Attending one of the early sound movies, this film reviewer did not find it odd in the least as to why the audiences laughed uproariously while listening to perfectly ordinary dialog during the viewing of the new release, “War Nurse” (directed by Edgar Selwyn):
“It was not so much [that they chortled] at these isolated bits of dialogue that the audience laughed, as it was a resort to laughter caused by the absurdity ceaseless chatter that prevails throughout the entire production.”
The audience was used to silent films, and
“What one British statesman said of another might be applied to the motion picture industry. It is “Intoxicated by the exuberance of it’s own verbosity.”
