Cultoons

Finding His Voice (2x1)

Data de estreia: Jan 01, 1929

Finding His Voice (1929, 10:38) kicks off this collection, dubbed Animated Education, with an exploration of the sound recording and reproduction process. What’s doubly amazing, apart from the quality of this Fleischer Studios commission for Western Electric, is that this exact same process is still being used today as a way of reading film soundtracks in the many theaters that have yet to covert to digital exhibition. This is a simply brilliant cartoon, for a variety of reasons: it’s complicatedly drawn to the Fleischers’ high standards and features a clear description that may well have gone over audiences’ heads in the late twenties but makes fascinating viewing today. There’s a clever touch, a filmstrip that becomes our cute lead, Talkie, and the lecturer’s dry narration is the first time I think I’ve come across actual flubs in dialogue in animation that were not removed from the soundtrack. I’m assuming this is because the somewhat freefall reading was conducted in one take, making Finding His Voice the even more unique.