The Utilization of Sound

The transition from silent film into sound encountered several problems, such as lost dialogue and poor sound quality. Microphones had to be strategically placed and the narrative had to be told through sound as well as images. In Fritz Lang's The Testament of Dr. Mabuse, the transition between silence and sound is done with care and knowledge of the problems. Dialogue is well heard, well placed and well used. The words in The Testament of Dr. Mabuse are used for narration and transition as well as clarity. Dialogue seamlessly connects scenes, focuses the audience's attention on important details and reveals a way that sound can be used as an asset rather than a problem. The Testament of Dr. Mabuse utilizes sound through its use of the telephone, specifically its exclusive use of overheard conversation; original homicide, the way it uses sound to mask a murder; and issue between copy and original, the recorded voice versus live conversation.

The telephone is prominent in The Testament of Dr. Mabuse. Phone conversations are one-sided if the audience is supposed to receive information. The conversation is heard on both sides of the line if an attachment is supposed to be made with one or more of the characters. Two-sided conversations are also used as transitions between scenes. When Hofmeister goes crazy he still tries to communicate through the telephone. Every instance of the telephone is one that would not have been as successful in a silent film. Dialogue is used over the phone and from scene to scene as a transition.

The first scene that utilizes sound is the phone call from Hofmeister to the investigator and the subsequent attack. The auditor at home can hear both sides of the conversation. Hofmeister insists he has information the investigator needs and refers to sound when he says he "heard the name with his own ears." Shortly thereafter the lights go out leaving the audience with only sound of what is happening. Hofmeister's frantic screams and gunshots are heard before the scene switches back to the investigator and a singing Hofmeister is heard over the telephone line. Another phone call happens in the background of this scene with only one side of the conversation overheard. By hearing both sides of the conversation with Hofmeister the audience identifies with the victim. This is important because he is the reason the investigator gets involved - the reason the plot moves at all. Through the sound relayed during the blackout, the audience is personally involved with the fate of Hofmeister and has a reference throughout the film to call back to while hunting down the killer. Through the use of two-sided conversation, sound is used in this scene through the telephone.

The second scene that is important in sound is right before and including the first on-screen death. This is the first time the camera stays focused on one scene while the actors walk off and continue their dialogue off screen. While the characters say their lines off screen, the butler tells Kramm to have a safe drive and the audience watches the professor's doors. This scene reveals a dramatic setup for what will happen to Kramm's character and shows the audience that the doors have not moved. When the butler comes back and checks the door the audience hears the recorded voice of the professor, although at the time it is not known this voice is recorded. Later when the audience discovers the professor is behind it all and a recorded voice was heard behind the door instead of the professors, scenes like this one come to mind. While focusing on the closed doors, Lang forces the audience to see the professor has not left through these doors and makes the audience suspect something is happening behind them.

Following this scene is another phone conversation, this time one-sided to reveal information that leads to a scene that is an original homicide using sound to mask the sound of the gunshot. Kramm is stopped in his car and other cars pull up around him, including the shooter's car. The shooter's driver starts honking the car horn, all the other cars join in, including Kramm, and while the honking continues the shooter kills Kramm. At the end of the shooting all of the car horns, except for one long continuous horn, stop honking leaving Kramm dead on his horn and no witnesses to the death. This scene utilizes sound to mask a murder in an ingenious way. Lang sets up dramatic irony with Kramm's character, first with the butler telling him to have a safe drive, and then with the shooter tailing him in the car. With the horns masking the gunshot Kramm's death is clean and detached.

The third scene to use sound in The Testament of Dr. Mabuse is the big reveal of the recorded voice. Lohmann and Kent are outside of the professor's door when the recorded voice asking not to be disturbed plays. Kent says, "I'd recognize it anywhere. That's the man" only to discover he had not recognized the voice when it came from the original man but only recognized the mechanical reproduction - the copy. Lestra discusses the original versus the copy at length in Sound Technology and the American Cinema. He says the issue with the original sound versus the recorded copy is a problem in cinema but not worth dealing with because oftentimes it is too difficult to find the original source. Still, he discusses at length different ways of finding the original and ways to theorize the difference between the original sound and the copy. "Given a particular 'original,' it is impossible to predict what any copy will sound like, and vice versa, given a recording, there is no sure way to reconstruct an original. As a result, the original may be of little theoretical or practical use..." (128). The Testament of Dr. Mabuse makes it obvious which one is the original and which is the copy and uses the difference to create a twist in the plot. Not only is original versus copy not an issue in Lang's film, it is the main plot point.

The Testament of Dr. Mabuse is a film that sees sound as an asset rather than a problem. Lang uses sound to further plot, connect scenes, direct the audience's attention, and incorporate technology. The directed use of the telephone, the original use of sound and murder and the nonchalant use of the original versus the copy makes Lang's film an example of innovative use of sound in cinema rather than a disaster from silence to sound.

Works Cited
The Testament of Dr. Mabuse. Dirs. Fritz Lang. Perfs. Oscar Beregi Sr., Paul Bernd. Nero-Film AG, 1933.