Charlie Chaplin and Silent Films: Sound Technology

Sound technology began back in 1877 with Thomas Edison's invention of the phonograph. Although used until the 1920's, the attempt to link phonograph and film is checkered with failures, half-failures, and abortive successes. The Vitaphone, created in the early 1900's, is what really led the sound revolution in film. Warner Brothers, one owner of the Vitaphone, did not use it initially for talking movies but for music and sound effects. This allowed them to bring the professional music found in a first-rate theater to the tiniest movie houses, thus allowing audiences all over the country to experience such wonderful sound.

However, the Vitaphone had its difficulties. It had to be continually watched and controlled, otherwise, as happened in one of Warner Brother's theaters, a man could open his mouth and out comes the tones of a banjo. Regardless of the sound quality in the talkies, in 1928 they were bringing in larger crowds than the best silents. Yet, it did not take long before the novelty of speech in film wore off and the public demanded better quality. This lead to the improvement of sound-on-film technology. [Back]