Okay, apologies in advance if this isn't in the right folder-- it's not specifically about silent horror films, and it's basically a technical question that could apply to anything made in the silent to sound transition period:
In the classic film SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (1952), a large part of the plot deals with silent film star Lina Lamont's (Jean Hagen) nasal voice and accent being considered unsuitable for "talkies"-- so an aspiring performer, Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds), is employed to stand slightly off-camera and speak Lina's lines to be picked up by the microphone, while Lina lip-synchs on-camera to her voice*.
This actually happened in real life on a landmark British film, Alfred Hitchcock's BLACKMAIL (1929), which started as a silent but at the last minute had to have additional speaking scenes shot to convert it to a "part-talkie"-- allegedly, the first sound feature in Great Britain.
The problem was that Hitchcock had shot the film with the lead role played by Anny Ondra, a Czech actress who had a thick foreign accent that couldn't be overcome by speech coaches, and scrapping the whole film and starting over with a new actress wasn't feasible.
So to shoot the new sound sequences, Hitchcock employed a British actress, Joan Barry, to stand slightly off-camera and speak the lines for Ondra to lip-synch to-- IOW, exactly what happened in SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, only no attempt was made to hide this from the public. (I've seen articles online about BLACKMAIL from as early as 1937 where the substitution technique was discussed.)
However, even though they used this technique for BLACKMAIL, in Hollywood a different approach must have been used for THE CANARY MURDER CASE (also 1929). In this case, by the time Paramount made the last-minute decision to convert it to a "part-talkie," actress Louise Brooks had finished her contract with Paramount and refused to come back for reshoots, because she was in Germany making films for G.W. Pabst.
So Paramount hired actress Margaret Livingston to "dub" Brooks' previously shot footage, in addition to shooting new footage where she appeared on camera from the back or in profile. The reshot footage didn't go over well with critics, with the dubbing of Brooks being singled out for scorn; however, the film still did well enough that Paramount did two sequels starring William Powell as Philo Vance.
What I'd like to know is this: was the dubbing of actors by other performers' voices done on other early sound films because the original actor was determined to have an unsuitable voice?
But more importantly-- did any other movie utilize the actual technique used by Hitchcock in BLACKMAIL and recreated in SINGIN' IN THE RAIN to substitute a better voice for an unsuitable one?
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* And ironically, Jean Hagen used her normal speaking voice to dub Debbie Reynolds' "dubbing" of Lina's lines-- in addition to some of Reynolds' singing being dubbed by Betty Noyes!
In the classic film SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (1952), a large part of the plot deals with silent film star Lina Lamont's (Jean Hagen) nasal voice and accent being considered unsuitable for "talkies"-- so an aspiring performer, Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds), is employed to stand slightly off-camera and speak Lina's lines to be picked up by the microphone, while Lina lip-synchs on-camera to her voice*.
This actually happened in real life on a landmark British film, Alfred Hitchcock's BLACKMAIL (1929), which started as a silent but at the last minute had to have additional speaking scenes shot to convert it to a "part-talkie"-- allegedly, the first sound feature in Great Britain.
The problem was that Hitchcock had shot the film with the lead role played by Anny Ondra, a Czech actress who had a thick foreign accent that couldn't be overcome by speech coaches, and scrapping the whole film and starting over with a new actress wasn't feasible.
So to shoot the new sound sequences, Hitchcock employed a British actress, Joan Barry, to stand slightly off-camera and speak the lines for Ondra to lip-synch to-- IOW, exactly what happened in SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, only no attempt was made to hide this from the public. (I've seen articles online about BLACKMAIL from as early as 1937 where the substitution technique was discussed.)
However, even though they used this technique for BLACKMAIL, in Hollywood a different approach must have been used for THE CANARY MURDER CASE (also 1929). In this case, by the time Paramount made the last-minute decision to convert it to a "part-talkie," actress Louise Brooks had finished her contract with Paramount and refused to come back for reshoots, because she was in Germany making films for G.W. Pabst.
So Paramount hired actress Margaret Livingston to "dub" Brooks' previously shot footage, in addition to shooting new footage where she appeared on camera from the back or in profile. The reshot footage didn't go over well with critics, with the dubbing of Brooks being singled out for scorn; however, the film still did well enough that Paramount did two sequels starring William Powell as Philo Vance.
What I'd like to know is this: was the dubbing of actors by other performers' voices done on other early sound films because the original actor was determined to have an unsuitable voice?
But more importantly-- did any other movie utilize the actual technique used by Hitchcock in BLACKMAIL and recreated in SINGIN' IN THE RAIN to substitute a better voice for an unsuitable one?
----------------
* And ironically, Jean Hagen used her normal speaking voice to dub Debbie Reynolds' "dubbing" of Lina's lines-- in addition to some of Reynolds' singing being dubbed by Betty Noyes!
statistics: Posted by evilchinchilla — 7:00 PM - Jan 31 — Replies 13 — Views 304