FILM FILM - University of Macau Library

124 Transition and Transformation
The Transition to Sound
The conversion to sound, of course, represented new challenges to filmmakers
in general. Sjöström, however, seemed eagerly to anticipate its arrival, as in a
Swedish interview published in October 1928 when he was temporary back in
Stockholm, the subheading claims: “Victor Sjöström Enthusiastic about Sound
Film, Which He Himself Hopes to Do”. This view is further developed in the
text:
Then we throw ourselves into the burning question on sound film, which apparently
has an enthusiastic supporter in Mr Sjöström. Of course there are still many difficulties
that have to be overcome, says Mr Sjöström. But there lies the future. 12
The issue of sound film was indeed a burning question not least for the film
company. In October 1929, Louis B. Mayer wrote a memo to Irving Thalberg:
“M-G-M is still behind the other studios in sound production, but quantity is
not important. [...] What matters is that M-G-M becomes identified with the
quality talking picture.” 13 This, interestingly, also seems to close the circle for
Sjöström: from the shift in Swedish production policies that led to his first
breakthrough with A Man There Was, which was motivated by the change
from quantity to quality, to his last Hollywood production, where, again, the
transfer to sound film for MGM is motivated with quality as guiding star.
However, this strive for quality was highly tactical in practice, as Donald
Crafton states: “MGM’s strategy attributed to Thalberg, was to let the other studios
perfect the technology, then enter later to avoid the trial and expense of
initial experimentation”. 14 Richard Koszarski describes it in a way less flattering
for Thalberg: “He dragged his feet on the introduction of sound for so long that
despite MGM’s eventual success with the medium, rival studios had already
seized a large share of the market.” 15 The fact remains that for the 1929-30 season,
MGM had scheduled sixteen silents, forty talkies and seven synchronized
releases.
Also, the transition to sound was not such a unified process as it is sometimes
regarded in retrospect. As late as in 1929, Nicholas M. Schenck, president of
MGM and Loew’s, argued that silents and sound films would remain complementary
options on the market:
I believe they [silents] will continue to be a very positive factor in motion picture
production. [...] My personal opinion is that the silent film will never be eliminated,
since certain stories are naturally suited for silent treatment and must be completely
rearranged to serve as dialogue vehicles. [...] Most of the stars at the M-G-M studio
seem to feel that the silent picture will remain for certain types of stories. 16