Whenever I see Ben Burtt and Craig Barron’s names on a TCM Classic Film Festival schedule, the program turns into an immediate must-see. This year, that happens to be their presentation “Jet Jockeys in Love: The Making of Chain Lightning.” 

Burtt and Barron’s work in the fields of sound and visual effects, respectively, is legendary. Credited with crafting the voice of R2D2, WALL·E, and many more iconic cinematic sounds, Burtt has won four Oscars throughout his career: two Special Achievement awards for Star Wars (1977) and Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), and two Best Effects, Sound Effects Editing statuettes for E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). Barron, who has helped construct visual effects for over 100 movies, won an Oscar for Best Achievement in Visual Effects for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) and an Emmy for Outstanding Special Visual Effects for By Dawn’s Early Light (1990). 

My first experience with the duo’s TCMFF productions was a 2013 program they presented on Tarzan Finds a Son! (1939). For someone who knows nothing about special effects, I appreciated how their personable conversation informatively and humorously conveyed the complexities of classic film technology. I had never thought about the origins of something so iconic such as the Tarzan yell, let alone question how it came to be.