"Wait a minute, wait a minute. You ain't seen nothin' yet!" The Jazz Singer has gone down in history as the first sound film, one that featured both music and spoken dialogue. When you look at film history, the two biggest innovations have been the introduction of sound and color. Color took a while to catch on, partially because of its expense and the fact that directors disliked the garish unnaturalness of Technicolor, but also because it wasn't deemed necessary to tell a story. That's why you see the majority of The Wizard of Oz in color as early as the 1930s, but films were still usually made in black and white for the next thirty years. But sound, on the other hand...sound was huge. And when audiences went to The Jazz Singer and the first thing they heard was Al Jolson's real, actual voice saying, "You ain't seen nothin' yet," well, it's hard to overstate the impact that had on the film world.
Audrey Fox is an ex-film student, which means that she prefers to spend her days in the dark, watching movies and pondering the director's use of diegetic sound. She currently works as an entertainment writer, joyfully rambling about all things film and television related. Add her on Twitter at @audonamission and check out her film blog at 1001moviesandbeyond.com.
