What are The Talkies?

In this article, we’ll discuss the origins of the Talkies and how they changed the movie business forever.

The recorded dialogue that played in time with the images on screen gave rise to the term talkie. Silent films were produced and exhibited during the years between 1894 and 1929. Most of these movies utilised intertitles to explain the plot, and live pianists, organists, and orchestras provided the score and sound. Talking pictures resulted from incorporating recorded dialogue into cinema as technology progressed.

The up-and-coming Warner Brothers studio was among the first in Hollywood to invest heavily in the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system. Don Juan, the first feature-length film to use synchronized music and sound effects, was released in 1926.

The Jazz Singer, another Warner Brothers film, was the first feature to feature recorded dialogue, albeit in only two scenes. Lights of New York, the first all-talking feature film, was a commercial success and helped end the Silent Era, paving the way for the movies we know and love today.

At A Glance

The History of The Talkies
What was the impact of Talkies on the film industry?
The start of Video Editing
Synchronous, asynchronous and post-synchronised sound systems
The long-lasting influence of Talkies on the film industry

The History of The Talkies

For Hollywood, 1927 was the year of reinvention thanks to Warner Brothers’ groundbreaking The Jazz Singer, the first American-made and-marketed feature-length sound film. This revolutionary shift made it possible for the movie industry to expand, new film genres to emerge (horror and monster films), bigger stars to make their way to the silver screen, and bolder films that dared to challenge the impossible to be made. Hollywood’s Big Five were on top, but Europe and India were both developing sizeable markets with plenty of talented directors and producers. Everything was different before WWII, but the war altered the landscape.

The introduction of talking pictures altered the nature of storytelling in motion pictures and the industry itself. Most 1920s movie theatres lacked the technology to play sound films because they relied instead on live orchestras. The financial success of early talkies prompted theatres to begin the costly process of wiring for sound, and by 1930 about 10,000 of the estimated 15,000 cinemas in the United States had been retrofitted with the necessary technology.

Because of the widespread adoption of talkies, productions had to adjust their filming techniques accordingly. Sound-dampening devices had to be attached to much of the equipment used on set because it was so noisy. Actors in the past were constrained in their movement during scenes to stay near the microphone because mics were permanently installed. To compensate for their limited mobility, filmmakers once relied on a multi-camera setup.

Talkies - post production - So The Theory Goes

What was the impact of Talkies on the film industry?

There was a huge shift in the movie business after the introduction of sound with Talkies. Because of the initial challenges of recording and editing sound films, the very form of films shifted. The microphones of the time were so sensitive that actors had to stand very still and close to them to pick up any sound. The microphones were also susceptible to picking up camera noise, so the cameras and their operators were placed in soundproof glass booths. With the actors and the camera unable to move freely within the frame, early films resembled filmed stage plays.

The start of Video Editing

The film could not be edited after it was shot, apart from cuts made during scene transitions, due to the sound being recorded directly on the film at the time of filming. The entire practice of editing and montage, pioneered in the United States and elevated to fine art by Soviet filmmakers like Sergei Eisenstein, was simply impossible.

Not only that, but many of the biggest names in silent film, like the German actor Emil Jannings (1887-1950) (who had a thick accent) and John Gilbert (whose voice did not match his screen image), found that they were no longer in demand for sound films. Acting for film, in response to the advent of sound film, shifted its emphasis from physical to vocal expression to convey the scene’s meaning.

Synchronous, asynchronous and post-synchronised sound systems

Theoretical debate erupted among filmmakers as the sound was seen to restrict rather than expand the film’s potential. Many believe the audio track should mirror the visual one, including all relevant dialogue and sound effects. This is known as synchronous sound.

Some filmmakers, like Eisenstein, believed that the soundtrack should feature contrapuntal, or asynchronous, elements that would meaningfully interact with the on-screen action. This strategy would have also liberated film from the limitations of early sound technology; however, as microphones and cameras advanced, these limitations were largely removed.

In 1929, post-synchronized sound systems were developed, which allowed sound to be recorded and synchronized with the film after the film was shot, thereby enabling the editing and montage effects that had previously been impossible with early sound film.

The long-lasting influence of Talkies on the film industry

The introduction of Talkies affected the film industry as a whole, not just cinema as an art form. The Great Depression would have nearly bankrupted Hollywood if it hadn’t been for the success of sound films. Audiences were tired of the limited expressive capabilities of silent film during the Great Depression.

More importantly, without the development and adoption of sound film during the brief period between 1926 and 1930, many Hollywood studios would have been forced into bankruptcy. Sound, which Hollywood initially resisted due to economic factors, opened entirely new dimensions in the film as art, dimensions that audiences were eager to explore, and provided Hollywood with an economic base that sustained it through the worst economic crisis in American history.

The Jazz Singer, which was released in 1927, is widely regarded as the first sound film. Moreover, silent movies had been completely phased out by 1930. Though the film industry benefited greatly from the advent of sound, the introduction of Talkies had a devastating effect on Broadway. Many actors in the theatre industry struggled to adapt to the new demands of making silent films into talking ones. There have been numerous developments in the film industry, but nothing changed the game like Talkies.