195:(1928) was a hit with the public and the sound version made a profit of $ 407,923.23 for Universal. The film was nevertheless criticized by some critics who disliked the addition of several minutes of small talk between the lead characters. They argued that these additions caused previously sympathetic audiences to abruptly lower their opinions of the characters' personalities and level of intelligence. What these critics (all of whom lived in big cities with theatres that could afford large orchestras) failed to grasped was that even audiences in rural areas were now able to experience a proper orchestra to accompany their films. Before this, they had had to settle for something simple such as organ accompaniment.
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sound versions were by and large preferred over silent films. The success of the pictures can be gauged by how quickly theme songs from these sound films became best sellers. Seemingly overnight, the top selling records, sheet music, and piano rolls all became songs that were associated with sound films.
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with audible dialog throughout. It took about a year and a half for a transition period for
American movie houses to move from almost all silent to almost all equipped for sound. In the interim, studios reacted by improvising four solutions: fast remakes of recent productions, the addition of one or
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is a sound film that includes at least some "talking sequences" or sections with audible dialogue. The remainder of the film is provided with a synchronized musical score with sound effects. These films more often than not contain a main theme song that is played during key scenes in the film and is
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Most copies of silent films that were re-released as part-talkies survive only in sound versions. This was because the silent versions made little or no profit for the studios and the demand was low for these versions which were already perceived as outdated by the public. Many famous silent films,
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became apparent, producers of silent films which were either in production, or had recently been completed but not yet released, hastened to add or retrofit synchronized dialog segments so that their films could be advertised as "talking pictures" to a newly sound-hungry public. "You will hear the
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Due to the excitement of the public over sound film, films that were retrofitted with sound became successful while those that were released silent often failed to make a profit. The sound versions were often criticized by critics. However, box office receipts showed that, for the general public,
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featuring three of the stage musical's actors singing five songs from the show. (The prologue was intended to be shown just before the actual film at every theatre wired for sound.) The film, prologue and all, was finally released in 1929. The film made a handsome profit, with rentals totaling $
325:, was promoted as a silent film and the first of its kind to win a major Oscar award since the 1920s, but it was really a part-talkie due to the use of on-screen dialog at the end, audible female laughter in a dream sequence, and the appearance of a song with sung lyrics on the soundtrack.
279:, originally released in 1925, was reissued with some newly filmed talking segments. Although the majority of the film was five years old, the reissue was a success. It earned an additional million dollars for Universal. The highest quality known reel of
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By late 1929, virtually all films in production in the US were "100 percent all talking", although there were rare and sometimes successful exceptions. Charlie
Chaplin's
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308:, is an example of an unusually late part-talkie. The only voices heard in the film are those of the factory foreman, of a salesman making his pitch by means of a
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characters speak from the screen!" the ads could truthfully promise, even if all the audible speech was confined to one brief segment in an otherwise mute film.
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and featured a sound prologue, in which
Fairbanks' voice was heard from the screen for the first time, but the body of the film had no audible dialog.
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two sound segments spliced into already finished productions, dual sound and silent versions produced simultaneously, and part-talkies.
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In the case of feature films made in the United States, nearly all such hybrid films date to the 1927–1929 period of transition from
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often sung offscreen on the musical soundtrack. During the portion without audible dialogue, speaking parts are presented as
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as a silent film. Then, influenced by the success of the smash hit
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History of the
American Cinema: The Talkies 1926 to 1931
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The
Shattered Silents: How the Talkies Came to Stay
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18:Silent film with one or more sound segments added
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381:. University of California Press. p. 13.
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358:List of early sound feature films (1926–1929)
353:List of early Warner Bros. talking features
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258:(1929) was based on Dumas's
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