A while ago (more than a year), someone asked about an odd phenomenon seen in an early sound movie: in certain scenes, the actors would stand motionless, as if waiting for a cue, before beginning the scene. And in other scenes, the dialog would end, but the actors would stand in place for several seconds before the shot ended. I too have seen this in several early talkies (1929–1930).
No one had a definite answer at the time, but here is one from the reliable J. Theakston, who is both a theater projectionist and a film historian.
I can’t find the original thread, thus this new thread.