Editing Thunderbolt (1929 film) (section)

==Production==
===Sound===
{{box quote|width=30em|bgcolor=cornsilk|fontsize=100%|salign=center|quote=''“Josef von Sternberg has suffered perhaps more than any other director from the vagaries of film criticism; on the one hand he has been seen as a mannered, self-indulgent stylist with a trivial and dehumanized vision of the world, and on the other as a cult figure largely associated with the mystique of [[Marlene Dietrich]], with whom he made seven films, beginning in [[The Blue Angel]] in 1930 and ending with [[The Devil Is a Woman (1935 film)|The Devil is a Woman]] in 1935''. <br>—Film historian [[Claire Johnston (film theorist)|Claire Johnston]] - "Sternberg’s '''Thunderbolt'''" - in ''Focus on Film'', 1970 <ref>Williams, 2009</ref>}}

''Thunderbolt'' was Sternberg’s first film using synchronized sound technology. Two versions of the film were produced, including a silent version for theatres that had yet to be adapted to sound.<ref>Williams, 2009</ref><ref>Axmaker, 2005.<br>Baxter, 1971. p. 61</ref>

The technical innovation of synchronized dialogue in the film raised concerns among directors as to its potential influence on the visual techniques available to directors. Internationally, filmmakers such as [[Sergei Eisenstein]], [[Vsevolod Pudovkin]], [[Alfred Hitchcock]], and [[Dziga Vertov]] wished to avoid oppressive forms of  ”theatrically-influenced dialogue” even as audiences clamored for the novelty of naturalistic speech.<ref>Williams, 2009</ref><ref>Sarris, 1966. P. 23</ref>

Sternberg welcomed sound as a means to achieve complete control over his picture - "no longer at the mercy of movie house organists" - and eschewing any "atmospheric" or background music. ''Thunderbolt'' (as well as his next three sound films) used source music that arose directly from the [[mise en scène]].<ref>Weinberg, 1967. p. 57</ref>

Sternberg experimented with asynchronous sound effects which served to augment or supplement the visual effects, or as he framed the process, “To be correctly and effectively used, the sound had to bring to the image a quality other than what the lens included, a quality out of the range of the image. Sound had to counterpoint or compensate the image, add to it – not subtract from it.”<ref>Williams, 2009.</ref> Throughout ''Thunderbolt'', Sternberg “uses sound to paint audio images” through “complementary and contrapuntal juxtaposition.”<ref>Axmaker, 2005</ref><ref>Williams, 2009.</ref>  Rather than the external and complementary musical accompaniment of silent films, Sternberg’s scores arise organically with the [[mise-en-scène]] and form a key component of the film.

The music off-screen does not recede in deference to the on-screen dialogue, but competes with it. Off-screen, voices comment on the visual action, but are not identified visually until later in the film sequence, contributing to an “unrealistic cadence” that characterizes the film’s dialogue.<ref>Dill, 2012</ref>  Film historian [[Andrew Sarris]] describes it as "a startling experiment... his use of sound and music for mood effects, and the very unreality of his style seems to justify the unusual density of his sound track."<ref>Axmaker, 2005</ref>  Sternberg also uses sound expressionistically, such as the erratic start-stop of a sewing machine or the “sinister” squeaking of a dog’s ball toy, squeezed by the condemned criminal in the hours before his death.<ref>Williams, 2009</ref>