Sexuality and sound mesmerize moviegoers even today.
But in the 1930s, when movie audio production was still being developed, they were novelties.
As part of its Hollywood’s Golden Age series, the University English department hosted a showing of the film “The Smiling Lieutenant” to portray the connection between sexuality and sound in Hollywood films of the 1930s.
“The film suggests that sexual expression lies in sound,” said University graduate student Brenna Wardell, who presented the film.
Wardell explained that the sound in this movie helps drive the narrative. On certain occasions it is used in place of narrative, while other moments of sound are used to catch the viewer’s attention.
The title of her lecture, “Jazz Up Your Lingerie, Just Like Your Melody: Sexuality and Sound in ‘The Smiling Lieutenant,’” reflects the film’s final song and the turning point within the movie, where it becomes apparent how sound and sexuality are linked within the movie.
“I just love that last song,” moviegoer Connie Stone said. “It’s provocative, but it’s just so upbeat.”
While movies just started developing films with sound by the time “The Smiling Lieutenant” came out in 1931, the movie incorporated music into the story. However, it is clear that the audio production was still in development as footsteps and other movements are without sound, and the characters expression are overly dramatic, said Steve Rust, a graduate student who is coordinating the series of movies.
Wardell said musical numbers were often used in the 1930s to reveal a character’s true feelings, and that in the time of the Great Depression the visual and aural parts of the film were used to sell often-simple stories.
She said films in this era were often based on plays or operettas that were reworked completely by Hollywood screenwriters.
This movie was directed by Ernst Lubitsch, who “is not really interested in pushing the envelope,” Wardell said about the film’s plot. The movie includes an extramarital affair and women showing each other lingerie.
The movie came out in the Great Depression and this was a way to get people into the theaters and make money before the Motion Picture Production Code of 1934, Wardell said.
The production code was set up to censor the film industry, and it set strict guidelines on what was permitted to be shown on film.
This was the third in the Hollywood Golden Age series of lectures and film showings. The series is organized by the University Film and Media Group and will take place throughout the year. Fall term will focus on the 1930s, while winter will focus on the 1940s and spring will focus on the 1950s, all in the early time of the Hollywood studios.
The next lecture in the series, titled “As Nature Does: Frankenstein, Reproduction and the Normal,” will be presented by Erik Wade.  It will take place Nov. 9 at 7 p.m. in 110 Willamette Hall and will revolve around the movie “Bride of Frankenstein.”
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