fields of sound and special effects. Welles’s budget
(estimated at $2,000) paid for his eleven-person
radio cast, small crew, and studio orchestra. We
cannot easily compare a blockbuster movie released
in 2005 with a radio show broadcast in 1938, not only
because of the differences in the two media, but
also because the radio audience then was less
media-savvy than movie audiences of today are.
But for anyone who has turned off the lights and
listened to Welles’s production—the most famous
of all radio broadcasts—it’s clear how he was able
to convince millions of people in the audience that
aliens had actually landed and that humankind
was in mortal danger. At some level, Spielberg
instinctively understood this, because, like Welles,
ultimately he created fright through sound.Functions of Film Sound
Primarily, sound helps the filmmaker tell a movie’s
story by reproducing and intensifying the world
that has been partially created by the film’s visual
elements. A good sound track can make the audi-
ence aware of the spatial and temporal dimensions
of the screen, raise expectations, create rhythm,
and develop characters. Either directly or indi-
rectly, these functions provide the viewer with cues
to interpretation and meaning. Sounds that work
directly include dialogue, narration, and sound
effects (often Foley sounds) that call attention (the
characters’ or ours) to on- or offscreen events.
In John Ford’s My Darling Clementine (1946;
sound: Eugene Grossman and Roger Heman, Sr.),
“Doc” Holliday (Victor Mature) tosses his keys
noisily on the hotel desk to underscore his desire to
leave town if Clementine (Cathy Downs) won’t
keep her promise to leave before him. In Charles
Laughton’s The Night of the Hunter(1955; sound: Stan-
ford Houghton), Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum) cov-
ets the large sum of money that he knows is hidden
somewhere around the farm. His stepchildren,
John (Billy Chapin) and Pearl (Sally Jane Bruce),
have kept the money hidden inside Pearl’s doll, but
Pearl is too young to understand what’s going on
and has cut two of the bills into figures that she
calls “Pearl” and “John.” When Harry comes out of
the house to tell the children that it’s bedtime, they
quickly restuff the crackling bills into the doll.
Although we hear this sound, Harry doesn’t; but a
moment later, in a small but easily missed visual
moment in the wide frame, we see and hear the two
“Pearl” and “John” bills blowing across the path
toward Harry. This ominous coincidence adds ten-
sion to the scene because we fear that Harry will
surely hear it too, look down, and discover the chil-414 CHAPTER 9SOUND
Rachel capturedAs her father screams, “No! No!” a
tentacle of one of the tripods swoops down and captures
Rachel. Other sounds include Rachel’s screams and the
ominous, insistent musical score that suggests the
inevitability of this incident.
Home, devastated homeAt the conclusion of Spielberg’s
War of the Worlds, Ray, his daughter, Rachel, and his son,
Robbie, are reunited with the children’s mother. The soft,
muted horns suggest a happy ending, but as Ray and his
family tearfully celebrate their reunion, the camera reveals
the full extent of the havoc that the alien invaders have
wrought. Whatever future the Ferriers may have is uncertain.