Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Talking Salvation For The Silent Majority: Projecting New Possibilities Of Modernity In The Australian Cinema, 1929-1933, Brian M. Yecies

Dr Brian Yecies

This chapter analyses the distinctiveness of the coming of permanent sound (the talkies) to the Australian cinema in the late 1920s and early 1930s. The coming of sound resulted in fundamental, but not uniform, change in all countries and in all languages. During this global transformation, substantial capital was spent on developing and adopting modern technology. Hundreds of new cinemas were built; tens of thousands were wired with sound equipmentthat is, two film projectors with sound attachments, amplifiers, speakers and electrical motorsand some closed in financial ruin during the Great Depression. The silent period ended and sound became projected as …