Bad Reviews
for the First
Sound Movies

The attached article posted here is essentially a collection of assembled paragraphs clipped from a few British reviews condemning all efforts made to produce the earliest talking pictures; one snide reviewer went so far as to insist that rather than calling the films “talkies”, they should be referred to as “dummies”:

“The majority of films in the future will be made stupidly for stupid people, just has been the case with the silent movies for twenty years…It is possible that a few talking pictures of an interesting, experimental sort will be made to be shown before superior audiences in the small and special cinemas which are beginning to be built in the larger American cities.”

“The producers of talking movies are doing a painfully bad job, and one for which they can not quite be forgiven. Their imitation of the stage is an awkward and embarrassed one, as is perhaps not surprising in view of the antecedents of most of their chief officials. Few of the producers, directors, or actors have had any extended experience in drama.”

Click here to read another article about the failings of the earliest talkies.

•Read About the First Talkie Movie Star•