 Legend has it that the reason John Gilbert (I) (qv)s voice  sounded high and reedy was that M.G.M. studio head L.B. Mayer bore a  grudge against Gilbert and told technicians to speed up the  soundtrack to discredit the increasingly drunken and troublesome  star. Certainly Gilberts voice is flawless in the later  _Queen Christina (1933)_ (qv).