A Brief History
On October 6, 1927, The Jazz Singer opened in theaters and began a new era in movie going by becoming the first major motion picture to feature synchronized music, singing and speech, ending the “Silent Movie” era.
Digging Deeper
Some of the other advancements in movie technology that we believe are worthy of mention include:
In 1898, Englishman Robert Paul invented a way to greatly reduce the flicker in movies with a new projector.
Widescreen Movies debuted in 1927 but hit their stride in the 1950s to combat inroads made by television.
Color movies were clumsily attempted early in movie history but became a real option in 1932 and much improved in 1935 and 1936, though not common until the 1950s.
3D movies first appeared as early as 1894, but the modern version first appeared in 1952’s Bwana Devil starting a 3D craze in the 1950s. The greatly improved RealD came out in 2005.
IMAX, Sensurround, Interactive Movies, MX4D and D-Box, what is next?
Question for students (and subscribers) to ponder: What is your favorite film technology?
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Bergan, Ronald. The Film Book, New Edition: A Complete Guide to the World of Movies. DK, 2021.
Cousins, Mark. The Story of Film: The history of cinema, filmmakers and their art, for students and movie lovers. Pavilion Books, 2020.
