Hey ASH! Noticed you had an observation of the way people spoke, fast paced and such in a lot of these old films. The filmmaker Billy Wilder, who had quite the large career, was not originally an English as he was Austrian-born. He studied the English language through American banter from New York, so a lot of his films had face-paced and clever banter with accents from around the New England area (source Pers. Comm. Dr. Raymond Waters, regarding humor in the films of the Golden Era). :D
As for the sounds of their voices, it is something I've always wondered myself (hence my stumbling upon this)! Hope that was a funfact for you :D
If you want fast paced dialog, then watch the films of Howard Hawks. Such as "Thing from Another World." Because of the fast paced dialog in that film, people in the past have thought it was actually directed by Howard Hawks. Not his film editor Christian Nyby, who is given credit as being the director on the film. I still don't know whether any definitive decision has ever been made as to who directed what. Another Howard Hawks' film with outstanding fast paced dialog is "His Girl Friday" from 1940.
