Editing Sound film (section)

=== Advanced sound-on-film ===
In 1919, American inventor [[Lee De Forest]] was awarded several patents that would lead to the first [[optical sound]]-on-film technology with commercial application. In De Forest's system, the sound track was photographically recorded onto the side of the strip of motion picture film to create a composite, or "married", print. If proper synchronization of sound and picture was achieved in recording, it could be absolutely counted on in playback. Over the next four years, he improved his system with the help of equipment and patents licensed from another American inventor in the field, [[Theodore Case]].<ref>Sponable (1947), part 2.</ref>

At the [[University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign|University of Illinois]], Polish-born research engineer [[Joseph Tykociński-Tykociner]] was working independently on a similar process. On June 9, 1922, he gave the first reported U.S. demonstration of a sound-on-film motion picture to members of the [[American Institute of Electrical Engineers]].<ref>Crafton (1997), pp. 51–52; Moone (2004); Łotysz (2006). Crafton and Łotysz describe the demonstration as taking place at an AIEE conference. Moone, writing for the journal of the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign's Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, says the audience was "members of the Urbana chapter of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers."</ref> As with Lauste and Tigerstedt, Tykociner's system would never be taken advantage of commercially; however, De Forest's soon would.

[[File:Phonofilm1.jpg|thumb|right|alt=All-text advertisement from the Strand Theater, giving dates, times, and performers' names. At the top, a tagline reads, "$10,000 reward paid to any person who finds a phonograph or similar device used in the phonofilms." The accompanying promotional text describes the slate of sound pictures as "the sensation of the century&nbsp;... Amazing! Astounding! Unbelievable".|Newspaper ad for a 1925 presentation of Phonofilm shorts, touting their technological distinction: no phonograph.]]
On April 15, 1923, at the New York City's Rivoli Theater, the first commercial screening of motion pictures with sound-on-film took place. This would become the future standard. It consisted of a set of short films varying in length and featuring some of the most popular stars of the 1920s (including [[Eddie Cantor]], [[Harry Richman]], [[Sophie Tucker]], and [[George Jessel (actor)|George Jessel]] among others) doing stage performances such as [[vaudeville]]s, musical acts, and speeches which accompanied the screening of the silent feature film ''Bella Donna''.<ref>{{cite book|last=MacDonald|first=Laurence E.|date=1998|title=The Invisible Art of Film Music: A Comprehensive History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e0NYYHWtz6sC&q=lee+de+forest+bella+donna&pg=PA5|location=Lanham, MD|publisher=Ardsley House|page=5|isbn=978-1-880157-56-5}}</ref> All of them were presented under the banner of [[Phonofilm|De Forest Phonofilms]].<ref>Gomery (2005), p. 30; Eyman (1997), p. 49.</ref> The set included the 11-minute short film ''From far Seville'' starring [[Concha Piquer]]. In 2010, a copy of the tape was found in the [[Library of Congress|U.S. Library of Congress]], where it is currently preserved.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.msn.com/es-es/noticias/virales/12-mentiras-de-la-historia-que-nos-tragamos-sin-rechistar-4/ar-BBTeaLx?li=BBpmbhJ&ocid=DELLDHP#page=8|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190207015725/https://www.msn.com/es-es/noticias/virales/12-mentiras-de-la-historia-que-nos-tragamos-sin-rechistar-4/ar-BBTeaLx?li=BBpmbhJ&ocid=DELLDHP#page=8|url-status=dead|archive-date=2019-02-07|title=12 mentiras de la historia que nos tragamos sin rechistar (4)|website=MSN|language=es-ES|access-date=2019-02-06}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://elpais.com/cultura/2010/11/03/actualidad/1288738815_850215.html|title=La primera película sonora era española|last=EFE|date=2010-11-03|work=[[El País]]|access-date=2019-02-06|language=es-ES|issn=1134-6582}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=López|first=Alfred|url=https://blogs.20minutos.es/yaestaellistoquetodolosabe/sabias-que-el-cantor-de-jazz-no-fue-realmente-la-primera-pelicula-sonora-de-la-historia-del-cine/|title=¿Sabías que 'El cantor de jazz' no fue realmente la primera película sonora de la historia del cine?|date=2016-04-15|work=[[20 minutos]]|access-date=2020-02-06|language=es-ES}}</ref> Critics attending the event praised the novelty but not the sound quality which received negative reviews in general.<ref>{{cite book|last=Crafton|first=Donald|date=1999|title=The Talkies: American Cinema's Transition to Sound, 1926-1931|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KFB_oT-jupQC&q=the+gavotte|location=Berkeley, CA|publisher=University of California Press|page=65|isbn=0-520-22128-1}}</ref> That June, De Forest entered into an extended legal battle with an employee, [[Freeman Harrison Owens]], for title to one of the crucial Phonofilm patents. Although De Forest ultimately won the case in the courts, Owens is today recognized as a central innovator in the field.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|author=Hall, Brenda J.|url=http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=66|title=Freeman Harrison Owens (1890–1979)|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture|date=July 28, 2008|access-date=December 7, 2009}}</ref> The following year, De Forest's studio released the first commercial dramatic film shot as a talking picture—the two-reeler ''Love's Old Sweet Song'', directed by [[J. Searle Dawley]] and featuring [[Una Merkel]].<ref>A few sources indicate that the film was released in 1923, but the two most recent authoritative histories that discuss the film—Crafton (1997), p. 66; Hijiya (1992), p. 103—both give 1924. There are claims that De Forest recorded a synchronized musical score for director [[Fritz Lang]]'s ''[[Die Nibelungen: Siegfried|Siegfried]]'' (1924) when it arrived in the United States the year after its German debut—Geduld (1975), p. 100; Crafton (1997), pp. 66, 564—which would make it the first feature film with synchronized sound throughout. There is no consensus, however, concerning when this recording took place or if the film was ever actually presented with synch-sound. For a possible occasion for such a recording, see the August 24, 1925, [http://movies2.nytimes.com/mem/movies/review.html?title1=Siegfried&title2=&reviewer=MORDAUNT%20HALL.&pdate=19250824&v_id= ''New York Times'' review of ''Siegfried''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160405194333/http://movies2.nytimes.com/mem/movies/review.html?title1=Siegfried&title2=&reviewer=MORDAUNT%20HALL.&pdate=19250824&v_id= |date=April 5, 2016 }}, following its American premiere at New York City's Century Theater the night before, which describes the score's performance by a live orchestra.</ref> However, phonofilm's stock in trade was not original dramas but celebrity documentaries, popular music acts, and comedy performances. President [[Calvin Coolidge]], opera singer [[Abbie Mitchell]], and vaudeville stars such as [[Phil Baker (comedian)|Phil Baker]], [[Ben Bernie]], Eddie Cantor and [[Oscar Levant]] appeared in the firm's pictures. Hollywood remained suspicious, even fearful, of the new technology. As ''[[Photoplay]]'' editor [[James R. Quirk|James Quirk]] put it in March 1924, "Talking pictures are perfected, says Dr. Lee De Forest. ''So'' is [[castor oil]]."<ref>Quoted in Lasky (1989), p. 20.</ref> De Forest's process continued to be used through 1927 in the United States for dozens of short Phonofilms; in the UK it was employed a few years longer for both shorts and features by British Sound Film Productions, a subsidiary of British Talking Pictures, which purchased the primary Phonofilm assets. By the end of 1930, the Phonofilm business would be liquidated.<ref>Low (1997a), p. 203; Low (1997b), p. 183.</ref>

In Europe, others were also working on the development of sound-on-film. In 1919, the same year that DeForest received his first patents in the field, three German inventors, [[Josef Engl]] (1893–1942), [[Hans Vogt (engineer)|Hans Vogt]] (1890–1979), and [[Joseph Massolle]] (1889–1957), patented the [[Tri-Ergon]] sound system. On September 17, 1922, the Tri-Ergon group gave a public screening of sound-on-film productions—including a dramatic talkie, ''Der Brandstifter'' (''The Arsonist'') —before an invited audience at the Alhambra Kino in Berlin.<ref>Robertson (2001), p. 168.</ref> By the end of the decade, Tri-Ergon would be the dominant European sound system. In 1923, two Danish engineers, Axel Petersen and Arnold Poulsen, patented a system that recorded sound on a separate filmstrip running parallel with the image reel. Gaumont licensed the technology and briefly put it to commercial use under the name Cinéphone.<ref>Crisp (1997), pp. 97–98; Crafton (1997), pp. 419–20.</ref>

US competition eclipsed Phonofilm. By September 1925, De Forest and Case's working arrangement had fallen through. The following July, Case joined [[Fox Film]], Hollywood's third largest [[studio system|studio]], to found the Fox-Case Corporation. The system developed by Case and his assistant, Earl Sponable, given the name [[Movietone sound system|Movietone]], thus became the first viable sound-on-film technology controlled by a Hollywood movie studio. The following year, Fox purchased the North American rights to the Tri-Ergon system, though the company found it inferior to Movietone and virtually impossible to integrate the two different systems to advantage.<ref>Sponable (1947), part 4.</ref> In 1927, as well, Fox retained the services of Freeman Owens, who had particular expertise in constructing cameras for synch-sound film.<ref>See [http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=66 Freeman Harrison Owens (1890–1979)], op. cit. A number of sources erroneously state that Owens's and/or the Tri-Ergon patents were essential to the creation of the Fox-Case Movietone system.</ref>