WHEN SOUND CAME TO U.K. MOVIES

Britain’s Guardian newspaper on Wednesday reprinted an article originally published in the newspaper on April 6, 1929 (when it was called the Manchester Guardian), headed “The Coming of Sound.” “The declaration of Fox,” the article begins, “that they will make no more silent films has created a sensation.” The transition to sound, the article continued, is moving “at an astonishing speed. … Prophets say: ‘The silent film is doomed. We must march with the times.'” Apparently jarring to the writer was hearing the characters of several new films speaking with an American accent. (In silent films, viewers could imagine how the actors spoke.) While watching one film, Noah’s Ark, he wrote, “audiences laugh when a character in the film tells one of its characters that she speaks perfect English. It would seem to be far more laughable if she actually did, considering she is an American.” And in remarks similar to the ones being applied to the 3D “revolution” today, the writer observes. “A bad film will not be any less bad or old-fashioned because it can be appalling noisily as well as visually.”