Long before CGI special effects and Alfonso Cuaron tracking shots, the greatest technical achievement in Hollywood was something we usually take for granted these days: Sound.
Innovators during Hollywood’s Golden Age experimented with camera positions, effects, and more, but they also advanced the possibility of sound which blew people’s minds in the years after silent movies went the way of the cowboy. And legendary director Howard Hawks did more with dialogue than any filmmaker of his era.
Not only is His Girl Friday (1940) probably the fastest-talking movie ever made, it’s the earliest great example of screenwriting deliberately meant to have actors talking over one another.
It’s also one of the very favorite movies of my partner in classic film gushing–Melissa Tagg. And how have I made it this far without mentioning Cary Grant?! He is, after all, one of the absolutest greatest actors in history and the king of male leads in Rom Coms. Here’s this week’s Classic Movie Gush if you want the rest of the scoop. Also Melissa explains how she knows SO MUCH about this one.
When you think of movie fast-talkers, what comes to mind? Let me know in the comments and throw in a clip if you find one.
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2 replies on “The Film That Changed Movie Dialogue Forever”
Vince Vaughan is probably the king of fast-talking these days. I always think of Swingers when I think of fast-talking movies.
That’s a great analogy. Melissa and I have played around with the idea of doing modern day suggestions/comparisons based on classic films. Example, if you like Swingers then you might like this… But it’s tough to make connections like that because the eras are so different.