The Voice in Cinema  by Michel Chion  Edited and Translated by Claudia Gorbman

- How have such directors as Fritz Lang and Alfred Hitchcock used "the being heard but not seen" to build suspense in films since the advent of "talkies" in 1927? 

In an exploration of a subject no one else has written on at any length, one of the foremost experts on film sound explores the mysterious power of the human voice-particularly the disembodied voice-as deployed in cinema.  

Michel Chion, author of Audio-Vision, analyzes uses of the human voice by directors like Lang, Hitchcock, Ophuls, Duras, and de Palma.  
  The first part of The Cinematic Voice considers the hidden, faceless voice and its magical powers, particularly as used in Fritz Lang's Testament of Dr. Mabuse. Chion sees this film, produced at the dawn of the sound era, as a template for the voice in cinema.  
  The middle section's five essays explore entrapment by telephone, voice-thieves, screams of terror, siren calls, and the silence of mute characters.  
  Finally, Chion looks at "the monstrous marriage of the filmed voice and body" as figured in Psycho's Norman Bates.  

Claudia Gorbman's fluent translation introduces readers to Chion's sophisticated and accessible analysis in a work that established his reputation as a major voice in French film criticism. 

• I. Mabuse: Magic and Powers of Acousmetre 
• 1. The Acousmetre 
• 2. The Silences of Mabuse 
• 3. The I-Voice 
 
• II. Tamaki: Tales of the Voice 
• 4. The Voice Connection 
• 5. The Screaming Point 
• 6. The Master of Voices 
• 7. The Mute Character's Final Words 
• 8. The Siren's Song 
 
• III. Norman; Or The Impossible Anacousmetre 
• 9. The Voice that Seeks a Body 
• 10. The Confession 
 
• Epilogue: Cinema's Voices of the 80's and 90's 

Michel Chion links: 

• "Chion is a poet in theoretician's clothing" 

- Claudia Gorbman writes about Michel Chion

• Book Review: Michel Chion, Audio-Vision (Escom Newsletters)   

- by Nicola Phillips Faculty of Music, University of Cambridge

• Michel Chion´s Terminology

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