First sound movieThis page was last revised on 2009-06-04
|
||
First sound movie |
||
|
The Dickson Experimental Sound Film is a film made by William Kennedy-Laurie Dickson (1860-1935) in late 1894 or early 1895. It is the first known film with live-recorded sound and appears to be the first example of a motion picture made for the Kinetophone, the proto-sound-film system developed by Dickson and Thomas A. Edison (1847-1931). (The Kinetophone - consisting of a Kinetoscope accompanied by a cylinder-playing phonograph - was not a true sound-film system as no attempt was made to synchronize image and audio throughout playback.) The film was produced at the "Black Maria", Edison's New Jersey film studio. There is no evidence that it was ever exhibited in its original format. Newly digitized and restored, it is the only surviving Kinetophone film with live-recorded sound. The movie features Dickson playing a violin into a recording cone for an off-camera wax cylinder. In front of Dickson, two men dance to the music. In the final seconds, a fourth man briefly crosses from left to right behind the cone. The running time of the restored film is 17 seconds; the accompanying cylinder contains approximately two minutes of sound, including 23 seconds of violin music, encompassing the film's soundtrack. After its restoration in 2000, the Dickson Experimental Sound Film was selected for inclusion in the United States National Film Registry. [The Pre-History of Sound Cinema, Part 1: Thomas Edison and W.K.L. Dickson, Murch]
|
||
First surviving sound movie including the human voice |
||
Miss Manila Martin and Her Pet Squirrel, 1921 |
||
|
The best candidate so far identified is Miss Manila Martin and Her Pet Squirrel, from 1921. This synchronised sound film was produced by Theodore Case (1888-1944), by his own sound-on-film system. [Silent Era]
|
||
First surviving sound movie including a male voice |
||
[Lee de Forest], 1922 |
||
|
Test film made by Lee de Forest (1873-1961) in 1922. This experimental full-sound film was made by de Forest's Phonofilm sound-on-film sound system, in 35mm spherical format. The film shows de Forest himself, speaking, seated against a dark background. [Silent Era] Although de Forest patented Phonofilm in 1919, this appears to be the earliest example surviving.
|
||
First sound feature film |
||
|
Don Juan was the first feature-length film with synchronized Vitaphone sound effects and musical soundtrack, though it has no spoken dialogue. It premiered in New York City on 6 August 1926. Director: Alan Crosland. [IMDB] Crosland's Vitaphone sound-on-disc The Jazz Singer was released on 6 October 1927, and was the first feature-length motion picture with synchronized dialogue sequences. Its release heralded the commercial ascendance of the "talkies" and the decline of the silent film era. [Wikipedia] Bryan Foy's Lights of New York was the first all-talking feature film. Released on 28 July 1928, it cost only $75,000 to produce, and grossed $2,000,000. [IMDB]
|
||
Earliest-born human whose voice was recorded in a sound film |
||
|
Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) is the earliest candidate so far identified. This sequence was recorded by a Fox Movietone newsreel camera at Edison's Glenmount home in West Orange, New Jersey, USA, on 12 August 1927. Edison re-enacted his historic invention of the phonograph for the Golden Jubilee of the Phonograph ceremony 50 years after the original words were spoken on tinfoil.
|
||
Earliest-born woman whose voice was recorded in a sound film |
||
|
Little information yet located. Could it have been Miss Manila Martin (see above)? Otherwise the earliest-born woman to appear in a De Forest Phonofilm picture made in or before 1923 was Helen Lowell (1866-1937), who appeared in Love's Old Sweet Song (1923).
|
||
© 2009 Benjamin S. Beck |
If you know of any suitable examples, please contact me.
|
|