For fans of film, the idea that nearly a century ago sound in motion pictures did not exist is hard to imagine. Silent, black and white movies are relics of the past, although occasionally a modern film such as The Artist finds its way to Hollywood and is appreciated for its artistic merits. The beginning of “talking pictures” appeared in film in 1927, although it took several years before this art form caught on with the public, and even longer for movie theaters to catch up with the technology necessary for sound. This paper will explore the introduction of the first talking pictures that appeared in the United States, beginning a new form of cultural entertainment for generations to come.
After 30 years of silent film, movie audiences were shocked to hear a single line spoken halfway through the movie The Jazz Singer, when Al Jolson said the line “Wait a minute, wait a minute. You ain’t heard nothin yet!” (Corliss, 2003.) The moment was likened to cutting the umbilical cord to silent movies which had been the standard “language” on screen: actors mouthing their lines while captions expressed the dialogue. However, although it nearly 40 years for movies with sound to enter the mainstream, Thomas Edison and his assistant had developed a talking-movie machine in 1889. During the early 1920s, there were short sound films in movie theaters that highlighted vaudeville acts as well as opera singers; these were small, tentative steps until the Warner Bros. took a tremendous leap forward with The Jazz Singer. Although the film was not an actual “talkie” it differentiated itself from silent screen traditions because it had brief dialogue as well as a few songs. The story itself was not at all modern but Al Jolson’s hip swinging performance, much like the Elvis phenomenon in the 1950s, pushed the uniqueness of talking pictures.
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The film became an instant hit, and precipitated a rush to convert all of the film studios and movie theaters as well to change their technical capacity to accommodate sound. By 1930, nearly every US film included actors who talked, a trend that is obviously the norm for the film industry in modern times.
Clearly, when sound arrived in film there was a tremendous upheaval in the motion picture industry, although it was not disastrous. Initially, each major Hollywood studio started to make two separate versions of each film released in a methodical, organized way (Dirks, 2014.) In some instances, the plot lines of the two versions were different, for example having sequences that were reversed or providing different endings. An example of this arrangement was All Quiet on the Western Front, released in 1930, which had a silent version that had music and other effects, and a sound version.
Nevertheless, motion picture studios faced many problems associated with the newly developed sound in film, including limited markets for films that were English-language talkies (Dirks, 2014.) In addition, many of the actors and actresses in Hollywood did not have good speaking or singing voices or experience on stages so that their marketability was reduced. In regards to technological advances, the movements of the cameras were limited and the noisy clunky cameras had to be covered in awkward isolation booths that had soundproof covers in order to avoid the soundtrack picking up the noises of the camera. From an artistic perspective, the craft of acting suffered when movie studios tried to record live dialogue, because stationary or hidden microphones that were planted either in their costumes or other props impeded the motion of actors (Dirks, 2014.) Some of the films that were made during these early days were primitive, crudely made projects that were specifically aimed at highlighting how novel it was to have films with sound. Silent film studios became obsolete, and a great deal of money was spent to purchase the expensive new equipment that included soundproof sets, cameras that were mounted on dollies that did not squeak, and microphones that were hung from high up in order to avoid being in view of the camera. Some films that initially had been produced as silent were quickly changed into sound films.
For movie fans and critics alike, it is almost inconceivable to imagine films without sound that would exclude dialogue, music, and other noises that create the illusion of reality. It is a testament to American ingenuity that this transition, initiated by Thomas Edison, moved along relatively quickly and became a mainstay of American life as well as part of the international community’s cultural life. Although silent films certainly have their place in the history of American cinema, the introduction of sound into films has been a tremendous asset for both audiences and studios alike.
- Corliss, R. (2003, March 31). 80 Days That Changed the World: the First Talking Picture. Retrieved from Time.com: http://content.time.com
- Dirks, T. (2014). The History of Film: the 1920s, the Pre-Talkies and the Silent Era. Retrieved from AMC Film.org: http://www.filmsite.org
