Prior to Case’s innovations, inventors (including Thomas Edison) had put their energies into the establishment of sound film, only to be sorely disappointed by the outcomes. By the time of the Talkie Revolution of the mid-late 1920s, Movietone actively competed with three other sound film systems, including Vitaphone (Warner Brothers, sound-on-disc), Phonofilm (de Forest, variable density optical soundtrack), and RCA Photophone (General Electric, variable area soundtrack). Take a look at some of the other competing sound film systems which sought and often failed to bring a voice to the film industry.
Other Sound Film Systems
Other Sound Film Systems
Other Sound Film Systems
Other Sound Film Systems
Other Sound Film Systems
Other Sound Film Systems
While Ted Case’s Movietone Sound-on-film system was the first of its kind to be widely distributed and adopted by a major film studio, it was not the first ever sound film system.
Kinetophone (Thomas Edison, 1895)
One of the earliest practical uses of sound with a moving picture was the kinetophone, a functional piece of Thomas Edison’s revolutionary Kinetoscope which exhibited peep shows for an individual user.
The system employed a “sound-on-disc” system, but unlike later versions made no attempt to synchronize the sound to the moving image. As peep shows lost their popularity in the mid-1910s, Edison attempted to introduce his kinetophone to the growing popularity of projection films. This system was too reliant on the skill of the phonograph operator, however, and without proper amplification it was soon scrapped.
When Ted Case and Earl Sponable began to devote themselves to pursuing sound-on-film in the early 1920s, Case at one point reached out to Edison with recommendations related to improving the phonograph. While Edison snubbed Case’s interest in collaboration, he did make mention in his response about Case’s “photo cell,” with regards to his work on sound film. It is possible that Edison was concerned about Case as a rising rival. Perhaps because Kinetophone never truly took off, Edison was recorded saying that sound movies were “a drop in the pan” and would never catch on.
Transcript of Edison Letter
Dear Sir:
Your letter of January 29th was brought to Mr. Edison’s personal attention. He wishes me to say that our research men stay in the Laboratory and do not travel. He also says there are a number of stunts for reproducers but none so good as the present system. If scratching noises are eliminated, then the fine overtones will also be eliminated. The trouble is that loud music is what people want at present.
How about your photo cell? Have you any printed matter that you can send Mr. Edison in regard to it?
Yours Very Truly,
W.H. Meadowcroft, Assistant to Mr. Edison
RCA Photophone (Charles Hoxie, 1927)
The fourth and final competitor in the sound film wars, the implementation of Photophone would usher in a half century battle between two amplification giants: Western Electric (which licensed out devices for Phonofilm, Movietone, and Vitaphone) and General Electric (Photophone). In quality of product, Photophone and Movietone were relatively similar, although the Photophone system remained in active use much longer than Movietone. Its process for placing sound on a film strip, however, was much different.
Whereas Movietone (and earlier Phonofilm) used the special AEO light and thalofide cell to record sound waves on the film strip, Photophone used a mirror galvanometer to create a light beam which responded to sound waves converted into electricity and then placed them on the film strip. RCA Photophone Inc. was created in 1928 to market this system and bring it to the major film studios, particularly Paramount. Until the 1970s, movie studios would license their products in North America from one of two licensors: Western Electric or RCA. Photophone would be remembered for this place in sound film, Movietone would largely be remembered for creating newsreels, and Vitaphone would be remembered as the trademark used by Warner Brothers to promote its Looney Toons cartoons.
*Honorable Mention* Cinephone (1928)
While not a major, long lasting, or even unique sound film system, Cinephone remains one of the most influential sound film systems of all time as it was the first to be used by Walt Disney in the creation of Steamboat Willie. Cinephone was sold to Disney by Pat Powers, a Buffalo native who failed in a takeover of De Forest Phonofilm in 1927. After this failure, Powers encouraged Phonofilm Employees to work for him, and he was able to create a cloned version of the Phonofilm system, which he renamed Powers Cinephone.
As one of the most affordable sound film systems available, Cinephone was helpful in the implementation of the first Mickey Mouse cartoons by Disney, but after about a year the weaknesses inherent in the Phonofilm system became apparent in Cinephone. Disney moved on to superior sound film systems, and de Forest, ruined by his legal battles with Case, was incapable of litigating Cinephone. DeForest Phonofilm would go bankrupt and the sound film revolution would move on without his active place in its progression.
Crediting for Images on this Page
Header: A San Francisco Kinetoscope parlor, c. 1894–95, National Park Service
Image: Bell & Howell Camera with Movietone diagram in background, Inside Case Research Lab
Image: Newspaper ad for Edison’s Projecting Kinetoscope, published ca. 1900–10
Image: Publicity photograph of man using Edison Kinetophone, ca. 1895, origin unknown
Image: Correspondence from Thomas Edison to Theodore Case, c. 1923
Image: “RCA Photophone” ad in The Film Daily, Jan-Jun 1929 (page 1313 crop)
Image: Schematic of optical sound reproduction, https://www.nfsa.gov.au/preservation/preservation-glossary/variable-area
