The Speed of Sound

Hollywood and the Talkie Revolution 1926 - 1930

By: Scott Eyman

Narrated by: Adams Morgan

It was the end of an era. It was a turbulent, colorful, and altogether remarkable period, four short years in which America's most popular industry reinvented itself.

Here is the epic story of the transition from silent films to talkies, that moment when movies were totally transformed and the American public cemented its love affair with Hollywood. As Scott Eyman demonstrates in his fascinating account of this exciting era, it was a time when fortunes, careers, and lives were made and lost, when the American film industry came fully into its own.

In this mixture of cultural and social history that is both scholarly and vastly entertaining, Eyman dispels the myths and gives us the missing chapter in the history of Hollywood, the ribbon of dreams by which America conquered the world.

©1997 Scott Eyman (P)1997 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Eyman captures the tenor and the terror of the times....A fascinating account of what Eyman terms 'the destruction of one great art and the creation of another.'" ( Booklist)
"Eyman combines a historian's zeal for detail and context with a storyteller's talent for the perfect illustrative anecdote....A remarkable book that belongs in every film history collection." ( Library Journal)
"Eyman is particularly good at conveying the beauty of the fully developed art that was silent cinema....Eyman tells this story with wit and skill, detailing a surprisingly overlooked but crucial period in Hollywood history." - Kirkus Reviews

incredible film history

highly recommend! gives great insights into how various stars & directors made the transition to sound and just a great general history of film for that era.

Interesting information but choppy writing.

Enjoyed the stories of transition from silents to talkies. Much of the writing was good, but often detailed then information more vague.

Lively narration, fascinating content, plus humor!

You'll learn a whole lot about silent as well as sound films, plus intriguing facts about pop culture, legendary stars and directors, and cinematic technique. The prose style informs and delights the reader, sprinkling in ironies and jokes here and there.

If Vocal Fry Is Your BAG...

There is no other subject that interests me more. This book was highly informative and exciting. The reader has heavy vocal fry which sounds to me like a cassette player on rewind heavy on the consonants and gravel. IF the person who cast this reader was trying to make a person feel the anxiety and annoyance of the first talkies audiences listening to the hiss pop of Vitaphone, they have succeeded. There is an ice pick in my kitchen. I have thought of stabbing my own ears while rewinding the performance over and over trying to understand certain words. NO air. NO vowels. I wonder if the reader was once a growling dog turned into a fancy human being by a frightened wizard?

The effects of adding sound to movies

Struggled to finish it. The performance was great. But after the fun facts end about half way into the book, it focuses of the lives of all these old key players of the movie industry which is not super interesting if you're curious about them.