated from the other action of the story. Each time we hear it, we get the feeling that the story must stop and we, the spectators, must pause to listen to this selection. It is, so to speak, the next number on the program. In The Pagan, on the contrary, the love song is just as much an integral part of the simple and straightforward action as is the girl’s smile or the trickeries of her harsh fosterfather. That excellent picture. In Old Arizona, also furnishes a good example of the right use of musical numbers in stories for the talkies. The bandit lover, who came in the conventional Spanish or Mexican riding costume to see his lady, played properly enough upon his guitar while calling on her. His rival, the sergeant of marines, sang lustily with the other boys in the village cafe. Musical elements of this sort, combined with little homelike noises of everyday life, give a total effect of realism which is greatly sought after by directors and studio executives of large-production companies. At the present stage of development, alto and baritone voices carry better than soprano and tenor. This is true