#2: The Dickson Experimental Sound Film (1894)

The experimental sound film featured in this post was another collaboration between William Kennedy Laurie Dickson and Thomas Edison. It was a test for Edison's new "Kinetophone", the first device that added sound to moving images. The sound for this particular film was recorded live, but Edison never really bothered to synchronize sound with film when he started to market and sell the Kinetophone. It was ingenious, really. He just modified the cabinet, slapped a phonograph in there, and added a few tubes through which the viewer could listen to a variety of interchangeable wax cylinders. It was basically the 1890s version of adding 3D capability to HD televisions.

"All you have to do is buy these giant, clunky glasses and try to keep them on your kid's face while he's throwing up his dinner during How To Train Your Dragon. Seriously...it's AWESOME."

This picture pretty much says it all. I'd like to think that another genius entrepreneur designed comfy barstools to accompany each Kinetophone.

The film itself is brief but incredibly impressive for its time:

If you are curious, the song featured in this film is "Va, petit mousse" from Planquette's opera Les Cloches de Corneville. (You can listen via YouTube by clicking on the link above.) The lyrics are surprisingly appropriate, given that this film was an experiment. The song describes a "little foam" and its ship setting sail at the beginning of an adventure. There is an element of mystery and wonder about what the future holds. My favorite lines are these:

Peut-être qu'une reine
Te donnera sa main;
Peut-être une baleine
Te mangera demain...

Perhaps a queen
Will give you her hand;
Perhaps a whale
Will eat you tomorrow...

Also, despite pervasive homophobia in the 1890s, two men dance together in the film. My guess is that there were probably no women working behind scenes in Edison's lab. They used whomever was available at the time. The result is...awkward. Eye contact doesn't exist. No one is really sure who is leading whom. It left me with the impression that the dancers were being punished by their violin-wielding uncle -- you know, the creepy one -- for stealing his last two cigarettes.

The addition of sound was revolutionary, but it took several more decades of silent films for live recording to find a home in the film industry. ...and people probably still bitched about the sync. Now, if only Netflix could get their act together and fix the "Waldorf Salad" episode of Fawlty Towers.