The Speed of Sound, Scott Eyman
The Speed of Sound, Scott Eyman
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The Speed of Sound
Hollywood and the Talkie Revolution 19261930

Author: Scott Eyman

Narrator: Adams Morgan

Unabridged: 13 hr 38 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/06/2009

Synopsis

It was the end of an era. It was a turbulent, colorful, and altogether remarkable period, four short years in which Americas 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.

About Scott Eyman

Scott Eyman was formerly the literary critic at The Palm Beach Post and is the author or coauthor of sixteen books, including the bestseller John Wayne and Pieces of My Heart and You Must Remember This with actor Robert Wagner. Eyman also writes book reviews for The Wall Street Journal, and has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, and the Chicago Tribune. He and his wife, Lynn, live in West Palm Beach.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Sara on January 25, 2019

I know that silent film, and the transition from silent film, tend to be rather niche interests. I do think that with this book there is something for any curious mind. Any time I go on about some trivia or anecdote from this book to an unsuspecting friend, it doesn't take long for them completely f......more

Goodreads review by James Bazen on August 23, 2008

Scott Eyman does a masterful job at recounting the cinema's several earlier failed attempts at sound films, and the later, fateful attempt that set an entire indusry on it's ear.......more

Goodreads review by David Allwood on March 11, 2025

That we can walk in to a cinema and be transported anywhere is truly remarkable. The fact that this experience comes with the intricacies of sound is even more remarkable - which is why ‘The Speed of Sound’ by Scott Eyman is an important historical book. Most people in the modern age have not seen a......more

Goodreads review by Lynn on September 27, 2021

Very good account of the transition from silent to sound pictures from 1929 to 1930. The book covers years beginning in 1927. Shock of filmmakers who were making highly regarded silent films they were proud of to watching terrible to mediocre films make twice as much money because they had sound. So......more

Goodreads review by Beth on December 28, 2017

This book is an absolutely enthralling read about the technological and cultural development of sound in movies. For all that this development was resisted by the industry, it's amazing how quickly the "fad" took hold and innovations followed to make it more usable. The ripple effects extended far b......more

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