The gradual transition from silent films to talkies took place between 1926 and 1930 and included many small steps — both technological developments and adjustments to audience expectations — before it was complete.
And film directors were skeptical of sound decreasing film creativity. In 1927, The Jazz Singer was the first feature length film to include sound. By the early 1930s, the silent film era was over as “talkies” became a theatre sensation.
The first feature film originally presented as a talkie (although it had only limited sound sequences) was The Jazz Singer, which premiered on October 6, 1927. A major hit, it was made with Vitaphone, which was at the time the leading brand of sound-on-disc technology.
Made from the 1890s through the late 1920s, silent films are movies without synchronized sound and dialogue. Instead, music was often played live in theaters to accompany and punctuate the action that took place on the screen, and dialogue was conveyed through intertitles, or shots of printed text.
Similarly, silent films were perceived as worthless after the end of the silent era. Film preservationist Robert A. Harris has said, "Most of the early films did not survive because of wholesale junking by the studios. There was no thought of ever saving these films.
The technology to capture and record sound on film along with the images was not mastered until the mid-1920s, and it wasn't in common use until later in that decade. That means that for most of the first 35 years of motion pictures, theaters had to provide their own accompaniment with the films.
But now the films are making a comeback in New York City, with increasing popularity among young people. Film Forum, a nonprofit, puts on two to three silent movies with live accompanying music every quarter, including at least one silent comedy for its junior audience.
The gradual transition from silent films to talkies took place between 1926 and 1930 and included many small steps — both technological developments and adjustments to audience expectations — before it was complete.
The oldest surviving silent film is known as the Roundhay Garden Scene. It was recorded on October 14, 1888, by inventor Louis Le Prince in Roundhay, Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, England.
The Jazz Singer, American musical film, released in 1927, that was the first feature-length movie with synchronized dialogue. It marked the ascendancy of “talkies” and the end of the silent-film era.
On October 6, 1927, Warner Bros. released The Jazz Singer, the first feature-length film to incorporate synchronized sound for sequences of dialogue. Though these sequences were limited and brief, hearing the voices of the film's stars was a revelation for audiences.
In old films from the 1930's to 1950's, why do the characters seem to talk so fast? Movie makers encouraged diction, more along the lines of British speech which was more clipped, with less drawl. (drawl was allowed in Western movies), but Bette Davis and Katherine Hepburn had very clipped accents.
Many silent film stars found it difficult to “find their voice” and place in this new Hollywood medium, which completely changed the game of on-screen performance. But while the talkies ended a lot of careers, here are seven actors who succeeded—and prospered—in the transition.
During the highpoint of the silent era, between 1926 and 1930, the form reached a zenith of poetic expression and subtlety before the coming of sound swept it all away.
American film and television studios terminated production of black-and-white output in 1966 and, during the following two years, the rest of the world followed suit.
Wings was the only silent film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture. Wings also won the Academy Award for Engineering Effects. The event was held a full three months after the winners had already been announced.
Many early silent films were either dramas, epics, romances, or comedies (often slapstick). One-reelers (10-12 minutes) soon gave way to four-reel feature-length films.
Movies were once silent because the technology for recording and syncing sound with pictures had not yet been developed. For about the first three decades after the invention of motion pictures, no one could come up with a reliable and easily scalable way to synchronize picture and sound.
Many Hollywood accents were based on an old, artificial theatrical accent used on the live stage from the 19th century, entitled “Mid-Atlantic" accent. It was taught in theatrical circles and at elite East Coast boarding schools. As such, it was not a natural accent which anyone had from their upbringing.
What did they call movies with sound that followed the silent age?
Talkies get their name from the recorded dialogue that played in sync with the images on screen. Movies from the Silent Film Era (1894-1929), were largely recorded and played without sound.
Silent Films are films with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialog. Most silent films were created between 1895 and 1936. In 1927, George Valentin is a silent movie superstar. However, the advent of the talkies will kill his career and he will sink into oblivion.
Silent comedies often place heavy emphasis on visual and physical humors, often including "sight gags", to tell stories and entertain the viewer. Many of these physical gags are exaggerated forms of violence which came to be called "slapstick".
Representation among actors was not equal even in the heyday of silent films—there were not many Deaf actors—but the celebrated few included Granville Redmond, a painter who appeared in Charlie Chaplin films.
