MAKING WAVES (2019)

Slickly produced and over-praised, this documentary on Sound in the Movies takes a brief hit-and-miss gambol thru the opening decades of putting the two sensory elements of film, projected sound & projected light, together as one.  The two biggest obstacles, getting them to stay in synch is lightly covered; figuring out amplification to fill a large space not even mentioned.  And everything surrounding it short shrifted (what, no Latham Loop?!) before we reach the part of the story they obviously want to celebrate: advances  begun in the ‘70 largely by Walter Murch and moving onward, with pit-stops, to the PIXAR sound world of Ben Burtt.  Lots of cherry-picked factoids to make their points; probably unavoidable, but why infer that stereophonic soundtracks came in with Barbra Steisand’s unwatchble A STAR IS BORN/’76, when they started showing up alongside ‘50s WideScreen formats?  Their use so ubiquitous at the time, Cole Porter satirized the practice with the song ‘Stereophonic Sound’ in SILK STOCKINGS; on stage ‘55/on film ’57.  And even that famously preceded with the use of seven channel ‘FantaSound’ in Disney’s FANTASIA/’40 at some first-run theaters.  (Less famously the M-G-M sound department recorded many pre-stereo features with a sound perspective technique called ‘angles’ to simulate directionality on a mono-soundtrack.)  WAVES also makes the case of music being too much by showing Hitchcock’s famous use of electronic ‘noise’ to back THE BIRDS and pointedly not showing analogous sequences from PSYCHO that used nothing but the shrieking strings of chamber orchestra.  This isn’t history, it’s propaganda.  Still, the middle section worth a look (and a listen), especially since all these aural titans are still around to be interviewed.  Alas, they continue into digital overkill days, with much the same problems of today's CGI overuse turning once exciting participatory addictions into de rigeur overloaded indulgence, Pavlovian narrative anticipation divorced from the imagination & individuality once seen & heard; now simply the latest formula, a new crutch, aural gravy covering leftovers on the latest cinematic blue-plate special.  On the other hand, if you ever wondered where the appeal of back-to-basics doctrines like DOGME came from, here’s your chance.

READ ALL ABOUT IT/LINK: A recent New Yorker article highlighted the clubby world of Foley Sound Artists, a part of the soundtrack puzzle inadequately covered here, little changed over decades. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/07/04/the-weird-analog-delights-of-foley-sound-effects