 The movie clip below is from The Lady Vanishes, the 1938 mystery directed by Alfred Hitchcock. An elderly woman mysteriously disappears from a moving train, much to the bewilderment of the young lady who had been sitting and talking with her. Adding to her confusion is the fact that everyone else who is travelling in the same car denies that the old woman was ever there. Related Posts:
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The scene below is from the delightful 1952 movie musical Singin' In The Rain, which stars Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, and Donald O'Connor. It is set in the late 1920's when silent movies were transitioning to "talkies" and highlights a true to life problem encountered in the film industry at this time. Many of the silent stars, chosen for their looks and ability to emote silently, didn't have voices suited for the new medium. Also, movie dialogue suited to appearing on title cards would sound ridiculous if actually uttered by the characters. Added to this were the difficulties associated with figuring out how to mic the actors so that their dialogue was consistantly audible. All of these problems occur in the hilarious scene below. Lina Lamont is a big star of romantic movies, but her nasally voice and diction are more suited to a fishwife than the French noblewoman she's supposed to be portraying (in reality, Jean Hagen who played Lina had a lovely voice). Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly), the leading man, assumes that he can get by just uttering the trite sentiments he used to mouth in love scenes, and the awful dialogue cuts in and out whenever one of them moves in the exaggerated gestures they're accustomed to using in silent films. The resulting film, The Duelling Cavalier, is a complete diaster and it may very well end both Don's and Lina's careers if something isn't done to solve the problem. While this makes for a very funny musical, the truth is that many silent film stars could not make the transition to sound and faded away into obscurity. Just for fun, here's the disatrous premiere of The Duelling Cavalier:
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About MeI'm a lover of good books, classic movies, and well-written shows (as well as some pretty cheesy ones, to be completely honest). 
Lynn M
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