From the birth of sound film to the end of silent cinema, there were 7 steps taken along the way.
First, we have the written score. While it may seem weird to refer to a film with a written score as a sound film, the sheet music does show exactly what the artist wants you to hear while you’re watching the film so in a way, films like Birth Of A Nation do have sound accompaniment, it’s just that you need an orchestra to get the full experience.
Next, we have the synchronized score. These films have a synchronized score and sound effects but no dialog. The best example of this is Don Juan, which many consider to be the first feature length sound film with commercial success.
Then, we have the studio dialog. These are films without any live dialog. However, there’s an audible voice (whether it be singing, crowd noise, or even dialog) that was recorded after the fact. A great example of this would be F.W. Murnau’s Sunrise, which was filmed with sound in mind. While there’s no live dialog, there’s some crowd noise and in one scene, you can clearly hear a series of drivers yell “get out of the road”.
This method was also used well after the silent era to add narration to previously released silent films, like The Gold Rush in 1942 and Haxan in 1968.
After that, we have the part talkie. However, there’s 2 types of part talkie.
First, there’s the more common goat gland. This is when you’d add a few talking scenes to an already finished (or sometimes already released) silent film to get more people to watch. Some films like The Iron Mask pull this off very well but it generally just felt like unnecessary filler.
Then, there’s the less common intentional part talkie. A well like example of this would be Weary River, where there’s a decent amount of talking and silent footage.
After that, we have the nearly all talkies. These are films that have no title cards but use silent footage in areas where dialog isn’t needed. The best known example of this is Alfred Hitchcock’s Blackmail, which he originally shot as a silent but was then asked to convert into a part talkie. Since he thought the idea of a part talkie was ridiculous, he instead reshot most of the film for sound and carefully added some of his silent footage in areas where he could.
Finally, we arrive at our destination of all talkies.
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