In February 1921, Berlin made film history. For the first time you heard people speak on screen. The sound film was born. But the new invention did not have it easy. The “talking film” took almost ten years to establish itself.
Review. Friday evening 100 years ago. On February 25, 1921, three engineers tinkered around in their “Laboratory for Cinematography”. On this day, Hans Vogt, Joseph Masolle and Jo Engl had invited guests. At Babelsberger Strasse 49, they were to witness their new invention of the “light tone” principle.
It was past midnight when the lights went out and a projector purred. Friedel Hintze appeared on a canvas. Then the visitors heard the lecture artist speaking clearly and distinctly: “A boy saw a rose, rose on the heath”. With these words, a new era began on February 26, 1921 at 12:30 a.m. Goethe’s “Heideröslein” was the hour of birth of the sound film.
The engineers spent years tinkering until their process worked perfectly. The silent film was never completely silent. Music was contributed by the cinema piano player or orchestra. They also experimented with language on shellac records that were played during demonstrations. But only Vogt, Masolle and Engl succeeded in recording and playing back moving images and sounds perfectly synchronized.
It was not until 1929/30 that the first completely soundtracked film was released
To do this, the sound waves were converted into a trail of light that was next to the images on the film strip. During the demonstration, an electric photocell converted the track back into audible tones.
In 1922 the three showed a longer talkie in public in the Alhambra cinema on Kurfürstendamm 68. But hardly anyone took any notice of their pioneering act. The film industry continued to rely on silent films and the three Berliners ran out of money. In 1923 they sold their rights and patents.
It was not until the turn of the year 1929/30 that “Melodie des Herzens” was released in Germany, the first feature film to be set to music. Willy Fritsch speaks the first sentence: “I’m saving on a horse!”
The triumphal march of sound began, despite prominent critics such as Charlie Chaplin. In 1936 “Moderne Zeiten” appeared. In it the tramp says goodbye with a cabinet piece. He is supposed to sing, but cannot read the text. So he improvises in a fantasy language. Thanks to his perfect pantomime, he understands every word. That was Chaplin’s ingenious swan song for silent film, which was doomed on a memorable night 100 years ago.
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