Page "Sound film" Paragraph 2

The primary steps in the commercialization of sound cinema were taken in the United States in the mid-to late 1920s.

At first, the sound films incorporating synchronized dialogue — known as " talking pictures ", or " talkies "— were exclusively shorts ; the earliest feature-length movies with recorded sound included only music and effects.

The first feature film originally presented as a talkie was The Jazz Singer, released in October 1927.

A major hit, it was made with Vitaphone, the leading brand of sound-on-disc technology.

Sound-on-film, however, would soon become the standard for talking pictures.