1. What Was Actually Heard in the "First Talking Movie"?
When The Jazz Singer was released in New York on October 6, 1927, the singer Al Jolson performed six songs [2]. However, the scenes where actors spoke and their voices matched the video perfectly totaled only about 2 minutes [2]. This figure is an approximate estimate based on available records. The rest of the narrative was carried by subtitle cards [2].
The audience went wild for a single line spoken between songs: "You ain't heard nothin' yet!" [2]. According to sources, Jolson had used this catchphrase in his stage performances for some time and had also said it in a short film in 1926 [2]. The mere fact that an actor’s voice could be heard in a movie surprised the audience. But was this film truly the first attempt to add sound?
2. A Full-Length Film With Music Was Released the Year Before
In August 1926, a film called Don Juan was released with orchestral accompaniment and sound effects, but it contained no spoken dialogue [1]. It was The Jazz Singer that introduced conversation. The technology used was the Vitaphone system, developed by Bell Labs and Western Electric [1].
Vitaphone used a method of keeping sound "separate." The sound was recorded on separate phonograph discs and played back in sync with the film projection [1]. These discs were 16 inches in diameter and rotated at 33 1/3 revolutions per minute [1]. A reel of film was about 1,000 feet long; when projected at 24 frames per second, it lasted about 11 minutes [1]. The playback time of the disc was matched to this length [1]. But if the image and sound are separate physical objects, what happens when they go out of sync?
3. Who Fixed the Sound When It Went Out of Sync?
The weakness of the disc-based Vitaphone system was the difficulty of matching the timing of the image and sound [1]. Because the needle had to be placed on the disc by hand, if the sound drifted out of sync, the projectionist had to manually adjust it [1].
The other method was the film-based system. This method converted sound into variations in light intensity and printed them onto a narrow strip at the edge of the same film as the image [4]. During projection, a light detector converted this strip back into sound [4]. Lee De Forest’s Phonofilm system was installed in more than 30 theaters in the US, Europe, South Africa, Australia, and Japan around 1923–1925, but it ran out of funding and the business was sold in 1928 [4].
Fox’s Movietone system, using technology by Theodore Case and others, was patented by Fox in July 1926 [5]. Because the sound was on the same film as the image, this method was less prone to synchronization errors [5]. The 24 frames per second standard adopted by Case became the standard speed for future sound films [5]. By mid-1931, Warner Bros. had also switched to the film-based system [1].
4. Was Adding Sound Profitable?
In September 1928, the film The Singing Fool reportedly earned about $5 million on a production cost of about $200,000 [3]. These figures are said to have demonstrated that talkies were a profitable business [3]. Other companies initially waited and watched because installing the necessary equipment was expensive [3].
Making sound films presented another challenge. The noise from the camera would be picked up by the microphone, so cameras had to be placed in soundproof booths, which limited how they could be filmed [6]. Despite this, by 1929, more than 4,000 theaters in the US had installed sound equipment [6]. Until now, the story has focused on the US. So, how did sound enter movies in Japan?
5. Recording at Night on Tatami Mats: Madame and Wife
Madame and Wife (Madamu to nyōbō), released by Shochiku on August 1, 1931, was directed by Heinosuke Gosho [7]. The National Film Archive of Japan introduces Gosho as the director of a "domestic feature talkie" [7]. However, it is important to note that this was not the absolute "first talkie," but rather a pioneering full-scale domestic one [8]. Before this, there were works like Fujiwara Yoshie's Hometown that included sound in parts using record playback [8].
To avoid noise, filming of the sets is said to have been done at night [8]. They created a sound-treated studio by stretching canvas on the ceiling and laying tatami mats on the floor [8]. Everyday sounds, such as cats meowing, radios, and alarm clocks, were also incorporated into the film [8]. This film ranked number one in the Kinema Junpo Best Ten for 1931 [8].
6. What Happened to the Narrators Who Voiced Silent Films?
Activity narrators (katsudo benshi) were a popular profession who voiced characters and explained scenes during silent film screenings [10]. A figure of 6,818 narrators (including 180 women) in 1927 is reported, but this number should be read with a range of uncertainty [10].
As talkies spread, narrators lost their jobs, and many are said to have shifted to stand-up comedy or other forms [10]. However, whether this change delayed the spread of talkies in Japan is not clear; sources vary in strength of claim. In Japan, full-scale talkies remained a minority even after 1931, produced alongside silent films [9]. In 1933, P.C.L. and J.O. Studios began producing exclusively for talkies [9]. It is said that more than half of the films produced domestically became full-scale talkies by 1936 [9].
Today, several dozen narrators are still active. In spring 2025, Yorimitsu Sakamoto received the Arts Encouragement Prize for New Artists [10].
7. Try Watching on Mute and Narrating the Scene
Choose a short scene from an anime or drama and watch it with the volume set to zero [7]. Think about whether you can follow the plot and where you get confused. If you add your own voice to explain the story or provide dialogue for the confusing parts, you can get a glimpse of the work of a narrator [10]. To read more, the guide to the Heinosuke Gosho special exhibition at the National Film Archive of Japan is a good entry point for understanding the position of Madame and Wife [7].