User Reviews

This early synchronized sound animation provides a unique look at the history of the medium, especially the self-representation that is common to many animated works. This self-reflection is seen in two ways. First, in typical Fleischer Brothers style, we see the animator's "hand" towards the beginning of the film. The film shares several stylistic qualities with other Fleischer works, including the absence of shading.

The second occurrence of self-representation is in the subject matter of the film. Dr. Western guides Mutie through the Vitaphone sound recording and reproduction process. Fleischer made use of this process in producing Finding His Voice.

"Vitaphone" does not appear in any of the credits or drawings in this delightful and educational film. Nor is "Vitaphone" spoken in the soundtrack. In the context of sound films, "Vitaphone" originally referred to the sound on disk system that Warner Brothers licensed from Western Electric. The system depicted in "FHV" is Western Electric's variable density sound on film system. During and after Warner's transition from the sound-on-disk to sound-on-film systems, "Vitaphone" continued to be used as a trademark.

There is a third voice in the film: that of Dr. Western. Because of the manner in which his lines are delivered, I suspect that this might be the voice of a Western Electric employee. I surmise this because the film was produced by Western Eletric to explain and publicize the process.

The writer credit needs to be clarified. W.E. Erpi is a pseudonym and an inside joke. ERPI: Electrical Research Products Inc. was at that time the marketing and sales division of Western Electric, which in turn was the manufacturing division of AT&T.

Just discovered on the AT&T site as linked from the Cartoon Brew one this early talking Max Fleischer animated short meant to show film exhibitors how sound is transferred to film and the entertainment benefits of it. It depicts two characters with film rolls as faces, one named Talkie who has a fine speaking and singing voice and the other named Mutie who can only "speak" through a subtitle being printed at the top of the screen when he opens his mouth. So they go to a Dr. Western (meant to represent Western Electric) to get a voice for Mutie. I'll stop there and just say that I highly enjoyed this vintage animated short especially when the surprising ending came. So on that note, I recommend Finding His Voice for any buffs of old time animation.

This is a cartoon that really was not intended for kids. Despite some cute characters, the film really is a somewhat dry explanation about how sound is placed on film using the Western Electric sound system (as opposed to the one created by Vitaphone--where the accompanying sound was placed on a separate disk and synchronized to the film).

The film begins with two anthropomorphic rolls of film. One is a sound film and the other a silent one that can only talk with subtitles. The sound film asks the other if it would like to talk out loud. When the silent film says it's been out of work for some time, it agrees and the sound film takes him on a journey to meet a professor who explains the way sound is placed on film and then delivered to the audience. I found it all very fascinating, but I am also a huge film history buff. I am sure that if you showed this to little kids, they've go nuts! But for older kids and adults, it's all very interesting and a wonderful extra included on "The Jazz Singer" DVD set.

The film was co-directed by Max Fleischer--who became famous for Popeye and Betty Boop in the 1930s. However, the style of this film is much more like his silent cartoons--especially at the beginning when a hand begins to draw the characters.

Voice from the Screen, The (1926)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Historically important yet deadly dull documentary was made by Vitaphone and Warner so that they could explain how they were going to add sound to movies. The man talking and explaining all of this is deadly dull, which leads to a pretty boring short but he also explains everything in circles, which makes the information quite confusing as well.

Finding His Voice (1929)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Co-directed by Max Fleischer, this cartoon short has an animated figure learning how to speak on film. Once again, the main purpose here is to explain how sound has been added to film and this one here is pretty entertaining and it also doesn't take itself too serious, which makes it easier to understand.

Voice That Thrilled the World, The (1943)

*** (out of 4)

Documentary short about how sound came to movies and what it has led to. This Warner short features clips from many of their films and really centers on Yankee Doodle Dandy since it had just won the Oscar for Best Sound. We also get clips from The Jazz Singer, Don Juan and The Lights of New York, which was the first all talkie.

OK For Sound (1946)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Documentary covering the 20th Anniversary of sound films once again shows clips from all the big movies and tries to explain why sound was so important. The documentary loses points for making fun of the silent film but this was the attitude of the time, which is why so many silent films are now lost.

When the Talkies Were Young (1955)

*** (out of 4)

Documentary taking a look at the early sound pictures from Warner. The film shows off all of Warner's hot stars including Cagney, Tracy, Robinson, Davis and Stanwyck. This is basically a long trailer compilation but they do pick out some good and so far unavailable titles on DVD.