Only the real film buffs will be interested in this one. Released in July, 1928 by Warner Brothers, this otherwise completely forgettable film is notable for being the first "all talkie" feature. Other films before it- notable The Jazz Singer (1927) were silent films with interspersed "talking" sequences, but The Lights of New York was the first film with synchronized dialogue in all scenes and uses the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system.

Really creaky, laughably so, but nevertheless a significant, groundbreaking film. Check out the bad guy played by Wheeler Oakman who sloooowly utters the line "Take him- for- a- ride."

Audiences really wanted to see sound films and after this film was released, the silent was film was on its way out, and quickly. By late 1929, there were- with a couple of notable exceptions- no silent films being produced and this marked the end of cinema's first era.

Airing at 5 AM Eastern this morning. Set your DVR.

I DVR'd this, why not? Crude and clumsy to be sure but it's like watching a baby deer try to walk. Entertaining in that way with a clear promise for better things to come.

** spoiler** The ending was a perfect capper. Our protagonists take off on the train of salvation. Next to last shot shows the train heading right to left, cut to the finisher, left to right. Not an homage to Sergei Eisenstein I'm betting.

Notice the candlestick telephone on Wheeler Oakman's desk. It housed a microphone and Oakman was so conscious of this, at one point, he actually puts his face closer to it to speak his lines (it may be that the sound technicians on the set were having trouble picking up the dialogue and asked Oakman to do this. Those first microphones were anything but sensitive). Notice, also, that the film uses a few intertitles, the kind used in silent films.

Really, a fascinating period of Hollywood history. The coming of sound caused great changes in the industry in a very short interval. Just a couple of years before this film was made, the trade papers were laughing off the idea that "talkies" would ever fully replace silents. Reading those articles, I think some of those writers actually believed what they were saying. After all, the initial three decades of cinema were silent (with a few exceptions), so why should they think that it wouldn't continue?

The irony is that by the late 1920s, the silent film had reached a sort of narrative perfection, and when the sound film came in, films were- for a short time- thrown back into creaky, awkward things like The Lights of New York.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:

The irony is that by the late 1920s, the silent film had reached a sort of narrative perfection, and when the sound film came in, films were- for a short time- thrown back into creaky, awkward things likeThe Lights of New York.

Good observation, the filmmakers did seem kinda lost. The intertitles were cheats where they could have used their new toy - sound - to expand their film and filmmaking. Their awkwardness with a new medium could explain the stumbling finish, film over, good enough. You'd think a couple decades of making movies would have taught them more elegance than "LON" exhibited.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:

By late 1929, there were- with a couple of notable exceptions- no silent films being produced and this marked the end of cinema's first era.

Back in those days, my mother, high-school age, supported her family (her mother and two siblings) with her music.

She played piano on the morning calisthenics program on the radio, and she played piano and organ to accompany the silent films in the movie house.