MovieChat Forums > Smart Money (1931) Discussion > Lack of Music

Lack of Music

posted 14 years ago by blue-7
3 replies | jump to latest

One of the interesting things about seeing an early sound film such as SMART MONEY is to notice the lack of a traditional background score. In fact there is no score for the film. Silent film, of course, required live music to be played during a screening, so sound films tended to avoid musical backgrounds. The question was asked where is the music coming from or it's not natural. In SMART MONEY the little music that there is comes from a radio, etc. For the ending it was desirable to have some music as Edward G. Robinson is about to step onto the train for his journey to prison. So a blind man is used playing on a violin at the station and this becomes the way of placing music and having a realistic source for it to come from. FUN!
The importance of film scoring would take on new importance with the work of Fran Waxman for the classic BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN. Music once again became an important part of films.

[–] bradford-1 13 years ago

The silence on the soundtracks can be baffling to viewers unfamiliar with early talkies. A guy at my job, maybe 24 or 25, said he found DRACULA and FRANKENSTEIN so much creepier because of the lack of music and the "deadness" of the sound recording.

"We're fighting for this woman's honor, which is more than she ever did."

[–] Badwolf57 13 years ago

So true, I hardly notice this now, but when I first started viewing early 30s films is was quite startling.

[–] schappe1 10 years ago

max Steiner first integrated music with dialog in 1932's "Bird of Paradise". That began the era of lush romantic Hollywood scores.

I love that but it's interesting to see films from the early 30's. They look almost like "rough cuts", the sort of thing a producer or director would see in the film room. they have an immediacy the later films don't have. It seems almost like you are standing on the set, watching the scene as it's gets filmed. I kind of like that, too.

The past is a series of presents. The present is living history we are privileged to witness