Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2019 February 16

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February 16

Spoken rather than visual credits at the start of a movie

I've just seen an old 1951 b/w movie on TV, Mr. Denning Drives North. At the start, the title appeared on screen, accompanied by a voice-over speaking the title. That's odd, I thought. Then it got odder. The names of the main actors were spoken by the same voice, but they did not appear on screen. Then the movie proper started. There was a standard set of credits at the end.

I've never seen anything like this in any other film. Has it been done in any other movies? -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 05:13, 16 February 2019 (UTC)

Fahrenheit 451 did it 15 years later. Spoken opening credits did fit that plot, of course. ---Sluzzelin talk 05:20, 16 February 2019 (UTC)

(edit conflict) I don't know of other films and I will be interested to see what other editors find - good job Sluzzelin. I do know that spoken credits were used in this theatrical trailer for Citizen Kane. MarnetteD|Talk 05:24, 16 February 2019 (UTC)

(and another ec) IMDb has a "Credits spoken" box you can check, and you can list its Most Popular "Credits Spoken" Titles, including very famous ones like the one mentioned by MarnetteD. ---Sluzzelin talk 05:26, 16 February 2019 (UTC)

oof I should have remembered The Story of a Cheat. That is a film where Sacha Guitry broke many of the rules of filmmaking much like Welles did a couple years later. MarnetteD|Talk 05:31, 16 February 2019 (UTC)

• Thanks to the ever-reliable Sluzzelin and MarnetteD.  :) -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 22:54, 16 February 2019 (UTC)