The Jazz Singer
The World's First 'Talkie'
In April, 1927, Warners built the first sound studio to produce a feature film with sound. Another sound feature released on October 6, 1927, and directed by Alan Crosland for Warner Bros. revolutionized motion pictures forever. Producer Sam Warner died one day before the film's premiere at Warners' Theatre in New York City. It was the first feature-length talkie (and first musical), The Jazz Singer (1927), adapted from Samson Raphaelson's successful 1925-26 musical stage play (that starred George Jessel in the Broadway role). It was also the most expensive film in the studio's history, at a budget of about $500,000. Here was a revolutionary film that was mostly silent - with only about 350 'spontaneously spoken' words, but with six songs (in the film's partly-synchronized musical soundtrack). The film was about an aspiring Jewish cantor's son who wanted to become a jazz singer rather than a cantor in the synagogue.
Clip 1: The Jazz Singer, 1927