‘The Best Speaking Voices in the World’: Robert Donat, Stardom and the Voice in British Cinema

Abstract

This article will consider in more detail ‘the medium of the voice itself’ by examining the significance of Robert Donat’s screen voice in the 1930s. Donat was known for having a particularly mellifluous and distinctive speaking voice and appreciation of his work was often framed in terms, paradoxically for film, of his vocal performance. Changing the criteria of investigation from visual to aural therefore permits us to interrogate and revitalise qualities of specifically British stardom in the 1930s. To put the Donat voice in context, I will look first at how voices on film were endowed with significant discursive potential in the 1930s, using evidence from newspapers, fan magazines and audience surveys which give some indication of the kind of values inscribed in the hearing of the actor’s voice at that time. During this period, British film was caught in crucial moments of transition and consolidation as practices were being transformed and constantly re-structured. As a result of this, binary oppositions developed in which the voice became the site of contested values. These can be broadly sketched as being: from pre-sound to talkie, with the transition from visual to synchronous audiovisual codes of performance; the question of accent and intelligibility, including Received Pronunciation versus Dialect, and American versus English; and for the stage trained actor, the transition of performance context from theatre to film, from the voice signalling role to the voice signalling the actor.

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