During the early days of talkies, dialogue writers were in great demand, and many who made the move to California were involved in the Broadway theater industry. The first regular theater critic for The New Yorker, Herman Mankiewicz, was soon in high demand in Hollywood after synchronized sound was introduced to cinema. A prime example of Mankiewicz's style was his screenplay in the early talkie, June 1929 "Thunderbolt." In 1927 Paramount Pictures hired Mankiewicz to write scenarios for its silent films. The studio asked him to work his connections for New York City writers to compose film scripts when talkies arrived. "Most of the newer writers on Paramount's staff who contributed the most successful stories of the past year (1929) were selected by 'Mank,'" wrote film critic Pauline Kael. Herman was the subject in the Netflix 2020 biopic, "Mank."
Mankiewicz's famous telegram to Ben Hecht describes how desperate movie studios were to hire good writers. "Millions are to be grabbed out here and your only competition is idiots. Don't let this get around."
Mankiewicz was the highest-paid writer in Tinseltown. Kael described, "His heroes weren't soft-eyed and bucolic; he brought good-humored toughness to the movies, and energy and astringency. And the public responded, because it was eager for modern American subjects." In "Thunderbolt," adapted from a Charles and Jules Furthman story, Mankiewicz's script focuses on Jim Lang (George Bancroft), nicknamed Thunderbolt, wanted by the police. His girlfriend, 'Ritzy' (Fay Wray), is seeing banker Bob Moran (Richard Arlen) behind Jim's back. Lang is captured and is headed for the chair. In jail, he discovers who Ritzy's boyfriend is and frames Bob in a cop's murder. When arrested and sentenced, Bob finds himself in the jail cell next to Thunderbolt.
"Thunderbolt" was the type of movie designed for director Josef von Sternberg for his first talkie. The silent movie director of 1927's "Underworld," which introduced the gangster genre, was excited to be making talkies. He said he was "no longer at the mercy of movie house organists."
Sternberg especially loved to mix music with his actors' dialogue. In a classic nightclub scene, singer actress Theresa Harris, in her film debut, belts out a song while Thunderbolt and Ritzy are in an argument. Between Harris' numbers, the jazz band plays in the background while tension builds between Lang and nearby loud customers. The tense sequence reveals the inner turmoil of Thunderbolt. Film critic Andrew Sarris notes, "'Thunderbolt' is, in some respects, as much a musical as a melodrama." Sternberg was praised overseas for his film, receiving a telegram from German director Ludwig Berger, stating "I saw your film 'Thunderbolt' and congratulate you with all my heart. It is the first fully realized and artistically accomplished sound film. Bravo!"
"Thunderbolt" was the second talkie for actor George Bancroft, his first was the now lost 1929 'The Wolf of Wall Street.' The actor earned a Best Actor Academy Award nomination for his role as Thunderbolt.
The future was bright for Mankiewicz, working alongside his younger brother, Joseph, who wrote the titles in "Thunderbolt." Herman is known by today's movie fans as the first screenwriter for 1939's "The Wizard of Oz," and for his collaboration with Orson Welles in 1941's "Citizen Kane."
