The Jazz Singer

In 1927, The Jazz Singer featured synchronized dialogue sequences that electrified audiences. Al Jolson's improvised line — "Wait a minute, you ain't heard nothin' yet" — became the most famous sentence in cinema history. Within two years, silent film was commercially dead.

The transition was brutal. Silent film stars whose voices did not match their images saw careers end overnight. Chaplin resisted sound for years. Entire studios retooled, and converting theaters for sound cost the industry a fortune.